Blog

On Saturday, I had the chance to inspect a Home in Burnaby, that was 103 years old. I love inspecting old homes. They are challenging in terms of the differenet building methods and materials the home has experienced over its lifetime. The many renovations the home has gone through in the last 100 years. Some examples: Does the home have a buried Oil tank? old Knob & Tube Wiring, Abestos Ma ...

Rain Water Penetration Control There are three different strategies for rain penetration control in walls: face seal,concealed barrier and rainscreen walls. Any type of cladding can be used with these three strategies. However, the performance expectations, as well as the maintenance and renewal requirements, will vary depending on the rain penetration control strategy. Face seal wall assem ...

Bowen Island Home Inspection today, a beautiful 30 minute Ferry ride from Horseshoe Bay. The Property is located on Whitesails Road, small home only 1,500 square feet built in the 1970s. Over all the home is in good condition, other than it is in desperate need of a new roof. Also when buying a Home on Bowen, make sure you also have a Septic Field Inspection, since there is no sewage system/ ...

Finished a Home Inspection in West Vancouver Marine Drive area. The home was approximately 85 years old and 2600 square feet. This old home had several serious issues, one being old Knob & Tube wiring and the other Asbestos in the Attic insulation. These issues are unfortunately but very common in homes of this age. Stressing the importance of have a professional Home Inspection done before ...

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to complete a Condo Inspection in Lower Lonsdale North Vancouver. The Condo was approximately 700 square feet, and 14 years old. The Building Envelope was originally constructed was a formal Rainscreen System. The only significant issue associated to the Strata was the Underground Garage had evidence of ingress/leaking. This issue could be resolved with Epoxy ...

Completed a home inspection in the North Vancouver Seymour Blvd area last week . It was a single family home, approximately 20 years of age and 3500 square feet.The Building Envelope is not Rain Screened, but face sealed, with little if any overhangs to protect the exterior wood siding. The home has been vacant for several years, has not been well looked after. Because of this, the exterior w ...

SUMP PUMPS are used in waterproofing to get the water out of the basement. The sump pump is the heart of the system. If the pump stops fails, causing a possible flood of your basement. It's important that you purchase and maintain a good quality sump pump. A sump pump is a pump used to remove water that has accumulated in a sump pit Sump pumps are installed in basements where flooding may be ...

Pre-listing Home Inspections Having a pre-listing home inspection by a qualified home inspector before you list your home for sale can have great benefits. Eventually your buyers are going to conduct a home inspection. You may as well know what they are going to find by getting there first. Also, having a pre-listing home inspection performed ahead of time helps in many other ways: It ...

Aluminum wiring was used quite extensively in residential homes from 1965 to 1976. It was also used in other applications such as commercial, industrial, and institutional buildings. After the late 1970's aluminum wire became unpopular, and it was not until the early 1990's that it started to be used again, though still not as much as copper. As mentioned above, aluminum wire is safe...it is ...

I received this note from my clients about Oil Tanks that I thought I would share with you -Updates in the world of old houses/oil tanks: A month after we moved in the insurance company put us through a bit of a nightmare when they realized they had given us the wrong oil tank form to fill out and then told us our home insurance would be void just before Christmas because the tank is only a s ...