Seymour Indiana home inspector reveals Asbestos

New Albany Real Estate Inspection Done Right!

I have never had as much success than I’ve had with Certainty Home Inspections. They do a fantastic job with keeping your clients informed from beginning to end. Thank you for your wonderful service to me AND my clients! Amanda Braden Schuler Bauer Real Estate Services New Albany Indiana 47150

New Albany Indiana Home Inspection Company Does A Remarkable Job!

Your company does a remarkable job! Thanks for always keeping me informed on the inspections with your emails and phone calls. I always have a better feeling when I know Certainty is performing the home inspection. Keep up the good work! Jane Kelley Semonin New Albany Indiana 47150

Water Entry In Basement

Carbon Monoxide Poisoning

A growing number of states and cities are requiring homes to install a device that detects the presence of carbon monoxide, a dangerous gas that kills 2,000 people a year and sickens many times that number.

Surprising to most homeowners, carbon monoxide is the leading cause of accidental poisoning in the U.S. Detectors have been available for almost a decade, to alert people to the gases — odorless and colorless — spewed out by faulty furnaces, stoves and even barbecue grills. However, fewer than one-third of American homes have these inexpensive devices, according to industry surveys.

Just as laws requiring smoke alarms spurred nearly every household to install them during the past 20 years or so, legislators and doctors are hopeful that the new carbon-monoxide detector requirements will have the same effect.

Starting next month, most homes sold in New York state — new or resale — must have a carbon-monoxide monitor. Similar laws have already passed in Rhode Island, New Jersey and West Virginia. A number of other states are contemplating legislation. Action is being taken at the local level too: Cities such as Chicago and St. Louis have ordinances requiring detectors.

“A detector can save families from something they can not control,” says Stephen Gladstone, vice president of the American Society of Home Inspectors. “If somebody doesn’t have a carbon-monoxide alarm and their heating system malfunctions, they might just not wake up.” Nearly a decade ago, tennis star Vitas Gerulaitis died of carbon-monoxide poisoning from a faulty heater.

Legislation seems to have life-saving effects: Cities with ordinances that require carbon-monoxide detectors have much lower death rates from exposure to the gas than those that don’t, according to a study published last year in the American Journal of Emergency Medicine.

While fires and automobiles are the top producers of carbon monoxide, a typical family home has many possible culprits. Furnaces, kitchen stoves, water heaters, fireplaces, generators, camping stoves and charcoal barbecues — anything that burns fossil fuels such as gasoline, diesel fuel, wood and kerosene — can produce dangerous levels of the gas.

Carbon monoxide is produced when these fossil fuels don’t burn completely. Incomplete or “dirty” burning can occur if rust or grime falls into a furnace burner, if equipment cracks or rusts, if gas pressure is out of adjustment or if there isn’t proper ventilation for these devices. Health officials have seen carbon-monoxide poisoning occur after people warm up their cars in their garages, even for a few minutes.

“It can be produced so easily and it can spill into a home so easily,” says Tom Greiner, an Iowa human-housing engineer who is pressing for a law in his state to require detectors.

Today’s carbon-monoxide detectors don’t go off anytime they sense the gas. Earlier versions of the device (those made before 1998) did that and were tripped off so easily — a car pulling into the garage could cause it to go off — that many consumers saw them as an annoyance and were inclined to ignore them. New models go off when they sense a certain level of gas over a period of time. The detectors measure how many molecules of carbon monoxide are present in one million molecules of air (parts per million). Government regulations state that 50 parts per million is the maximum concentration a healthy adult should sustain over an eight-hour period. (A concentration of 400 parts per million can be life-threatening within three hours.)

Consumers can choose from inexpensive no-frills monitors that simply beep and cost around $15 to fancier $50 devices that have digital displays and flash the concentration detected. There are also combination smoke and carbon-monoxide alarms. Safety experts recommend that an alarm be placed outside bedrooms and on each floor of the house. Some also suggest putting a detector near carbon-monoxide-producing devices such as furnaces. Manufacturers suggest that people replace their alarms every seven years since sensors can degrade and electronics can fail. Companies that sell detectors include U.K.-based Kidde PLC and BRK Electronics’ First Alert.

