by Steven Burnett / It was in the news recently that two different families lost their lives because of carbon monoxide gas. I felt it was important to bring back this article on this gas. Carbon Monoxide (CO) is a bi-product of combustion. You can’t see it or smell it. It is a heavy gas…
by Steven Burnett / One of my tasks as a home inspector is to make sure that the home has smoke detectors, and that they work. You would be surprised at how many of these things are just being used as ceiling decorations. Now, if you live in a home that was built after about…
By Michael Miller / Raising kids is like being a full-time traffic cop. It’s watching every direction at every moment, trying to anticipate disaster before it happens, enforcing rules that should be common sense but are often ignored in the pursuit of speed. “No” is the smallest big word in a parent’s vocabulary. Like the…
By Steven Burnett / EDITOR’S NOTE: Back in January of 2012, Steven Burnett was kind enough to enlighten us about radon in a two-part series. Time for a summer rerun, but this time both parts in the same post. If you live in Ohio or Southern Michigan, and you have purchased a house in the…
by Sheila Wathen / We’ve all heard the stories and were stunned. How could a parent forget a child in a car? It seems so impossible, and yet it happens year after year. As of July 21st of this year, 17 children have died from being left in a hot car. SEVENTEEN. Since 1998, on…
by Michael Miller As my sons celebrate their birthdays this month — Evan turns 7 and Sean turns 5 — their cognitive reach forces me to more carefully contemplate the lies I tell them and the truths I do not. Preserving the magic of Santa Claus and a legion of fairy tales is one thing.…
One question I get from home buyers is “How do I know if a meth lab was in this home?” This is generally for bank-owned homes, and particularly for those located in rural, out-of-the-way places. In Lenawee County, this is not as much an issues as in places like Detroit, Monroe, Lansing, etc., but it…
Steven Burnett of Journey Property Inspections give some great information on insects. With summer in full swing, we are once again noticing insects of all kinds in and around our homes. Most of the insects around your home are nuances that do us no harm. But let’s just review a few. Mosquitoes and spiders are…
Although the weather has turned cooler, I know a lot of families are still enjoying time at the beach or at the pool. We are so lucky to live in an area with lovely lakes, public pools, and water parks! Soon I’ll be taking my daughter and her friend to a water park as a…
Recently, a derecho was predicted. I had no idea what this was, so I googled it. A widespread, long-lived, straight-line wind storm that is associated with a land-based, fast-moving band of severe thunderstorms often delivering torrential rains, flash floods, strong winds, and potentially rivaling hurricanic and tornadic forces. Um. The media hype around this was…