Home Improvement Today?

You will find many more uses for it than you initially intended.

 

So wife and I just went under contract on a new home a week ago. Inspection is today and I am planning to be there while the inspector is to do my own thing (not going to get in his way). The house is only 3 years old so it really should not have much to find but I plan to crawl under and over it to check major things. Anything you guys really recommend paying close attention to?

 

Don't do your own thing - follow the inspector around. Every inspector I've come across is more than happy to tell me about everything they look at and give a lot more context than you'll find in the written report. It's an excellent learning experience about your new home, and building/construction in general.

 

I would love to do that but don't want to distract him.

 

I doubt that'd be an issue. Follow him around and be friendly, but not intrusive. Let him do the talking. Ask a question or two or if you're really concerned take some mental notes and ask him at the end. You said yourself it's a brand new house, so I'd imagine there wont be a whole lot of issues to come across. I personally would never hire an inspector who wouldn't talk to me and allow me to join him. I've even spoken to them afterwards about remodel plans and gotten their input on how it will be inspected when I go to sell.

What more are you going to learn kicking the tires of the house solo, that you haven't already found viewing the home in the past? That's the whole reason you're hiring him.

 

Very true... maybe I will just follow him around. I also plan to measure for things like fridge and major furniture.

 

when i bought my house, it had some god awful dry-rotted las palmas multi-colored rope lighting. So I replaced it with some string lighting. the lighting was given to me so I had a 48 ft strand of edison style bulbs (the outside ring) and a 10ft strand of an old lantern style (that I extended with another 10 ft strand to complete it. I love how it turned out.





the outside ring



the inside string

 

Open up under the fireplace (where you would go to light the pilot light) and see if you see any plugs there. That's how my fireplace is set up. I have a switch in by the mantel that controls a plug down there (for a blower motor)

 

use a tone tracer similar to

$30 Extech TG20 Wire Tracer and Tone Generator

this. we use a fluke pro3000 at work and it is fantastic but probably a little more than you want to spend, but the one linked is a essentially the same thing, I believe

 

I was asked to help someone out staining a deck because the company they originally hired would only use 1 product line and they wanted something more "natural looking". I worked closely with them to choose a color and they picked out a nice red stain that actually makes pressure treated pine look similar to cedar. When weather finally broke I misjudged the gallons required because of the large arbor with lattice so I had to string this project out over 6 weeks because I miss judged the space by 2.5 gallons, and because where I get the stain it is a special order so it takes about a week.

Now after weather permitted me to complete the deck coverage 2x for maximum protection the home owner wants me to apply a 3rd coat (of which I never agreed to) and the product doesn't support applying more than 2 coats, in fact they say not to under any circumstance (per their hotline). I don't feel like dishing out more money for product at this point I have spent too much time commuting back and forth to really have this project worth my efforts in addition to the product not recommending 3 coats.

How do you contractors handle clients like this?

 

Yeah...
They have already screwed me on the initial payment in making out the check incorrectly. I have had the conversation with them about not needing a 3rd coat on every one of the last 3 visits (the visits have been limited to 1-2 hours of my time following work). I guess I'm just a little frustrated with their inability to understand what I am saying.

 

We are really tired of moving boxes stacked everywhere, construction mess all day everyday, too many projects to think about, etc... So we decided we needed to do something a little more fun. After I hung the pocket door in the master bath we put hardware on the cabinets and hung some pictures.




The kitchen pantry cabinet has yet to be painted, shelves finished or have glass installed, but we put on some fun pulls for the upper doors. It broke up the tedium and reminds us what we're working for.

 

Granite installed, plumbing done, mirror framed. This one is done except for knobs and towel racks arriving this week. Very pleased.

 

Just ask him first if it is okay. Most like to explain to you what they do, but there are a few who do not like it, and rightfully so. I was following an appraiser one time, and he got really nasty, but that's a little different scenario because he was working for the lender and not allowed to be influenced by what I say or ask.

 

X2. My father and I walked the house I bought several times before the inspector came (house was vacant when I bought it) and came up with questions of our own and just asked them as they came up during the inspection. The inspector I walked with was very open to answering my questions and talking about the things they've seen in the area, with a certain builder, etc. It helps if they are local and have been working an area for a while. You're not being distracting or pushy about questions just showing them that you're interested in the inspection. At the end of the day, they are working for you. Mine actually went to his van and made me a binder with all the things he found and what his conclusions were. And he rated them on the level of severity. It was pretty nice.

 

Also, be mindful of how you ask questions - tone can make a huge difference - You can ask the same question in a way that sounds like " I like that you picked up on that issue, wow, tell me more about that" or " are you sure that's an issue?; do you know what you are doing? Why is that an issue? " The later is obviously not good, but I see people not thinking about it and ask or comment in a way that makes them feel you don't agree with them or don't trust their opinions.

 

Thankfully I got a really good inspector that was super approachable and encouraged me to go with him. He explained the little things he would put on the report and why they could be an issue down the road. It also helps that we were looking at a very well built house that even he had a hard time finding issues with.

 

I have zero reliance in home inspectors. Had to get one for refinancing. Dinged me on railing on my front steps. Misses my 220v flying splice in the basement for the water heater, and that I didn't have the safety discharge line mounted. Lol