Home inspection in Albion.

The low ones toward the Iowa River. Albion sits near the river, and river-corridor ground in Iowa is alluvial — layered gravel, sand, silt and clay laid down by moving water, with a water table that rises and falls with the river rather than with the weather over your lot. On those properties, basements and crawlspaces are worth reading for past water, along with sump pumps and their discharge lines, and whether finishes are covering old staining. On the higher blocks the emphasis shifts to the 1850s-forward stock: foundations, chimneys, original wiring and aging sewer laterals.

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.