Prince William Real Estate

What Your Home Inspection Should Cover

A home inspection is  very important when purchasing a home.  It can save you many headaches in the future.  Here are just a few of the items that a home inspector will check when performing a home inspection.

• Siding: Look for dents or buckling
• Foundations: Look for cracks or water seepage
• Exterior Brick: Look for cracked bricks or mortar pulling away from bricks
• Insulation: Look for condition, adequate rating for climate
• Doors and Windows: Look for loose or tight fits, condition of locks, condition of weatherstripping
• Roof: Look for age, conditions of flashing, pooling water, buckled shingles, or loose gutters and downspouts
• Ceilings, walls, and moldings: Look for loose pieces, drywall that is pulling away
• Porch/Deck: Loose railings or step, rot
• Electrical: Look for condition of fuse box/circuit breakers, number of outlets in each room
• Plumbing: Look for poor water pressure, banging pipes, rust spots or corrosion that indicate leaks, sufficient insulation

• Water Heater: Look for age, size adequate for house, speed of recovery, energy rating
• Furnace/Air Conditioning: Look for age, energy rating; Furnaces are rated by annual fuel utilization efficiency; the higher the rating, the lower your fuel costs. However, other factors such as payback period and other operating costs, such as electricity to operate motors.
• Garage: Look for exterior in good repair; condition of floor—cracks, stains, etc.; condition of door mechanism
• Basement: Look for water leakage, musty smell
• Attic: Look for adequate ventilation, water leaks from roof
• Septic Tanks (if applicable): Adequate absorption field capacity for the percolation rate in your area and the size of your family
• Driveways/Sidewalks: Look for cracks, heaving pavement, crumbling near edges, stains

Pesky Little Aphids

I just love spring and working on getting my vegetable garden started.  In early March I started planning my vegetable garden as I do every year.  We bought a bunch of vegetable seeds which included cucumbers. tomatos, brocolli, zucchini and a bunch of others.  My daughter and I planted some of the seeds to start them indoors.  Such a great activity to do as a family. I remember doing the same with my dad when I was a little girl,

Well as the weeks passed and the seedligs emerged my daughter really loved taking care of them and watering them.  We noticed something just wasnt right and the aphids were taking over the leaves.  You could see those little pests just flying around the cucumber seedlings.  I just wanted to get rid of those suckers.  So what to do?  Well I didn't want to do chemicals since we are trying to do an organic garden and the plants are still indoors so those beneficial bugs since as lady bugs and praying mantis weren't in the extermination plan either.

So I did a bit of research and found a few suggestions.  Hopefully the one that I chose will get rid of them and keep my leaves looking healthy on my veggie plants. 

Here are some natural ways to get rid of Aphids and some other pesky bugs:

1. Take 1 part water and mix with 1 part rubbing alcohol.  Spray on the leaves and the aphids will suffocate.  (This was the route I took)
2. A forceful spray of water  will make the aphids fall off the leaves
3. Squashing a few aphids around the infested plants releases a chemical signal that makes the other aphids drop from the plants and leave
4. Spray with Garlic Oil Spray
5. Place banana peels at the base of infested plant. The peels give them a shot of potassium too!
6. Use a spray made from a tea of tomato or potato leaves and water
7. Mix 1 tsp. dish soap with 1/2 tsp. vegetable oil in 1 quart water in a spray bottle
8. Spray mild soapy warm water on the leaves and plants
9. Place garlic around the plants.  GArlic keeps the aphids away.
10. LADYBUGS or PRAYING MANTIS.  They eat the pesky little critters

If you have any additional suggestions please feel free to post them in the comments.