Central Alabama Property Inspectors (CAPI) Chip Jones home inspector bats guano droppings insulation infestation attic gable vent house histoplasmosis

25th of Sep, 2011 by User876005

Bought a home in December of 2010, and had a home inspection from "Chip". Sometime in January I went into my attic to do something and notice feces, of some type, all over the floor space. I figured it was from mice, bought some traps and set them out. Nothing ever got caught, so I assumed they were remnants from a previous infestation. End of story, right? No. Sometime in May, as it was warming up, we could hear scratching in the ceiling. I went up to investigate and saw a colony of bats hanging from the roof. Ah ha, so that's where the feces came from. I immediately began investigating what to do. I called two bat removal services and got estimates. Let me pause a minute and explain what has to be done when you have bats. Most bats are on the protected species list, because they actually help the environment. Ok, so you have to hire a specialist at "excluding" bats, you can't just kill them. An exclusion is done by making a trap door so they can fly out but not back inside. Then you have to clean up all the guano because it can cause Histoplasmosis(fungal lung infection). Then you have to replace all the insulation they've destroyed because the babies nest in it. Next you have to fumigate the attic to kill all the mites and other insects that come along with bats. Cost me $3500.00! So, you see it is a problem. Mr. Chip Jones of Central Alabama Property Inspectors charged me $350.00 for an inspection. He did inspect the attic as the pictures he took shows. He did NOT take any pictures on the north-west side of the attic which is where all of the feces and damage was located. When you enter the attic space, you are immediately surrounded by the feces, no way around it, you have to see it. Now let me clarify my complaint. Mr. Jones, per the AHSI bylaw 13.2.A.11, is NOT required to determine the presence of animals. My problem is that there is no way he didn't see the guano, and he should have told me, even if it were outside the realm of the inspection. That's just not right.

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