Home inspections Salem Oregon

Get rid of your Old Wood Stove before you sell your Salem Oregon Home

Environmental, , One comment

Starting August first 2010, your trusty old wood stove will need to be destroyed!

Under the guise of environmental protection the Oregon State Department of Environmental Quality has decided that wood stoves built before 1985 must be removed if the home is part of a real estate transaction.  To be fair, wood stoves that are 25 years old or older are not as efficient as modern units and much of the heat that is produced is exhausted up the chimney.

Old wood stove headed for the scrap heap

Unfortunately, these regulations hit at a time when short sales and foreclosures abound and if a seller did have some wiggle room it may now be soaked up with the cost of the removal of the old wood stove.

If you do not know if the wood stove in your home or listing is ok or not there is some labels to look for:

If you are selling your home or have a home listed and a wood stove or insert is present you may want to check for these labels.  For more information check out the Oregon DEQs site: http://www.deq.state.or.us/aq/burning/woodstoves/questions.htm

Or you can always call your favorite Salem, Oregon home inspector who is always up on the latest government regulations:

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Jim Allhiser President/Inspector
http://SalemOregonHomeInspections.com
503.508.4321         jallhiser@perfectioninspectioninc.com

“Always on the cutting edge”

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A River of Thermal images

General, Thermal Imaging/ Infrared, , Leave a comment

This is a short video I took while on a home inspection of the water in the North Santiam river.

My handy little thermal camera can show all sorts of nifty temperature differences.  Including electrical hotspots, structure, insulation, leakage, critters and apparently the water temperature in the river.

Looks a bit cold for swimming but I am sure the salmon and steelhead that are headed upriver find those temperatures just right!


Jim Allhiser President/Inspector
http://SalemOregonHomeInspections.com
503.508.4321         jallhiser@perfectioninspectioninc.com

“Always on the cutting edge”

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Crawl Space critters……

Crawl Spaces, Wood destroying organisms, , Leave a comment
Written by:  Jim Allhiser President/Inspector

Although millipedes do not chew on your home they do eat organic material.  If the organic material (wood) is not actively holding up your home it should be removed.


Jim Allhiser President/Inspector
http://SalemOregonHomeInspections.com
503.508.4321         jallhiser@perfectioninspectioninc.com

“Always on the cutting edge”

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Can you tell me how to get, how to get to find a roof leak

Roofing, Thermal Imaging/ Infrared, , , View all 3 comments

Can you tell me how to  find, how to find a roof leak ……..

While most people complain about our recent downpours they have been providing me with much-needed rain to make leaks light up.  One of the biggest benefits having a thermal image camera is the ability to see things you can’t see with your visual senses.  A recent inspection on a home on Sesame Street and no I don’t need you to tell me how to get there, I found a leak that wasn’t showing through the finished surfaces yet….

Although advanced in age the surface of the roof did appear to be satisfactory.  On initial scans from the kitchen and family room there did appear to be an interesting cool spot in the family room and upon further investigation this cool spot did in fact turn out to be a current wet spot. This was roof leak.

Although no Big bird or other Muppets could be noted during my investigation, I did provide some much-needed information for my clients.   Thermal Imaging again proved its value and ensured my client’s home would be a safe and dry place to live

Aluminum Wiring

Electrical, Fire Safety, , , , , One comment
Written by:  Jim Allhiser President/Inspector
When I trained to become a home inspector I went to a national school and learned about all sorts of things that good home inspectors should be aware of when inspecting homes.  Over the years of doing inspections in Salem, Oregon I have noticed real patterns in building materials that were not reflected by the home inspector schooling.
Bricks for one thing are very popular in other parts of the country.  My schooling spent hours on the issues that can be noted with brick siding.  We have brick siding here, but at a very small percentage compared to the east and the south.  Most of this difference has to do with the shale that composes bricks.  We do not have shale mines on the Pacific coast and so if you want brick it has to be shipped in from the south or east.

Recently Chinese Drywall has received quite a bit of media attention.  That stuff is bad news but for all of the newly built homes that I am inspecting, none of the associated issues have manifested.  I have been looking for it and well educated home buyers have been asking about it but it seems that  our area did not receive the supply of drywall from those particular problem vendors.
Aluminum wiring was also a large topic of education at the home inspector training.  It is also another material that, for whatever the reason, we North-westerners largely managed to escape.  From the mid 60s to the early 70s aluminum was widely used for the smaller (15 and 20 amp) branch circuits in homes.  Problems occurred when the small aluminum wires were used with devices that had connections specifically designed for copper.  Aluminum also tends to expand and contract more than copper (which can cause loose connections) and it can corrode (which is an insulator), all bad things when consistent conduction is desired.  These issues lead to house fires and if your wiring is a fire hazard it is a very big deal!  I have seen and heard of small aluminum branch circuits in manufactured homes in this area but I have only seen one stick built home that had aluminum wires in 5 years!
The more experience I gain the more specific my inspections become, relating to the issues with Salem, Oregon homes.  Still, I can’t forget about those nationally recognized issues.  A great home inspector not only needs to know about homes in this area but also about building products that are not generally used in this area.


