Those darn drafty attics.

On a home inspection the other day I popped my head into the attic space of a vintage 1950 home. At first glance the attic felt unusually warm and moist. From the outside the gable vents appeared to be large enough and should have kept this attic effectively ventilated however the current renter had some other ideas. He told me that he had been in construction for years and was currently unemployed.

This vintage home had a minimum amount of insulation and the gable vents were covered with plastic!! All of the warm moist air coming up out of the home was being trapped in this unheated, unvented, ideal mold growing limbo. The roof sheathing was covered with a soft and fuzzy patina, very artistic but not very pleasing for home maintenance and air quality.

The moral of the story is those openings in your attic and there for a reason and very important. They are not there to make you suffer when it is time to pay the heating bill. Insulation should be used on HEATED surfaces. Your attic is not a heated space. The floor of the attic is next to a heated space and this is the only surface that should be insulated. The rest of the attic should have enough vents to keep the attic as close to the exterior temperature as possible. This will vent excess moisture, cool the roof system and provide a good environment for maintenance of the structure of the roof.

The Oregon Gardens and Home inspections

I had the chance to visit the beautiful Oregon Gardens this weekend with my family. This is one of those special places that realy needs to be visited many times throughout the year to enjoy the different plant displays.

The Gardens are located in Silverton,Oregon and if you like to grow things this is the place to be. I stay very busy inspecting homes in and around Silverton, OR and if you need to check on the condition of your new home contact me.

All content is Copywritten and is the property of Perfection Inspection Inc. Any usage that is not expressly permitted by Perfection Inspection Inc. is considered infringment and is punishable by law.

Custom Cabinetry

In the midst of the foreclosure boom there are more and more unexplained or questionable issues that arise as more and more banks become the sole owner of home. It is unfortunate that this is the current state of things and more and more history is being lost as banks repossess homes that they don't want in the first place.

I was doing a home inspection on one of these homes in Keizer, Oregon the other day and came upon a little oddity that I just couldn't help but speculate over. As the drawers in the cabinet were pulled the drawer slides (not just any slides by the way, these were high quality full extension slides) would bang into the doors after about ½ inch worth of travel. Every single drawer was installed with this same issue. This little "oops" rendered the pull out shelves utterly useless.

The section of "custom cabinetry," work had me envisioning a the home owner, (most likely a contractor or builder as well) behind on his bills and sweating away as he installed upgrades here and there in hopes to quickly attract a buyer before things went south.

Of course it was too late, and at that point and the market around him was crumbling as he tirelessly tried to bail water from his sinking ship.

His loss, my clients gain. My client knew his way around a tool belt and looked forward to the finishing touches he could put on this home that had some very nice features. And at the price he was paying it will be a very nice home for his family very soon.

Please give me more time.
I don't know what happened with the realestate market in Salem, Oregon recently but my inspection schedule is starting to force me to scramble.
I have been scheduled about a week out for about two months now and the bank negotiations are killing me.
They accept an offer and allow a 5 calendar day inspection window!! Weekends and holidays and the day the offer was written all count.
I guess there will be time to sleep in a few months. I feel like those guys on 'Deadliest Catch,' only I am warm.


All content is Copywritten and is the property of Perfection Inspection Inc. Any usage that is not expressly permitted by Perfection Inspection Inc. is considered infringment and is punishable by law.

Thermal imaging finds Missing Insulation

I just did a home inspection on a fine home here in Salem, Oregon. Overall the home was a piece of cake, and very well taken care of. There was one little section of insulation in the attic that had fallen (from the cable guy presumably). It was impossible to see visually but thanks to the magic of my fancy little thermal/infrared camera my clients now know of an area that could use some additional insulation.


Very simple fix, in fact the fallen insulation is most likely sitting up there in the attic just waiting to be reinstalled and protect the home from the hot or cold of the attic.











All content is Copy written and is the property of Perfection Inspection Inc. Any usage that is not expressly permitted by Perfection Inspection Inc. is considered infringement and is punishable by law.

