Comments on: Home Inspection Questions - Exterior of the House (Part 1) http://www.oneprojectcloser.com/services/home-inspection-questions-exterior-of-the-house-part-1/ Home improvement and related topics from four evening and weekend warriors striving for the perfect homes... Thu, 21 Aug 2008 17:08:37 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6 By: Ethan http://www.oneprojectcloser.com/services/home-inspection-questions-exterior-of-the-house-part-1/#comment-516 Ethan Sun, 13 Apr 2008 22:57:11 +0000 http://www.oneprojectcloser.com/services/home-inspection-questions-exterior-of-the-house-part-1/#comment-516 Why S, 10-12 layers is a crazy number. Great that your inspector was able to pick up on that. The more you find before purchasing the better. Why S,

10-12 layers is a crazy number. Great that your inspector was able to pick up on that. The more you find before purchasing the better.

]]> By: Why S? http://www.oneprojectcloser.com/services/home-inspection-questions-exterior-of-the-house-part-1/#comment-515 Why S? Sun, 13 Apr 2008 20:53:35 +0000 http://www.oneprojectcloser.com/services/home-inspection-questions-exterior-of-the-house-part-1/#comment-515 Our inspector pointed out that our house had at least 10 - 12 layers of roofing - and that that was not normal and definitely not ok. Because of that info, which was not visually obvious, we were able to get a new roof as part of the sale and all the old material was properly removed in the process. But I kept finding nails and pieces of asphalt in the yard for years. Our inspector pointed out that our house had at least 10 - 12 layers of roofing - and that that was not normal and definitely not ok. Because of that info, which was not visually obvious, we were able to get a new roof as part of the sale and all the old material was properly removed in the process. But I kept finding nails and pieces of asphalt in the yard for years.

]]> By: Fred http://www.oneprojectcloser.com/services/home-inspection-questions-exterior-of-the-house-part-1/#comment-493 Fred Fri, 11 Apr 2008 02:24:00 +0000 http://www.oneprojectcloser.com/services/home-inspection-questions-exterior-of-the-house-part-1/#comment-493 Tyler - amazing story. Glad you were able to get the ants taken care of without too much trouble. We will definitely add this to the list for this post (look for the update in the actual post). I remember my termite inspector doing a special check for carpenter ants and finding them outside. The POs paid the extra $$ to get them eradicated, so we were saved the hassle. Tyler - amazing story. Glad you were able to get the ants taken care of without too much trouble. We will definitely add this to the list for this post (look for the update in the actual post). I remember my termite inspector doing a special check for carpenter ants and finding them outside. The POs paid the extra $$ to get them eradicated, so we were saved the hassle.

]]> By: Tyler http://www.oneprojectcloser.com/services/home-inspection-questions-exterior-of-the-house-part-1/#comment-489 Tyler Thu, 10 Apr 2008 14:25:57 +0000 http://www.oneprojectcloser.com/services/home-inspection-questions-exterior-of-the-house-part-1/#comment-489 One thing I never would've thought to ask or look for until we bought our current home 2 years ago... Carpenter Ants! Ugh!!! They don't make their damage as obvious as termites, so it takes more work for an inspector to find evidence of them (the best way to know for sure is to shop for a house in spring when they're hatching). When carpenter ants make their way inside, they burrow into the wood beams of the house to make nests, and their burrows obviously weaken the wood. We purchased our house in January, and in May the yard was overrun with ants. I probably could've handled this, but I started finding ants in our basement. At first just a few here and there, but when the big hatch occurred, our basement carpet was suddenly alive and crawling with itty bitty insects. Natuarally, I freaked out and wouldn't allow my children to go in the basement until they were all dead, lol! We had to have the exterior and interior of our home sprayed with insectiside (and moved in with my parents for a few days), as well the exterminator spent HOURS searching for nests and powdering them - he also powedered inside every single light plate and outlet cover. Now, we prevent the little devils from getting in by having the exterior perimiter sprayed down every May. Since the entire neighbourhood is overrun with carpenter ants, this will be a never-ending expense. The most frustrating thing about this... There were not enough burrows for us to replace any beams in our home (thank goodness), but there were enough for the extermiator to be certain that the ant had been inside for at least a couple years. The previous owners did not disclose this, but perhaps if we'd known to ask... One thing I never would’ve thought to ask or look for until we bought our current home 2 years ago… Carpenter Ants! Ugh!!! They don’t make their damage as obvious as termites, so it takes more work for an inspector to find evidence of them (the best way to know for sure is to shop for a house in spring when they’re hatching). When carpenter ants make their way inside, they burrow into the wood beams of the house to make nests, and their burrows obviously weaken the wood.

We purchased our house in January, and in May the yard was overrun with ants. I probably could’ve handled this, but I started finding ants in our basement. At first just a few here and there, but when the big hatch occurred, our basement carpet was suddenly alive and crawling with itty bitty insects. Natuarally, I freaked out and wouldn’t allow my children to go in the basement until they were all dead, lol!

We had to have the exterior and interior of our home sprayed with insectiside (and moved in with my parents for a few days), as well the exterminator spent HOURS searching for nests and powdering them - he also powedered inside every single light plate and outlet cover. Now, we prevent the little devils from getting in by having the exterior perimiter sprayed down every May. Since the entire neighbourhood is overrun with carpenter ants, this will be a never-ending expense.

The most frustrating thing about this… There were not enough burrows for us to replace any beams in our home (thank goodness), but there were enough for the extermiator to be certain that the ant had been inside for at least a couple years. The previous owners did not disclose this, but perhaps if we’d known to ask…

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