Home Inspections in Cedar Rapids, Waterloo, Cedar Falls, North Liberty IA a day in the life of a home inspector can be quite interesting at times.

While performing home insNeat old home reminisant of Frank Lloyd Wrightpections I get to see a lot of diverse things. I like to refer to what I see as the good, the bad and the ugly. The good would be older homes that have been well cared for and still maintain their original character and charm.

One of my personal favorites is this home which was built around the turn of the 20th century. The architecture was fantastic. The original finishes were still in place and the home maintained nearly all of its original character. A rare treat out of the many home inspections I perform indeed.

One of the home inspections I performed more recently had some issues that I would call bad. Do it yourself roof flashing, holes in the siding, outdated and unkept mechanical systems. Don’t get me wrong, in my opinion you shouldn’t fix things unless they are broke or you feel the need to replace them. It’s when things are let go and begin falling apart from neglect. That is what I am referring to.

 

Draft inducer fan clogged with crud and running hotOn one of my home inspections I ran into this draft inducer fan which is a perfect example of neglect. Notice how it is visibly clogged with dust, lint and whatever else could get sucked into it. I was quite surprised that it had survived for so long without being replaced. It was running hot at the time of the home inspection so in addition to calling it out as being in need of servicing I also put it as an item to monitor. Who knows how long it had been in that condition, or how many home inspections it had survived until now. Usually these fans will go bad after a length of time on their own and are relatively simple for the HVAC repairman to replace. Keeping the furnace clean and serviced regularly will certainly lend to extended life of its parts.

Rubber Snake nailed to the roof next to the dormerLast but not least, sometimes while performing home inspections you run into the ugly. I ran into this little rascal on one of my home inspections and about jumped when I saw it. The roof was steep and as you can see there was snow on it, so I was inspecting from the eaves. It’s just a rubber snake, but at first glance you might think otherwise.

Another thing that may jump out is the lovely and improperly installed joining wall flashing next to our little friend. I see this a lot during home inspections That I perform in Cedar Rapids, Waterloo, Cedar Falls North Liberty IA. I guess it comes with the territory and as you  can see, I cover a lot of territory.

In closing, as you can see when performing home inspections you really do get to see the good, bad and the ugly.