Operation Love Boxes

Sometimes it can be hard to let people know that you are thinking of them. Especially if the people that we are thinking of are in other countries.

Operation Love Boxes is a program that has given me extreme pleasure. My friend, John Baker, a great local agent and philanthropist, and his church and local community, started the program in November of 2005.

The idea is to fill standard boxes to the brim with candies, granola, stationary, wet wipes, small books and even Christmas decorations. The boxes are sent with a domestic flat rate for very little postage. These are just simple things, from home, to remind our troops overseas that we love, miss and support them.

I have only been involved for a few months now and the thank you emails that we have received have been very special. I urge you to check out the website and start your own Love Box Operation. It is
easy, view the video here.

Operation Love Boxes is having party to stuff, address and send DVDs on Wednesday the 18th (tomorrow). The DVDs tell the Operation Love Boxes story and tell how to start your own operation.

If you are in the Salem, OR area and want to help out please come to:

2339 State St, Salem, Or 97301 on 3/18/09 @ 6-8pm.

If you want to start your own Operation Love Boxes please go here:
http://www.loveboxesforourtroops.com/
and view the video,

Or call/email John Baker:

john@nedbaker.com

(O) 503-364-6797 ext 302

(C) 503-871-2624

(F) 503-364-6798

Toll Free 877-893-6797

What has ActiveRain has done for Me Lately?

My presence on the web started kind of slowly. I guess that is normal but there is one thing I did that didn't cost me anything and I can thank it for all of my increase in Search Engine Optimization: ActiveRain.

I have been on Active Rain for a little over a year. In that time I faded in and out of posting blogs.

It was hard. The focus was just not there.

I didn't think that I had anything to write that anyone would want to read.

Melina Tomson got me here and I would see her, and she would be talking about her blog and how wonderful it was and how it was really neat the way people would read her blog and it was like they already knew her. She said she would go see them with a listing presentation and they would say,"…We already know we want you to list our home. No need for the presentation."

I would get inspired and light-up my own little blogging world. I would post and comment and post and comment. I would see my rank in Salem, Oregon climb and feel satisfied and a little
very hungry for that next spot.

Then my focus would fade. I would get busy with work and family and other things in general.

Even when I wasn't posting, I did try to get on to ActiveRain to comment as often as possible. Even without posting, the networking brought me in contact with some wonderful local agents that I would not have otherwise had the pleasure of working with.

That seems to be another nice thing about ActiveRain: the caliber of people. Every single person that I have met here has been the best of the best and the only kind of professional that I want to work with.

In about the 9^th or 10^th month of posting on and off my brain started to wrap its reluctant fingers around SEO and Blogging. My ActiveRain Blog started popping up on the 1^st page of Google! (my website was still a couple pages back) I started really seeing the bigger picture of how this infuriating world of Search Engine Optimization works.

I began my endurance training. I was still a flash-in-the-pan blogger but my flashes were getting closer together. I even started to get calls and emails from people that had been reading my blog (go figure).

ActiveRain provided me with information. More information than I knew and still know what to do with.

Last month I had the pleasure of finding one of my posts entirely plagiarized. I began my Web Log journey thinking that I really didn't have anything interesting to say, but when I read my words with someone else's name on them, it felt like I had just had my house broken into. ActiveRain was in my corner again and all of the information I needed was a short search away.

I have been telling other agents in the area about ActiveRain for a while now. I can hardly contain my enthusiasm for this virtual neighborhood of extremely knowledgeable professionals that welcomed me and let me learn as much as I wanted.

I seem to be the only Home Inspector in the entire state of Oregon that has gotten a clue about blogging and I have been very reluctant to tell other inspectors in my area. I am professional enough to know that there is plenty of room (and money) at the top; I just kind of enjoy my current monopoly. If you are an inspector you really owe it to yourself to get on ActiveRain and keep with it.

If you get on ActiveRain for the SEO stay for the networking. Both have paid me big dividends here in Salem, Oregon.