Home inspection in East Amana.

The same full scope, on a building type most inspectors never see. East Amana is the smallest of the seven colony villages and its stock is almost entirely pre-1932 communal-era construction — rectangular, a story and a half to two stories, framed in post-and-beam or built of brick or local sandstone, insulated with dry-stacked unfired brick between the studs. Roof, structure, electrical, plumbing and heating matter here as anywhere, and this construction adds masonry and mortar condition, moisture behavior in a wall cavity that cannot dry like a modern one, and how any retrofit was fastened.

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.