Symptoms of carbon-monoxide poisoning vary depending on the concentration of gas in the air. Mild carbon-monoxide exposure often mimics the flu or food poisoning — with headaches, nausea, vomiting and fatigue — and is thus commonly misdiagnosed. Higher concentrations of carbon monoxide can cause almost immediate dizziness and nausea and can lead to convulsions, coma and death within a few hours, or even minutes at extremely high concentrations. Small children and those with heart and respiratory conditions are most at risk. And some patients complain of neurological symptoms months and even years after exposure.

Carbon monoxide suffocates the cells of the body: It enters the bloodstream and prevents the release of oxygen to the tissue. The only treatment for carbon-monoxide poisoning is to immediately leave the source of the gas and to administer oxygen.

If you suspect carbon monoxide poisoning in your Kentuckiana home, get everyone out of the building immediately, and call 911.  If it is safe to do so open windows to allow entry of fresh air, and turn off any appliances your suspect my be releasing the carbon monoxide.

When needing to test for carbon monoxie in your home locate a home inspector in Southern Indiana or Louisville Kentucky. Be sure to call one that is certified, licensed and insured. Certainty Home Inspections has three licensed home inspectors to make sure we can get your inspection done in the time you have left on your real estate contract. Don’t waste your money on a cheap Charlie inspector, have “Certainty” with your new home purchase.

Have Your Furnace Inspected

  Have your home heating system inspected to avoid freezing this winter.    The last thing you want in the cold winter is to not have any heat!  A maintenance check by a qualified heating contractor could be all that is needed to ensure that you have adequate heat for your family. 

A furnace usually involves the following:

1.  The thermostat calibration -A faulty or improperly installed thermostat could  keep the home from reaching ita adequate room temperatures. 

2.  The blower.  A dirty blower or its components can reduce or restrict air flow that’s needed to ensure proper efficiency.

3.  The heat exchangers.  This inspection is for cracks and corrosion that could make the furnace unsafe to operate.

4.  The filter.  A dirty air filter causes decreased heat efficiency,causing the unit to run harder, comprising the realiability of the unit.

5.  The burners.  Should be cleaned so that they can function properly

6.  The fan.  The fan must be able to operate properly to ensure adequate room air temperatures.

There are many dealers who offer preventative maintenance contracts that will cover periodic inspection an repairs.  Contact a heating and air technician to ensure safety for your family this winter.

Have your furnace checked by Certainty Home Inspections by one of licensed home inspectors during your home inspection. We are licensed in Indiana and Kentucky.

To book your complete home inspection in Indiana and Kentucky, call Certainty Home Inspections today at 1-866-417-9591.

SSSSSOOO! What’s Living In Your Attic?

SSSSOOOO! What’s living in your attic?

Do you have an automatic mouse exterminator calling himself “At Home”  or maybe its a bird or squirrel building nests and saying this is it, my new home!   Its not uncommon  in Indiana and Kentucky to find nesting, snake skins or other unwanted pests in attics.  Whatever it is, when Certainty Home Inspections inspects your attic, your sure to know that the problem exists.  If the attic is accessible, we’ll inspect it and tell you exactly what we see lurking in your attic.  We don’t just stick our head in the attic, we walk it, if possible, so that we can see all possible concerns, even the unwanted ones.

Above Left: The only evidence this Snake left behind      Above right: Nest found in an attic

Right: A Snake was trapped trying to enter the soffitt to get into the attic.  Snakes will enter attics due to weather conditions, to find food such as mice and birds and for the heat of the attic.

To book your home inspection and have your attic checked for unwanted pests call Certainty Home Inspections today at 1-866-417-9591

Communication & Professionalism Unmatched!

The level of communication and professionalism is unmatched.  Certainty works very hard to make my clients happy. Lisa Korfhage Schuler Bauer New Albany

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