The following costs are intended as general cost estimates for
repairs and/or improvements to a typical three bedroom home. The scope and size of a
project will dramatically affect actual costs. Costs also vary based on the part of the
country the property is located. Also the quality and price of materials used varies
widely. The information listed below should be used for basic planning and exploratory
purposes.
For an, Up To Date cost of repair guide we recommend one of the following books or view the older estimates below.
Got flood damage? Watch out for home repair scams Chicago Sun-Times Illinois law requires a written contract listing all costs for home repair or remodeling work over $1000. • Be wary of contractors who demand full payment ...
Chemung seniors can apply for home repair grants Elmira Star-Gazette Community Progress Inc. has emergency housing repair funds available for Chemung County senior homeowners, outside of the city of Elmira, who are age 60 or ...
Home Repair With Roger Faris KUOW NPR When it comes to home repair, there can be unexpected complications. How do you finish roofing a house when it's pouring rain? How can you safely paint your ...
Grant will help repair homes of low-income residents Hamilton Journal News (subscription) HAMILTON — People Working Cooperatively, a local nonprofit organization that provides critical home repair to help residents stay safely in their homes, ...
"Honey-Do" Home Repair Program KOLO CARSON CITY, NV - Carson City Resident Christina Slade can get in and out of her side gate a lot easier these days. But a little less than a year ago, ...
City Warns Flood Victims of Home Repair Scams MyFox Chicago Chicago - Chicago is warning flood victims to watch out for fraudulent home repair companies that may try to prey upon residents affected by severe weekend ...
Good Neighbors work camp has volunteers sweating southern chester county weeklies ... at the pool and playing xBox to help a group of growing volunteers for Good Neighbors Home Repair Ministry patch up houses in desperate need of work. ...
Mrs. Fixit: Chaise Covers 6abc.com From home repair or to handy how-to hints, Mrs. Fixit has the answers you need. 073110 - (WPVI) -- A Chaise lounge in a backyard is a great way to spend a ...
Extension workshop will discuss home maintenance East Dubuque Register With the recent events in our economy, it is more important than ever to take care of your biggest investment - your home. University of Illinois Extension ...
Reverse Mortgages Aren't Catching On U.S. News & World Report (blog) Homeowners remain responsible for all home maintenance expenses and property taxes. Under certain conditions, the products are a sensible solution for aging ...
Climbing vine hard to manage Akron Beacon Journal Have a question about home maintenance, decorating or gardening? Akron Beacon Journal home writer Mary Beth Breckenridge will find answers for the queries ...
Home and garden news and notes Kansas City Star (Have a question about home maintenance, decorating or gardening? Akron Beacon Journal home writer Mary Beth Breckenridge will find answers for the queries ...
Basic Home Maintenance course offered in Asheville Asheville Citizen-Times The Buncombe County Cooperative Extension Center is offering a five-series Basic Home Maintenance Course from 5:30-7:30 pm Mondays August 2-30. ...
Council nixes property maintenance code change Tri-Town News The purpose of the home maintenance sections are to maintain public health, safety and welfare, according to the ordinance, but several council members were ...
20 quick maintenance chores AZ Central.com 26, 2010 05:36 PM Not every home-maintenance chore takes a lot of time and money. Here are 20 worthwhile tasks that will take you 20 minutes or less and ...
Real Deal: Buying is exciting, but be prepared The Tennessean ... if you are financially ready, taking into consideration the costs of a down payment, closing costs, annual property taxes and home maintenance. ...
Loudoun County news in brief Washington Post The quarterly seminars, which will be administered by the Department of Family Services, will cover subjects such as budgeting, home maintenance, ...
Electrical OR Plumbing OR Roof OR HVAC OR Fireplace OR Chimney location:usa - Google News
Electrical OR Plumbing OR Roof OR HVAC OR Fireplace OR Chimney location:usa - Google News
Roof 'stable and safe,' Alamo report says Dallas Morning News The Alamo's vaulted roof is "stable and safe," although repairs are needed to waterproof its cracks and leaks, ...
Roof leaks at China Town market force its shutdown TheDay.com Store employees said the health-district shutdown is considered permanent, but they hope to reopen when the roof is fixed. Su said it would likely take ...
Electrical malfunction starts fire in wall of home Statesman Journal The blaze started in a wall of the home and was likely caused by an electrical malfunction, Stephenson said. He estimated the damage at about $5000. ...
