Pillar to Post Home Inspectors
21995 28 Ave V2Z 1P2 Langley, BC, Canada

Go with a pro Got a brother-in-law who’s a contractor? He’ll probably do a stellar job on your renovations, but he might not be the right person to hire for you...r home inspection. A home inspector has to have basic knowledge of virtually everything related to a home,. A contractor might not have the right equipment to look for moisture or test the electrical. Make sure you hire a home inspector whose a member of the HIABC. Our members have to complete rigorousness theoretical training through Carson Dunlop (a Canadian company) followed by a minimum of 75 hours field/quality assurance training. Quality does not come cheap Ask first when choosing a home inspector: Do you belong to HIABC? See more

In case you missed it, check out our latest PostNotes newsletter featuring holiday and winter fire safety tips, smoke alarm info and more. We’ve even got some e...asy winter decorating ideas for your home. Check out all this and more! https://pillartopost.com//pillar-to-post-newsletter-vol-2/

There's more upsides than downsides to living in the Lower Mainland. We live in a rainforest, with beautiful green trees and foliage. And they stay that way bec...ause of the rain. Lots of rain and wind. The rain and wind wreak havoc on our homes, especially perimeter drains and roofs. Home inspectors in BC often report glogged gutters. Clogged gutters can lead to a host of problems in and outside of your home. Cleaning the gutters of your home is just no fun at all. That’s why the majority of homeowners list this tiresome, messy chore as one of their least-favorite tasks. If you hate gutter cleaning or you are not able to properly clean out your home’s gutters because of physical or structural challenges, you should hire a professional cleaning gutter service to do the job for you. If you’re up to the task, cleaning out the gutters is a relatively straightforward process, and an absolutely essential chore. Failing to clean out the gutters can cause massive damage to your home’s structure, costing hundreds or even thousands of dollars to repair. The Dangers of Clogged Gutters The primary job of your rain gutters is to transport the rain from wind and rain storms down from your roof and away from your home’s foundation. When gutters get clogged with debris, leaves, twigs and animal activity, problems begin to surface. The first and most obvious risk with gutters filled to the brim is weight. Stress on the gutters can cause them to come crashing down, which can cost on average $1,500 to $2,500 to replace, depending on the size of your home. What home inspectors see all the time while inspecting houses is water damage, which can lead to rot. Water from storms have to go somewhere. When the gutters are full, they drip down the side of the house, causing the siding to rot. Other concerns are stained siding, as well as the formation of ice dams during the winter. This can lead to expensive repairs and remodeling. The next issue to confront is foundation damage. In addition to damaging or staining the siding, water can drop down into the basement, causing cracks and bringing the risk of mold and rot indoors. This can make your whole home fundamentally flawed, and is very expensive to repair. Clogged gutters can also cause driveways and walkways to crack and sag. This is a very common problem. If you end up with substantial flooding in the basement, it's time to phone your insurance company. They will work on remediation and restoration. A final worrying issue is pests. Mosquitoes and other insects love nothing more than standing water. At best, your family will suffer from bug bites, and at worst, you put them at risk for dangerous illnesses. The Solution to Clogged Gutters The solution is simple, but you have to do it! Regular gutter cleaning is essential. The most basic solution is to either hire a professional service to clean out your gutter, or get a ladder and a few basic tools and pull the debris out of your gutters. Doing it yourself? You’ll need a ladder, hose, gloves, trough, and trash bags. Start by setting a steady ladder an arm’s length away from a corner downspout, tucking a few trash bags in your back pocket. Hold your garden trowel or trough in your hand as you climb the ladder, as they can harpoon you if you fall. Use your tool to pull debris away from the downspout, then put it in the trash bags and simply drop the bag to the ground when full. Move the ladder and repeat. We have to come to terms with understanding that it's BC, and most of it is rainforest. Rain and wind, and proximity to trees around our home contribute to us having to be proactive when dealing with our gutters. At minimum, gutters should be cleaned once in the spring, and again in the fall of each year. Still hesitant on tackling this chore yourself? Consider using a professional service or even a local handyman. Get multiple estimates and references, and ensure that they are insured. Depending on where you live, the cost of gutter cleaning ranges from $75 to $225 for an average home, depending on the scope of work. These services do a great job of cleaning out gutters properly, and can also address minor leaks, structural damage, and other challenges related to rain or water damage.

How are you holding up as we are 75% through 2020? Hopefully better than this support...

It’s Fire Friday! Did you know that heating equipment is one of the leading causes of home fire deaths? With a few simple safety tips & precautions you can prevent most heating fires from happening. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jS5xGfRO-Tw

What to bring on your Home Inspection! If this is your first home inspection, or you've moved and used home inspectors several times, I hope I have a few newer ...insights into how to enhance this experience. It's a stressful thing, making a decision about where you are going to live. You might be raising a family in this neighbourhood, and your kids will grow up here, go to Scouts, make friends, have birthday parties. Or maybe you're downsizing, and you're interested in your home being close to shops, restaurants, the golf course and entertainment venues. It's a personal choice, and of course you've done all the due diligence in deciding on your place. Now you have a subject to home inspection, and this is where we meet. You've already looked at every room in the house, but here is an excellent opportunity to look at it with a more practiced eye while on your home inspection. Bring a tape measure. You might want to measure a room for furniture or area carpet placement or carpet replacement. Bring a notepad or your digital pad to take notes. I'm the kind of home inspector who will be talking a lot about the different components as we do our "walkabout" inspecxtion. These tips and tricks can come in handy down the road, and if you keep a record of them, you'll be happy! Of course, I'm always just a phone call away if you decide to buy, and it's six months later and you forgot what I said about the water shutoff. If you've got an iPad, you might want to take pictures as we go along. I'll be pointing out where the shutoffs are, and the gas furnace, the electrical panel, etc. If there's something of interest you want to "tag" now's a good time! Of course, bring questions. Lots of questions. Every house has it's own story, and sometimes, as a home inspector, it's like being a member of CSI discovering where and how that water stain occurred. Not every water stain is a sign of problems. Sometimes it's a sign of a problem that was fixed on the outside and not fixed on the inside. A new roof replacement perhaps, but they haven't repainted since the roof replacement. Over the course of years, so much depends on regular maintenance. Two houses side by side in the same neighbourhood will have dramatically different results 20 years later. If one was not maintained properly, the furnace might be shot, the sidewalks sinking, water damage in the shower stalls. The house next door to it might be in move-in and like-new condition. There are small signs sometimes, that lead to big answers. In the end, it's all your decision on if this is the house for you. It might be a house that has to have almost a perfect move-in appearance, with all the bells and whistles that you have on your list. Or you might be more comfortable in a home that has some projects attached to it, to make it completely your style while living in it. These esthetics are essentially your choice, many times based on your budget and home-improvement savvy. I built and subcontracted every home I lived in. Why? Because I'm too picky, says my wife, but at the same time, we don't move that often. We built the things that we couldn't change with the best materials we could afford, and the things we could change, we went with a much lower budget. For example, over time, lighting fixtures can be easily replaced to make a home look newer and fresher, but 6 inch exterior walls, well, that's impossible to change. So, bring your questions, your notepad or iPad, your camera, and your tape measure. I'll supply the rest. Happy House Hunting!