In effort to offer the best service possible to my clients I'm now the proud owner of a SentriCard! This allows me to access all SentriLock (MLS) lock boxes on homes in Middle Tennessee. This is proving to be a handy little tool because it allows me access to homes when it might not be convenient for an agent to let me in or when I need to return to pick up a radon test.
If you have any questions, please give me a call at the office 615-302-1113 or visit my website
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
New Home Air testing service for Middle Tennessee!
Until recently cost effective screening of a homes air quality was not possible. I have chosen to offer my clients Home Air CheckTM Professional, a state-of-the-art test that will detect and show chemicals and mold in the air that could potentially make you and your family sick, and provide you with an assessment of the home air quality. All of this for less than the cost of a typical mold test. Even the chemicals that are produced by Chinese drywall can be detected!
But how do you determine if the Indoor Air Quality of the home will jeopardize the health of you and your family? See how a low-cost Indoor Air Quality Assessment can find potential hidden issues with a home and protect your future investment.
As a home inspector, I can review and report on many things related to the soundness of the home. But one thing I cannot observe with the naked eye are the airborne chemicals present in the home that could potentially affect the health of you and your family.
If you would like to see what a typical report looks like you can simply click on the following links.
Sample Report
Contamination Index Report
Formaldehyde Report
The Home Air Check Difference
Home Air Check Professional is the only test available to the home buyer or homeowner that provides an affordable comprehensive air quality audit of the total number of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) and the total number of Mold Volatile Organic Compounds (MVOCs) with a single air sample. This test, while simple to perform, is based upon sophisticated chemical analysis technology, previously only available to the industrial community. Because of the analysis methods employed, this single test is extremely sensitive and can measure for chemical contaminants in the air within a 2,000 sq. ft. area. It is so sensitive, in fact, that it can even detect mold hidden behind walls or in carpeting. This test will also detect the compounds that are found in Chinese drywall and other problematic building products.
The analysis of the air sample is conducted by the very same air testing laboratory that developed the Home Air CheckTM test - Prism Analytical Technologies, Inc. (PATI). For nearly two decades, Prism has been the trusted air quality laboratory source for numerous Fortune 100 and 500 companies. It is from Prism's experience and expertise that they have been able to design a state-of-the-art indoor air quality test specifically for use in homes.
But how do you determine if the Indoor Air Quality of the home will jeopardize the health of you and your family? See how a low-cost Indoor Air Quality Assessment can find potential hidden issues with a home and protect your future investment.
As a home inspector, I can review and report on many things related to the soundness of the home. But one thing I cannot observe with the naked eye are the airborne chemicals present in the home that could potentially affect the health of you and your family.
If you would like to see what a typical report looks like you can simply click on the following links.
Sample Report
Contamination Index Report
Formaldehyde Report
The Home Air Check Difference
Home Air Check Professional is the only test available to the home buyer or homeowner that provides an affordable comprehensive air quality audit of the total number of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) and the total number of Mold Volatile Organic Compounds (MVOCs) with a single air sample. This test, while simple to perform, is based upon sophisticated chemical analysis technology, previously only available to the industrial community. Because of the analysis methods employed, this single test is extremely sensitive and can measure for chemical contaminants in the air within a 2,000 sq. ft. area. It is so sensitive, in fact, that it can even detect mold hidden behind walls or in carpeting. This test will also detect the compounds that are found in Chinese drywall and other problematic building products.
The analysis of the air sample is conducted by the very same air testing laboratory that developed the Home Air CheckTM test - Prism Analytical Technologies, Inc. (PATI). For nearly two decades, Prism has been the trusted air quality laboratory source for numerous Fortune 100 and 500 companies. It is from Prism's experience and expertise that they have been able to design a state-of-the-art indoor air quality test specifically for use in homes.
Visit our website for more details on this new service
Scott Patterson, Middle Tennessee Home Inspector
Call 615-302-1113 or visit www.traceinspections.com
Scott Patterson, Middle Tennessee Home Inspector
Call 615-302-1113 or visit www.traceinspections.com
Saturday, October 2, 2010
I have been inspecting homes for over 15 years and I have never had anyone ask about bedbugs untill this year. I'm not a pest control contractor, but I do know how to research and I have foundout a great deal about these little critters that I never knew.
According to experts infestations of Bed Bugs are up 5000 percent as are the number of reported attacks! The nightmare begins when a Bed Bug finds its way into your clothing; it usually happens at a hotel but can start anywhere.
