Home inspection in Agency.

It affects the low lots. Agency sits in Des Moines River country, where the valley bottom is alluvial — layered gravel, sand, silt and clay — and the water table sits closer to the surface than on the till uplands above town. On those lots, basements and crawlspaces are worth close attention for past water: staining at the base of the walls, efflorescence, rust lines on mechanicals, sump pit condition and whether the pump has a working discharge. Finished basements get a moisture-meter pass, because paneling and carpet are the usual way past water gets covered up. This is historic ground — the 1842 treaty was signed on this site — and the older stock gets its services dated one by one.

Plan on two to three hours for an average home; larger, older or multi-unit properties run longer because there is simply more to document.