Home Inspections in Armstrong

Armstrong is about twenty-two kilometres north of our Vernon base — a straight run up Highway 97A, and one of the shortest trips we make.

It is also two jobs in one town. Inside the townsite you are looking at some of the oldest housing in the North Okanagan on some of the smallest lots. Step past the edge of it and you are on a farm. We inspect both, and we do not pretend they are the same exercise.

The old townsite

Armstrong’s core is genuinely old — not “older than new”, old. Houses here have had a century of owners and every one of them fixed something. What we find, over and over, is layers: a modern panel fed by original branch circuits, a copper repair spliced into galvanised, a furnace in its second or third life, a foundation never designed to be a basement being used as one, and a roof structure carrying a second layer of shingles it was never framed for.

None of that means do not buy. It means knowing the order in which it will need attention, and roughly what it will cost, before you sign.

Additions built over decades

The farmhouses around Armstrong tell the same story at larger scale. A 1920s core, a 1950s kitchen, a 1970s bedroom wing, a deck that became a sunroom. Where those pieces meet is where we spend our time: roofline junctions, the step-down in floor level that tells you two foundations of different ages are carrying the same house, the crawlspace under the newest section that nobody has entered since it was closed, and whether each addition’s wiring and heat were properly integrated or just teed off the original.

Permits are the recurring question — plenty of what was added out here was added without one. Not automatically a disaster, but you, your lender and your insurer are entitled to know.

The barn is not a bonus, it is a building

Buyers routinely assume the barn, the shop, the machine shed and the old dairy come with the property in working order. They come with the property. Working order is a separate question. We look at what is visible and accessible: structure and framing, roof covering and sheathing, obvious settlement or racking, and the electrical — buried feeds of unknown age, panels mounted on wood in dusty buildings, permanent extension-cord wiring. If an outbuilding is a material part of why you are buying, say so when you book so we allow the time.

For larger agricultural or mixed-use buildings, that becomes a commercial inspection rather than a residential add-on. Ask and we will tell you which one you need.

Buying for the barn? Tell us when you book so we allow the time.

Wells, septic and wood heat

Off the municipal system, three things need saying plainly.

Wells and septic: we inspect and report what is visible and accessible — pressure tank, pump wiring and controls, pressure at the fixtures, the visible well head, the tank lid and field area if we can see them, and any surfacing, ponding or odour. We do not test water potability or bacteriology, we do not measure well flow or recovery, and we do not open, pump or camera a septic system. Those are separate specialist tests, and we will tell you when the visible evidence says to pay for them before subjects come off.

Wood heat: many houses here are heated primarily by wood, and we inspect the appliance, hearth, clearances and visible venting as part of the inspection. A WETT inspection is a separate certification, and it is not one we hold or claim. If your insurer wants WETT paperwork, you will need a WETT-certified inspector for that document.

Before you open a wall

WorkSafeBC requires a hazardous materials survey by a qualified person before renovation or demolition work that could disturb asbestos-containing materials, and pre-1990 construction is the usual trigger. In a townsite this age, that is most of it.

We identify suspect materials and arrange accredited laboratory analysis so you know what you are dealing with before a crew puts a saw through it. We do not do abatement — that is a separate trade with its own certification. That is asbestos testing.

What we get called for in Armstrong

Book your Armstrong inspection

Send us the address and your dates, and tell us what is on the property besides the house. Call or text (250) 212-4025, or book online.

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