The Home Inspection

We made an offer on the property next door to us back at the beginning of August. The property was going into foreclosure, and so we made a "short sale" offer. Turns out that there is nothing "short" about a short sale, but that's a story for another day.

We've gotten to the point that we needed a home inspection done. The inspector came this morning, and you guessed it. He inspected. And inspected. And inspected. And typed on a very cool computer setup in the back of his van. And inspected. And typed. Then printed- wow! Still in his van office. He then brought in a beautiful work of inspection art, all encased in a 3 ring binder.

Barry made it through approximately two pages before he bailed with the excuse that he had to get ready for work- sorry Mr. Inspector. If you got to know him during your inspecting, you had to know he wasn't hanging around for the boring part.

I, on the other hand, revel in the "boring" stuff that he hates. Are you kidding me? An itemized list, with pictures, captions, color coding, and arrows? I was all over that 3 ring binder of type A inspection goodness. In fact it is sitting on the coffee table in front of me right now so that when I finish typing this I can peruse it and add even more of my very own color coded sub notes and lists, but I digress.

Back to the inspection. The "Inspector" (I think I like saying that.) was going over his carefully crafted 3 ring binder, and he had very view surprises for me.

Little does he know that I have already secretly (or maybe not so secretly for those of you who know me) made a notebook of my own individual findings.

Any who, he gets to the page about the attic. I had not previously checked out the attic, and from his findings I have decided that it is highly unlikely that I will ever willingly do so. Nothing detrimental to our purchasing the home, but this blue (which is code for not needing immediate attention, but you'll probably want to take care of it sooner rather than later) sentence jumped off the page at me:

"Rodent activity is apparent in the insulation. A pest control specialist should be consulted."

This statement was followed by some pictures of the attic joists and insulation. One of which had the catchy caption of:

"Evidence of rodent activity in the attic."

This picture involved what appears to be black lumps on the white blown in insulation clumps. Yuck!

So I ask him, "Have mice torn it up pretty bad? Do we need to have more insulation put up there?"

The response with a completely serious and professional demeanor, "Nope, the insulation looks fine. I'm not a dropping expert, but I'm pretty sure that you're going to need a pest control company with a live trap system. Whatever you got up there is a heck of a lot bigger than a mouse."

He then turned the page and proceeded to tell me about the broken bracket on the handrail of the stairs. Which incidentally is also color coded in blue.

I have since highlighted the attic page blue note in flaming hot pink, as this has risen to the top of my personal priority list. I can't help but feel like anytime someone mentions "live trapping" in the same breath as the attic of a place I have the intentions to put my bed in, it should warrant a higher ranking on the color code system. Just sayin'.

The rest of the report was the usual: the carpet is worn, the furnace is old, the roof is good, the stucco cracks are from minor settling and weather exposure, etc.

So to recap.

I am in the market for new floor covering, someone who does stucco repair, a furnace, and wood stove.

And oh yeah, A PEST CONTROL COMPANY WITH THE ABILITY TO "LIVE TRAP" THE MONGOOSE THAT HAS CLAIMED THE ATTIC. 

All of which is carefully color coded in blue and now lovingly highlighted in hot pink.