Wanna be a Home Inspector in France?

[Richard Moore]

Back, after almost a month away. I do try to turn off the HI thing while on vacation, but I remember thinking the same thing during our Italy trip a few years ago. IE...how in the hell could you do our job in these countries? A few examples:

What would you report about this? Bowed walls and all. It's withstood the "test of time"?

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Ummm...the stucco, where visible, looks fine?

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Vegetation contact is a "conducive" condition?

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"Yes I can see your basement is damp, but I don't have my Scuba equipment to examine the foundation."

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"A Vendre"...For sale. Listed as a "fixer"?

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"Obviously, your roof is being repaired but, no, I have no idea how the lack of flashing affects the common walls."

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"Well if it's not your garage, or the neighbors, who is going to repair the roof?"

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The homes under these two were occupied...and the conditions were NOT that unusual.

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A "new" roof. Nice job(?), but notice the angled starter courses.

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I can also report that travelling through the channel tunnel only 2 days after a major fire was like driving slowly through 20 miles of freshly charred attic...with the windows open. Very smelly!!! I shouldn't complain though. I thought we were totally screwed on getting back to England before finding out Saturday morning that they had re-opened the unburnt tunnel to limited one-way (at a time) traffic.

BTW...anything strange happen to the economy while I was away? [:-paperba

[Bain]

Groovy photos. Thanks for sharing.

[ghentjr]

I love that place. Been there 5 times and going back for more.

[sepefrio]

Well photo #1 it typical French...left leaning

bah dah dat

[Richard Moore]

We spent almost 3 weeks in France, two of which were spent on a boat on the canal and waterway system in the Burgundy region. Then back to "Blighty" for a family visit.

Just to make you all a bit jealous, here's a couple of photos from the boat trip. The first is our boat with me skillfully navigating a turn through a village. The second is typical of the canal in the countryside.

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Oh...we also went through 129 locks. Got quite good at it!

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[kurt]

Very cool shots.

Folks are always worried about the old stuff. It's the new stuff that sucks.

Thanx for the share.

[hausdok]

Hi Rich, Welcome home.

Yeah, the French stuff is always interesting to see. My last tour in Germany I spent three years in Zweibrueken on the Southwestern German border with France and it was literally a five minute drive from the kaserne to a little French border crossing. My wife and I would occasionally drive over there to do a little shopping. Even then, years before I even knew what home inspectors were, I was struck by the contrast in the condition of homes in France with those in Germany. Even the oldest and poorest of German homes is normally neat as a pin and well kept up while the ones on the other side of that border were often allowed to fall into disrepair. I always found it strange that an imaginary line on the ground could cause such a shift in pride of ownership and cultural mindset.

It was the same way with the farms; the German farms were very neat and orderly and the farming equipment was always in great shape and when you crossed the border you'd see some French farming equipment that looked like it had been left to rust in the fields for years. Still, I loved traveling across France and down to the Normandy coast and the feel of the little cottages there. Traveling those canals must be a hoot.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike