Guides
Guides for buyers and owners
Longer notes on the things people ask about before and after an inspection. They describe what is typical in Metro Vancouver, not what is true of any one house.
Before you book
How an inspection works and how to fit it into a purchase.
- What a home inspection does and does not coverThe scope of a standard inspection, the parts nobody can see, and the questions that need a specialist instead.
- Subject removal: how to plan inspection timingA short subject period leaves little room. What to book first, what to send us, and what slips when you are rushed.
- Reading your inspection report: priority ratingsThirty pages, sixty findings, one weekend. How to find the five things that matter first.
- How to prepare your home for an inspectionA checklist for sellers. Access matters more than cleaning, and the small fixes matter more than the big ones.
Systems and materials
Things that show up in older Lower Mainland houses, and what a buyer should do about them.
- Knob-and-tube wiring and Federal Pacific or Zinsco panels: what buyers should knowOld wiring is common in Vancouver houses. What it is, what to ask your insurer, and when a panel is a concern.
- Poly-B plumbing in BC homesGrey plastic supply pipe from roughly the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s. How to recognize it and what to ask.
- Oil tanks and buried tanks in older BC homesMany houses built before the 1970s once burned oil. What a tank can leave behind, and what an inspector can and cannot tell you.
- Roof ages and what BC weather does to themAsphalt, cedar, metal and flat roofs each age differently on the wet coast. Typical lifespans, and the places that fail first.
- Crawl space moisture: signs and what to doThe small room under the floor collects most of a house's water problems. How to read the signs.
- Typical lifespans of house componentsA reference table of typical service lives, with what shortens each one. Ranges only, never promises.
Building types and eras
Why a house from one decade behaves differently from the next.
- Building eras in Metro Vancouver: what each period meansA timeline from pre-1920 houses to new rainscreen buildings, with what usually needs attention in each period.
- Vancouver Specials: what to look atThe boxy stucco house on a 33-foot lot. What to expect inside, and what usually needs attention.
- Leaky condos: what the building envelope era means for buyersWhy buildings from roughly 1982 to 2000 are different, and the documents that tell you whether a building has been fixed.
13 guides. They are general information written for buyers and owners in Metro Vancouver, and they do not replace advice on a specific property.