Never heard of a pent roof? That’s okay, my spell check doesn’t even recognize it.  They were rather common on the early homes around my area.  Now they’re almost extinct. A pent roof is a small single-slope roof that is attached to a house just above the first floor’s windows and doors.  Although some describe it as a small porch roof, it’s self supporting, without posts, columns or brackets.  As an ...

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There’s a quaint late 19th century town not far from my home. I’ve inspected a lot of the old homes there and some really cool old shops and manufacturing buildings. My wife loves driving through it and seeing the really well preserved historic buildings. It’s quite apparent that the folks there really care about maintaining the character of their town. The original part of the town was laid out on the ...

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Old-house folklore -- I hear it everywhere.  Unfortunately, some home owners believe it if they hear it from people that hold themselves out to be professionals. In a Canadian newspaper, the Toronto Star, a home inspector was interviewed as the sole source for a piece titled "Take a careful look at older homes.”  On the topic of hazardous materials he states: “In older homes in the plaster they used horse hair to ...

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