Most questions are asked through the magazines I write for and since this blog thing is new and I haven't advertised it anywhere, I thought I would throw out another interesting event...Just last week I had another “I’ve got a moisture intrusion issue, can you help me identify the problem” call. I love this stuff. From the front door, I was being briefed on the problem, symptoms and home owner diagnosis. At first glance, the problem was obvious to me. Following the physics…a visqueen vapor barrier was installed on the interior of the wall assembly. As water would pass through the wall, water vapor would condense on the visqueen, gravity would pull it down, capillary action would cause horizontal and vertical migration, water and cellulose (carpet/baseboard/tack strip) would enable mold growth which was Le Grande Manifestation on the interior. Wa, la. Diagnosis easy…cure simple but big pain in the butt! But…now it can be fixed.

Earlier this week, I had a pretty mundane inspection of a vacant REO (bank owned) house. It was actually a very nice house and left in good shape. The bank required some air quality testing. At the realtor's direction I could take only one air sample on the interior. I chose the master bedroom because it had previous visible evidence of water intrusion around the window. No other visible evidences in the house. Well...the lab came back high in Aspergillus/Penicillium, a known carcinogen! I wouldn't have guessed it and it just goes to show you...you never know. If you're buying a house, it's always a good idea to have some air quality testing performed. Yes it costs more. Our pricing starts at $135. But...the professional mold mitigation now required will likely cost thousands. At least the buyer can go back and negotiate for it without having to come out of pocket!

Jon's first post

A pure dry run here. First ever blog. I've been a professional home inspector for over 10 years with specific interests in moisture intrusion and defective building products. With the tidal wave of foreclosures, short sales are a big business. Our inspections have been dubbed "the most valuable home performance evaluation in Central Florida because of the BIG money investors have negotiated using our in depth reports.

I am also a professional speaker for the real estate investment community. I have an awesome, totally unique product called "BUYAWARE". Check out http://www.buyaware.net/ for more info. Should your group need newsletter content or speakers, please let me know!