Finding bed bugs in your home has nothing to do with poor hygiene! It takes only one bed bug to hitch a ride on your clothing (furniture, suitcase, etc) and infest your residence. What's worse is that they can live up to one year without drinking a drop of your blood. Feeding takes about 10 to 15 minutes for adults and less for the nymphs; they feed about every three days. Depending on the conditions, bed bug nymphs can survive for months without feeding.
Bed Bugs are insects, more specifically, 'True Bugs', which have piercing mouthparts that in most species are used for feeding on plants. Unfortunately, there are some species of bugs with mouthparts that have been adapted to feed on human blood while inflicting very little pain (most never feel the blood feeding).
This is a picture of their life cycle and what the adult bug looks like.... 
The adult bug is about the size of pencil eraser head, but they are flat unless they are gorged with blood from their victim!
We as home inspectors and the professional who list and sell home need to be very aware of this little bug. They are not covered under any WDO clearance letter or even looked for. So who is going to be looking for this little brown bug? They have become such a problem across the country that they have even closed shops and store in major retail areas so that their infestation can be dealt with.
It might be time for everyone to rethink just how Bed Bugs need to be handled. Do we need to add them to disclosure statements? Do we need to have special Bed Bug inspections by the pest control experts? What needs to be done to protect buyers from purchasing a new home that is infested with Bed Bugs?
I have compiled some Bed Bug facts that might help.
Here are the facts about Bed Bugs:
Bed Bugs are flat, brown, wingless and about 1/4 of an inch.
They have 6 legs, shiny reddish-brown but after a good serving of your blood, they appear dark brown and swollen as in the picture below.
They can be seen with the human eye, but do a great job at hiding.
Bed bugs are not known to carry diseases as of yet.
They feed on human blood preferring to do it in the dark when you're sleeping.
Simply using chemical treatments will not remove the infestation.
These bugs love to hide in the seams of your mattress including:
Sofa seams.
Cracks in the bad frame and or head board.
Under chairs, couched, beds and dust covers.
Under rugs, edges of carpets, drawers, baseboards and window casings.
Behind light switches, electrical outlet plates, cracks in plaster.- Televisions, radio clocks and phones.
Backpacks, Sleeping bags, Cloths.
Behind wallpaper, picture frames and other dark areas.
I hope that you do not cross the path of a Bed Bug, but if it does happen hopefully this blog post will help you to understand and deal with them. Keep in mind that if you find just one Bed Bug you have an infestation and it needs to be dealt with by a pest control expert.
Scott Patterson
Middle Tennesse Home Insepctions by Trace Inspections, 615-302-1113
Middle Tennesse Home Insepctions by Trace Inspections, 615-302-1113
Friday, September 17, 2010
Now it is time to get that home ready for the home inspection!
A few easy repairs and ideas the homeowner can make before the home inspection:
OK, now it is time for the dreaded home inspection! First off, nobody should be dreading the home inspection, unless the house is really in poor condition. The list of items below will help the homeowner to prepare their home so that the inspector will be able to perform the inspection with ease. The last thing you want is for the home to be difficult for the inspector! Clean and neat homes for some reason tend to perform better when it come to a home inspection! Just saying........
Items the homeowner can repair or take care of before the home inspection:
□ Prune vegetation away from the house.
□ Clean the gutters.
□ Replace or clean dirty furnace/HVAC filters.
□ Repair leaking faucets.
□ Install missing covers on electrical switches, outlets and junction boxes.
□ Replace all smoke alarms installed before January 1, 2002 to comply with
current standards. Replace batteries in all detectors!
□ Replace burned out light bulbs.
□ Pull soil 6" away from the siding, basement windows, foundation
vents and decks.
□ Install 6-8mil. black plastic vapor barrier in the crawlspace over exposed
soil.
□ Make sure that the water heater is raised 18" or more if it is the garage or storage room.
Preparing the home for the day of the inspection:
• Remove any belongings that block access to the furnace, water heater, electrical panel, attic and crawl spaces so the inspector may remove cover panels in these areas.
• Verify that gas, water and electricity are on, even in vacant homes.
• All gas pilot lights should be lit. The inspector will not light any pilot and will note that item as not working.
• Make sure that all appliances normally operated by the homeowner can be tested as needed. Clean and pick up the home so that it is easy for the inspector to get around. The inspector will not move dirty laundry to look at an item!
