Home inspection in Elk Run Heights.

Second- and third-generation component failure. Elk Run Heights incorporated in 1951 as a Waterloo suburb on just over a square mile, so its housing is a fairly tight postwar band rather than a spread of eras. At that age nothing original survives untouched: furnaces, water heaters and air conditioning are on their second or third units, electrical services have been upgraded once, and roofs are on a later cycle. What we look for is whether those replacements were done correctly — venting, combustion air, condensate handling, and grounding and bonding at the newer panel — and whether the flat ground around the house drains away from it.

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.