PSEG 2Q profit falls 21.5 percent BusinessWeek Electrical utility Public Service Enterprise Group Inc. said on Friday that its second-quarter profit fell 21.5 percent due to the weak economy and low ...
Electrical malfunction causes smoky fire at Ardsley Rite Aid The Journal News | LoHud.com ARDSLEY — A fire in a closed pharmacy that began in the wall behind a row of refrigerators was put out by village firefighters early Friday morning before ...
InspectionNews.net is the first, the largest and still the BEST independent home inspection resource and message board. InspectionNews has all the home inspection resources you could want.
I came across this vent termination in a housing track built in 1988, which all of the houses were identical. The box is a majestic MBUC36 and the instructions that i could locate do not show this type of termination, it just shows a cap. So my question is, should there be a separation of the debris flue and cooling flues within this shroud? And / or is the cooling system too close to the debris flue (center flue).
Inspected this attic of a modular home several months ago. I had limited access to the attic but called out the rafter splices as questionable.
Engineer comes back and says they are a "hinged roof truss framing system...and are common construction techniques in the modular home industy" and that all is ok.
The first pic is in an attic knee wall area. The other pics are of the attic.
I think the engineer looked in behind the knee walls and didn't actually enter the attic. (area above a third floor ceiling)
I am just looking for other opinions.
Hey All,
I have a question that may be a good learning experience for all. First, I was doing an inspection in Westmont on a duplex (Row home type built in 1908).
See attached photos - Here is the situation: The flat roof was in good shape and drained perfectly - all good. The second floor slope in towards the stairwell located along the party wall as follows: from the front and rear bedrooms the floor slopes about ½ inch every four feet towards the stairwell. The lateral slope from the side bedroom is One Inch/four feet. Pretty drastic, but it is amazing how subtle it seems until you actually measure it.
The second floor has the same slope issues and you can see that the stairs leading into the basement have a slope away from the party wall towards the open basement.
There has been a very temporary fix with a couple of lolly columns and a 4x4 that seems to have arrested the situation (judging by the paint at the top of walls) and the floors seem solid above (no bounce or even loose hardwood flooring).
More evidence: If you look at the pictures of the walls of the basement it looks like the basement was lowered to the bottom of the foundation (without any added lateral support) and a floor poured. In the corner, a sump pump was recently added and in doing so a corner or the basement is open to the dirt below the pour. I was able to take a four foot probe (see picture) and drive it right under the foundation walls at several points. (There is also evidence of erosion under this corner caused by poor drainage, but that is another issue).
What I think happened is that the basement was lowered a long long time ago (judging by the poured floor). When this happened they opened up the floor to put in the basement steps and did not adequately support the trimmers around the stairwell.
Lastly – you would think you would see settlement cracks somewhere – there are none inside or out. The basement walls look plumb (though there is a LOT of junk in this basement.
What are your thoughts? Did they lower basements in the past without any added lateral support? What would you recommend for the stairwell issue: a licensed contractor or a structural engineer?
I did a reinspect yesterday on a property I inspected for a client a few weeks ago. Well my client's realtor called me last week about the reinspect and asked if I take payment at closing. I said no, payment is due at time of inspection. So yesterday was the reinspect, the buyer gives me a check, but her agent asks about getting my tax ID# (something about the title company or somebody needing but didn't say exactly what for). Hmmmmm.....nobody ever asked me for that before. So yesterday afternoon, I get a message from the realtor saying if I have not yet cashed the buyer's check for the reinspect to hold onto it because the bank is going to send me a check for the reinspect.......and that they need my tax ID#. Ahhhhhh.......so it seems that even though I said "no payment at closing", it was going to be done this way all along and the buyer just gave me a check to play along (?).
I e-mailed the realtor reiterating our conversation from a week ago where I said "no payment at closing". Now the reinspect was yesterday and closing is just today. But it seems that nobody wants to listen to what the inspector says is the way payment needs to be made. The realtor called me a little while ago again saying the bank needs my tax ID#.
1 - I have one but don't know where it is (I have no need to have it on hand)
2 - I'm not going to go digging around my office to find it and give it to them so they can pay me the way I specifically stated in a manner I do not accept (at closing).
The realtor then said if I don't know where it is they'll need my SSN#. Let me think about tha......NO!!! I'm not giving my social to anybody. WTF!!!!
I'm annoyed about many things here but mainly because this is apparently the way the bank was planning on reimbursing my client for the reinspect fee but they purposely held off on telling me and tried to get me to do things to suit the bank.
Now I have to say I have no idea the way getting paid at closing works so I don't know if the bank/lender/title company needing a SSN or tax ID # is standard practice to cut a check to the inspector. I've never done payment at closing and I don't really like the idea of giving them the info they were requesting.
Just to verify.
When return air ducts are in an unconditioned crawl space, they must be insulated right?
And they can not be installed resting on a concrete floor right?
In general when did building practices start to include the requirement for fire separation materials between garages and living spaces? Are there any other commonly used materials in residential construction besides gypsum board to accomplish this?
I assume drop/acoustical ceilings are not a flame spread retarder...is that correct?
Inspected a house with a HUGE garage that extended under half the living spaces...the ceiling was a mess.
I ran across some site built trusses today. The roof deck deflection was pretty extreme IMO and the 2x4 top chords, as measured along the roof deck were spanning between 8 and 9 + feet...spacing at 16 o.c. Googling some rafter span tables and assuming southern pine/fir and 10 psf dead load and 20 psf live load I think puts those chords at or exceeding the allowable span. Is the below rough draft of a comment called for ? ...suggestions/editing/education are all welcome.
The roof of this home is constructed with what appear to be site built trusses. I observed greater than typical deflection of the roof deck while walking the roof. I also observed spans of the 2x4 top chords used in these trusses which are near to or exceeding the typical allowable span for 2x4 rafters. Recommend further evaluation of these trusses by a structural engineer.
Anybody know if it's possible to go directly to the end of a thread? Some of these longer topics are a PIA to scroll through to see whatever new stuff has been posted.
Anybody know if it's possible to go directly to the end of a thread? Some of these longer topics are a PIA to scroll through to see whatever new stuff has been posted.
We all have seen different types of aftermarket "Thermal" protection for attics, from silver spray paint to thermal decking, etc. This one in today's inspection utilized heavy foil paper installed and lying on top of the existing and original loose fill fiberglass insulation. All the loose fill insulation in the attic was covered by this foil. (The roof sheathing/decking was just regular wood OSB plywood). As I was looking at this today it appears to me maybe it installed wrong? ( I am thinking vapor barrier here). Assuming that you accept that a lot of mositure from inside the house makes it way to the attic and attic insulation, the mositure from the house would be trapped inside the insulation, because the attic insulation now has a foil paper covering it. From my view, this would prevent the attic loose fill insulation from "breathing". Seems this foil would hold household moisture inside the insulation rather than allowing it to escape.... What say ye insulation vapor barrier experts? I have included photos however they are not great. Look close. There is also foil covering the fiberglass wall batt insulation. I have checked a few websites and they do warn of a moisture trap in some cases.
Yes! You are right is a Gasoline engine powering a backup sump pump in a basement. I can hear the conservation now,
Husband: Honey look now our basement will stay dry!
Wife: Will that asphyxiate us and kids?
Husband: Maybe... I will just crack a window.
Would like some support if I'm right, and correction if I'm wrong. About to enter a discussion with an electrician over this. Would appreciate response as soon as possible.
Meter and service entrance panel are installed on exterior of house. This panel is grounded and bonded.
Inside the wall is the "main panel' (or what I would call the main distribution panel). Three conductors come in through the back of the panel, the 2 hot service conductors, the 3rd service neutral, AND a bare grounding wire that attached to the left bus bar - which is attached to right bus bar, which has a bonding jumper to back of the panel enclosure. Equipment grounding conductors and neutrals terminate at both busses. To me, this means that this 'sub panel' (main distribution panel), has been bonded a second time.
Hitch - it has been approved the that local state electrical inspector (now retired), and the current state electrical inspector approves this setup on a regular basis - so I am told by the electrician.
See pics.
Now - is anything wrong with this picture(s)?
IF it is wrong, then what is the danger?
Please - also drop some code references. I am going through NEC 2005 section 250 again, but could use some help interpreting the code language.
Thanks ahead of time
Terry Beck
Ok, Today's inspection the realtor tells me that there will be a second inspector coming to the house in 30 minutes. The buyer wants two inspections because he is from out of state and the relocation company is paying for them. The buyer was not going to be there and I got credit card confirmation for the inspection fee. So? What do you think of this situation? I think I found some major defects that the other Inspector did not find, but he may have found more than I. Has anyone had this happen before?