Scott Patterson, Middle Tennessee Home Inspector
www.traceinspections.com
OK, now it is time for the dreaded home inspection! First off, nobody should be dreading the home inspection, unless the house is really in poor condition. The list of items below will help the homeowner to prepare their home so that the inspector will be able to perform the inspection with ease. The last thing you want is for the home to be difficult for the inspector! Clean and neat homes for some reason tend to perform better when it come to a home inspection! Just saying........
Items the homeowner can repair or take care of before the home inspection:
□ Prune vegetation away from the house.
□ Clean the gutters.
□ Replace or clean dirty furnace/HVAC filters.
□ Repair leaking faucets.
□ Install missing covers on electrical switches, outlets and junction boxes.
□ Replace all smoke alarms installed before January 1, 2002 to comply with
current standards. Replace batteries in all detectors!
□ Replace burned out light bulbs.
□ Pull soil 6" away from the siding, basement windows, foundation
vents and decks.
□ Install 6-8mil. black plastic vapor barrier in the crawlspace over exposed
soil.
□ Make sure that the water heater is raised 18" or more if it is the garage or storage room.
Preparing the home for the day of the inspection:
• Remove any belongings that block access to the furnace, water heater, electrical panel, attic and crawl spaces so the inspector may remove cover panels in these areas.
• Verify that gas, water and electricity are on, even in vacant homes.
• All gas pilot lights should be lit. The inspector will not light any pilot and will note that item as not working.
• Make sure that all appliances normally operated by the homeowner can be tested as needed. Clean and pick up the home so that it is easy for the inspector to get around. The inspector will not move dirty laundry to look at an item!
Scott Patterson, Middle Tennessee Home Inspector
www.traceinspections.com
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Think twice before you clean those air ducts!
I know that just about everyone has heard about companies that clean the air ducts in homes. The typical way to clean the air ducts is to place a round bristle brush about the same inside diameter as the pipe. It is either pushed or pulled through the pipe. Many times it also has a vacuum suction as part of the brush. Then after they have cleaned the duct they come back and spray various anti-bacterial and anti-fungal chemicals to aid in the cleaning of the ducts.
Is it a good idea or is it a bad idea to clean your air ducts?
It depends on what the air ducts are made of! If you have the strong sheet metal air ducts, then it might be a good idea to have a qualified company clean them. The key is a quality company that knows what they are doing!
But, if you have those flexible plastic air ducts that are in the majority of the homes that have been built in the past eight or so years then you might want to rethink having them cleaned. The flex-duct type plastic air ducting is like a sandwich. it is comprised of an inner layer of plastic like sheeting then a layer of fiberglass insulation and then an exterior layer of plastic. Most of the time the inner layer has a wire that is built into it so that the duct will have additional strength and flexibility to help keep the duct from crushing and closing up. This wire also gives the air duct a fan or accordion shape, that traps dirt and dust. The plastic flex- duct can not effectively be cleaned. Most of the time if cleaning is attempted the flex-duct will be damaged.
This is a picture of a damaged duct as see from a floor register on a new construction home that I inspected.
This is the result of an air duct cleaning company cleaning the construction debris out of the air supply ducts. The pink is the fiberglass insulation part of the flex-duct:
We also have fiberglass fiberboard air ducts. This type of air duct can not be cleaned either. The fiberboard has a protective covering that is easily damaged.
We really do not want fiberglass particles floating around in the air we are breathing every day!
So, if you have metal air ducts you can clean them. If you have flexible type of fiberboard air ducts you should not clean them. This type of air duct needs to be replaced and not cleaned.
Scott Patterson, Middle Tennessee Home Inspector
http://www.traceinspections.com/
Is it a good idea or is it a bad idea to clean your air ducts?
It depends on what the air ducts are made of! If you have the strong sheet metal air ducts, then it might be a good idea to have a qualified company clean them. The key is a quality company that knows what they are doing!
But, if you have those flexible plastic air ducts that are in the majority of the homes that have been built in the past eight or so years then you might want to rethink having them cleaned. The flex-duct type plastic air ducting is like a sandwich. it is comprised of an inner layer of plastic like sheeting then a layer of fiberglass insulation and then an exterior layer of plastic. Most of the time the inner layer has a wire that is built into it so that the duct will have additional strength and flexibility to help keep the duct from crushing and closing up. This wire also gives the air duct a fan or accordion shape, that traps dirt and dust. The plastic flex- duct can not effectively be cleaned. Most of the time if cleaning is attempted the flex-duct will be damaged.
