KELSO HOME INSPECTIONS

If you are looking for a complete and detailed home inspection report... DO NOT HIRE Paul Kelso.
We normally don't leave bad reviews on Angie's List, but since Mr. Kelso has ignored our communications, he has left us with no alternative other than to leave a negative review.
1. We had to move into a new home because our previous home burned down in a house fire.

So, as you can imagine, we were very concerned about fire hazards in whatever new home we would be moving into.  This point was made perfectly clear to Mr. Kelso.

One of the major causes of house fires are problems with fireplaces and their chimneys.  So you would think Mr. Kelso would have inspected this home's fireplace, flue and chimney very carefully for us.

To prevent the spread of a fire from the first floor up into the attic, fire blocking is required by code in any open cavities between the first floor and the attic.  This is the case for fireplaces as well.

  -  Mr. Kelso FAILED to report that this home's fireplace wooden cavity is open to the attic with zero fire blocking in place (this is easily seen from inside the attic).  A fire hazard.

  -  Mr. Kelso also FAILED to report that debris had fallen from up in the attic down on to the metal firebox of the fireplace (again this is easily seen from inside the attic).  Another fire hazard.
  -  Mr Kelso also DID NOT REPORT that our fireplace chimney stack (on the roof) was too short and too close to the surrounding roofing materials.  Another fire hazard.
2. We made it clear we wanted Mr. Kelso to inspect a free hanging t-joint in an 18' long span in the home's ceiling - from inside the attic.  Looking at it from inside the house it was obvious that previous repairs had been done on the t-joint, the drywall at the joint was cracking, and the corner bead was separating from the drywall along the span and at the t-joint.  We needed to know from an attic view if there was cause to hire a structural engineer to inspect the t-joint and span.
  -  After we received Mr. Kelso's report, we discovered Mr. Kelso had not inspected the t-joint/span in the attic as requested.  The report stated the t-joint in the attic was obscured, and he could not view it.
  -  Yet the only thing obscuring Mr. Kelso's view was blown in insulation.  According to his contract, and state home inspector standards, blown in insulation CAN BE moved during a home inspection, so this should not have been an issue.
  -  Upon deciding that he would not perform the inspection as we requested, Mr. Kelso should have contacted us stating he would not inspect the t-joint/span and gave us the option to have another inspector perform the work and refund our payment or at least a portion thereof.
  -  Instead, Mr. Kelso chose not to communicate with us, took our money and did not do what we hired him to do.
3. Since moving into our home we have noticed - and our renovation contractors have pointed out - numerous OBVIOUS issues with our home that Mr. Kelso did not report, overlooked, or reported on incorrectly.  Just to name a few...

  -  Mr. Kelso stated in his report that our home has 200 amp electrical service.  Fail:  Our home has 150 amp electrical service.
  -  Mr. Kelso did not report the open electrical splices in the attic.
  -  Mr. Kelso did not report that the three bathroom fans vent directly into the attic instead of to the exterior of our home as directed by building code.
  -  Mr. Kelso failed to report that metal roof flashing was missing.
  -  Mr. Kelso failed to report that portions of the wood siding on our dormers was rotting and needed to be repaired.
  -  Mr. Kelso failed to report that our kitchen sink drain was plumbed wrong.
  -  There's about fifty more issues Mr. Kelso failed to report.

In fact, Mr. Kelso missed so many items that were obvious to us and our contractors who were updating our home, that we hired a second home inspector.
The results?  Mr Kelso's home inspection report was 37 pages long, and the second home inspector's report was 97 pages long.  The items missed by Paul Kelso were obvious and in plain sight.
Had we known all that we do now after the second home inspection, we could have negotiated a much lower price on the home, or had enough knowledge to walk away from the deal.
By the way... the t-joint/span IS a huge structural issue with not one, but three structural problems.

The overall experience with Paul Kelso was excellent.  Paul was on time for the appointment.  He had the equipment needed to perform the inspection.  He was very detailed and knowledgable and explained to us what he was doing at each phase of the inspection.