George did a home inspection of a century home in welland for me...my main concern was if the house had knob and tube wiring.. numerous times I asked him if the house contained this..every response was no...he found ungrounded plugs on the main and second floor...upon taking the cover off the breaker panel and looking at the unfinished basement..he adamantly said no knob and tube...and said electrical satisfactory in report...well...upon having an electrician in...I have found the entire house is indeed knob and tube as well as aluminum wiring in unfinished basement ..and that the entire house is wired to only one circuit breaker...long story short..I wouldnt recommend george to do an inspection...waste of money...george...thank you for your response... where do i start... the several issues you are referring to are mere capping of outside siding, a post in the ground sticking up, etc things like this.... the 400 items... wow... the house is 1300 sq not the magnitude you alude to... the 14 sub categories which are sheets preprinted which contain info on that category ie... outside of home...eg wood siding brick...etc... yes your eyes would tell you what the house was made of ...so you read down the chart and tick the correct one... same idea for the other categories ie..electricity,plumbing... etc,., so when you say you looked at 400 items.... wow.... you mention that you didnt see knob and tube in the attic... im sorry the electrician did.... he also saw it in the electric panel downstairs..... and... the asbestos... nice touch... i comment on knob and tube and you bring something totally irrelevant up to the issue.... yes there is a 26”x34” piece of asbestos type material in the basement... you said 500$ to remove or just use a piece of panelling to cover it.... i asked specifically if you would be putting that in your report... to which you replied no its so small ... to which i thanked you.... regardless the issue i came here for was the knob and tube... lastly... as a consumer i am intitled to my opinion on your services.... you denied me being a customer first... then when proof was offered you whined and complained that my comment was unfair.... i removed it... and stated “just the facts mamme”... as per your request on this site... then... as expected you come back and throw the asbestos at me... all i can say is `WOW``.... people ... reading this... please do yourself a great favour... hire an electrician and a plumber to do your inspection... 100$ each.... will save you a ton of money down the line.....
- Approximate cost of services:
- $360.00
- Company Response
Dear Ms V. Drake,
We regret that you have experienced concerns with your home. We strive to do a thorough home inspection each and every time. As you saw I spent over 3 hours at this home and discovered several issues including the presence of an "Asbestos like material" that could only be identified when tested through a lab. During our inspection we checked over 400 items in a very short amount of time. This included checking for knob and tube wiring. We looked for signs of this in the attic, the open basement and the main electrical panel. When the panel was inspected it was found to contain copper wiring. We can not look behind walls and we do not remove faceplates off receptacles and then remove the circuit wiring from the receptacles. This would involve turning off power at the panel. Removing faceplates and turning off the power at the panel is not in our scope of work. Your entire house was wired to one main electrical panel which is not uncommon for a home of that size.
Please understand that there are limitations to a home inspection. Many components of the home such as knob and tube wiring are not visible during the inspection and very little historical information is provided in advance of the inspection. While we can reduce your risk of purchasing a home, we cannot eliminate it, nor can we assume it. Even the most comprehensive inspection cannot be expected to reveal every condition you may consider significant to ownership.
George Mendes, C.H.I., C.M.I.,
Owner/Operator,
Homesweethomeinspections.ca
905-324-HSHI (4744)