Jim Allhiser President/Inspector
http://SalemOregonHomeInspections.com
503.508.4321         jallhiser@perfectioninspectioninc.com

“Always on the cutting edge”

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Dryer ducts- The “Forgotten About” Fire Hazard

Fire Safety, Home Maintenance, Leave a comment
Written by:  Jim Allhiser  President/Inspector


The consumer product safety commission estimated that in 1998 clothes dryers were associated with 15,600 fires, which resulted in 20 deaths and 370 injuries!
A vast majority of these fires could have been prevented with a little home owner style maintenance.
The duct work that exhausts all of that warm dryer air is usually the culprit, and as far as routine home owner maintenance, is usually completely forgotten about.
Ideally these ducts should be hard and completely smooth.  This minimizes the slow down of the hot air that will cause lint to build up.   This means that the flexible corrugated metal ducts that all do-it-youselfers love are terrible.  Everyone of those little ridges in the duct pipe create turbulence that slows down the flow of air.

Fire hazard or Dryer duct? Both.

Even with hard ducting the joints are a critical point of contention.  With forced air furnaces, the joints between one hard duct to another, are usually secured with sheet metal screws.  If this technique is put into practice with dryer ducts all of those sharp little screws that are in the flow of air act as lint catchers.
The moral of this story is:  If you have not cleaned your dryer and ducting recently it is time to do so.  If you have an issue with the duct and need to install a new duct, it is usually best to hire a professional to install a HARD DUCT with proper seams that are TAPED and not screwed together.
My job as a home inspector requires me to crawl and poke around other people’s homes every day and this is one of the most neglected fire hazard that I see.
Jim Allhiser
President/Inspector
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  infringement and is punishable by law.
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That’s what that thingy is for??

Home Maintenance, Plumbing, , One comment
The most important part of a good home inspection is the education about the home.  Above and beyond the defects that good home inspectors will find, helping the new home owners understand the weird knobs and switches that are in a typical home is really where good inspectors earn their wage.
One type of knob in particular that I see often in more recently built homes is the “hose bib winterization valve.”
It seems simple enough however they usually are not anywhere near the hose bib (outside water faucet)!
In a two-story home, these valves are usually stuffed under an upstairs bathroom sink.  The placement is good because if you shut the water off and open the bleed valve the water will readily drain out the outside water faucet.
If you have a recently built home and see one of these under the sink:
you now know what that weird thingy is for.


Jim Allhiser

President/Inspector
http://SalemOregonHomeInspections.com
503.508.4321         jallhiser@perfectioninspectioninc.com

“Always on the cutting edge”

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Picture/Thermal Challenge for Salem Oregon home Inspections

Marketing, Thermal Imaging/ Infrared, , Leave a comment

I have been having so much fun with Perfection Inspection’s fan page and my picture challenge I decided to branch out and have it help me get some Google juice.

The idea is:  I post a picture, thermal/infrared or interesting visual picture that I capture on a recent home inspection.

Then you guess what the picture is.

  • I am toying with the timelines but for now I will post for 1 week and at the end of that week I will post the answer and the first closest guess gets a $5.00 Starbucks card.
  • Only one guess per person and the moderator will be the sole decider of the closest guess.
  • People that I think know the answer (because they were at the inspection where the image was taken) will be excluded

Now enough with the legal disclosures and on the the challenge:

What is it?

Mold, Lead, Arsenic, Radon, Wet Crawlspaces and other things that

Crawl Spaces, Environmental, Mold, , , , , , View all 5 comments
Toxic Talk was the title of the Salem Association of Realtor’s Educational Event yesterday.


I wanted to give everyone a quick review of the information that I learned:


Radon: It will kill you.  Any home might have an issue.  It comes out of the ground and even with a well ventilated crawlspace your home can concentrate this poisonous, radioactive gas.
Moral: Get your home tested


Arsenic in Water: It will kill you. Wells will be required to be tested for it during a real estate transaction.  If you have it and install a filter CHANGE YOUR FILTER carefully and regularly.
Moral: Get your water tested


Disaster Clean-up:  It will kill you. (see a pattern developing?)  Rodent urine and feces is a toxic bio hazard
Moral:  Hopefully you won’t have to call these guys EVER!



Lead: It will kill you. (yup, believe it or not)  Soon Oregon is going to have some changes that require certifications of ANYONE dealing with repairs of older homes and mandatory lead testing of all of these homes!
Moral:  Whether you like it or not your home will be tested…..


Mold: (everyone now!) It will kill you.   Mold is EVERYWHERE and it is not necessarily the issue but an indicator of moisture conditions that are a problem
Moral: Get your home tested.


Crawlspace/basement leakage: This will probably kill you too but I think the moisture just causes stuff that will kill you….    Crawlspaces and basements are swimming pools and although there are ways to minimize the water intrusion, they are not required by code.
Moral:  Pay a good Home Inspector to check out your crawlspace BEFORE you sell!





Jim Allhiser President/Inspector
http://SalemOregonHomeInspections.com
503.508.4321         jallhiser@perfectioninspectioninc.com

“Always on the cutting edge”

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Helpful presentation to keep you from getting Burned!

Home Maintenance, Plumbing, , Leave a comment

Unfortunately WordPress doesn’t seem to want to allow me to embed my presentation this morning so you all will have to bear with me and click on the link below:

Water heater temperature adjustment presentation

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Jim Allhiser President/Inspector
http://SalemOregonHomeInspections.com
503.508.4321         jallhiser@perfectioninspectioninc.com

“Always on the cutting edge”

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