This is a picture of a damaged duct as see from a floor register on a new construction home that I inspected.
This is the result of an air duct cleaning company cleaning the construction debris out of the air supply ducts. The pink is the fiberglass insulation part of the flex-duct:
We also have fiberglass fiberboard air ducts. This type of air duct can not be cleaned either. The fiberboard has a protective covering that is easily damaged.
We really do not want fiberglass particles floating around in the air we are breathing every day!
So, if you have metal air ducts you can clean them. If you have flexible type of fiberboard air ducts you should not clean them. This type of air duct needs to be replaced and not cleaned.
Scott Patterson, Middle Tennessee Home Inspector
http://www.traceinspections.com/
Does your house have spots?
If your siding, car, fence or any other surfaces around your house have broken out with a rash of black or dark-brown specks that do not want to come off, you are probably at war with something called Artillery fungus.
I have seen this on many homes over the years, but I have noticed a drastic increase in the number of homes that have been "shot"! The following picture is from a home that I just inspected, even the PVC plastic privacy fence had been shot!
The artillery fungus, cannon fungus or shotgun fungus resembles a tiny cream or orange-brown cup with one black egg. The cup is approximately 1/10 of an inch in diameter. Areas of mulch with artillery fungi may appear matted and lighter in color than the surrounding mulch. The fruiting body of this fungus orients itself towards bright surfaces, such as light-colored houses or parked automobiles. The artillery fungus "shoots" its black, sticky spore mass which can be windblown as high as the second story of a house.
After doing some research I think that I have discovered why we are seeing more homes with artillery fungus problems. It looks like the appearance of Artillery fungi has been associated with wood mulch (versus bark mulch) and the increased use of wood products in potting media. Mostly the use of ground-up wood pallets and unused pulp wood and the use of fallen trees from storms that have been ground into mulch .
The best way to limit your exposure is the composting of these products prior to incorporation into media is encouraged to prompt the growth of beneficial antagonistic organisms. Better yet, use only the bagged or prepackaged mulch from a garden center. Bulk mulch (not in bags) tends to be more of a raw material that could contain spores.
Also, the use of gravel mulch, stone, pea gravel, and black plastic next to buildings instead of using wood products will help reduce the problem. If wood products are used, the addition of about 3 cm of fresh mulch to cover old mulch each year may lessen the problem. Use of bark products, rather than wood products, may also lessen the fungal spread.
One word of warning to homeowners wishing to replace house siding splattered by Artillery fungi --- insurance companies may not cover claims of damage due to "molds".
I have seen this on many homes over the years, but I have noticed a drastic increase in the number of homes that have been "shot"! The following picture is from a home that I just inspected, even the PVC plastic privacy fence had been shot!
The artillery fungus, cannon fungus or shotgun fungus resembles a tiny cream or orange-brown cup with one black egg. The cup is approximately 1/10 of an inch in diameter. Areas of mulch with artillery fungi may appear matted and lighter in color than the surrounding mulch. The fruiting body of this fungus orients itself towards bright surfaces, such as light-colored houses or parked automobiles. The artillery fungus "shoots" its black, sticky spore mass which can be windblown as high as the second story of a house.
After doing some research I think that I have discovered why we are seeing more homes with artillery fungus problems. It looks like the appearance of Artillery fungi has been associated with wood mulch (versus bark mulch) and the increased use of wood products in potting media. Mostly the use of ground-up wood pallets and unused pulp wood and the use of fallen trees from storms that have been ground into mulch .
The best way to limit your exposure is the composting of these products prior to incorporation into media is encouraged to prompt the growth of beneficial antagonistic organisms. Better yet, use only the bagged or prepackaged mulch from a garden center. Bulk mulch (not in bags) tends to be more of a raw material that could contain spores.
Also, the use of gravel mulch, stone, pea gravel, and black plastic next to buildings instead of using wood products will help reduce the problem. If wood products are used, the addition of about 3 cm of fresh mulch to cover old mulch each year may lessen the problem. Use of bark products, rather than wood products, may also lessen the fungal spread.
One word of warning to homeowners wishing to replace house siding splattered by Artillery fungi --- insurance companies may not cover claims of damage due to "molds".
Scott Patterson, Middle Tennessee Home Inspector
http://www.traceinspections.com/
http://www.traceinspections.com/
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