Forest Grove is the oldest incorporated city in Washington County, and its housing reflects that. The blocks around Pacific University hold genuine early-20th-century construction: craftsman bungalows and foursquares where knob-and-tube wiring and galvanized pipes were the original standard. The post-war era added ranch homes through the 1950s and 1960s. The 1980s and 1990s brought suburban tract development along the Pacific corridor, some of it with LP hardboard siding and polybutylene plumbing that have since caused problems for owners. Recent infill continues on the city's east and south edges.
Not only do I have 10 years of inspector experience, I also worked as a Contractor for 12. My specialty is difficult and high-end framing jobs, but I have replaced roofs, built, painted, and installed cabinets, ran wiring, poured concrete, waterproofed showers, set tile, replaced siding and windows, installed drywall, and set doors. That background lets me read what a builder did, and spot where they cut corners.
When I walk a pre-1950 craftsman in Forest Grove, I'm not just checking boxes. I'm sorting through layers of owner updates to figure out what was done right and what was patched over. I'm checking whether the knob-and-tube in the attic is still active or has been decommissioned. I'm going into the crawlspace because in this climate, that's where the story usually is. Most Forest Grove homes are crawlspace construction. Washington County gets around 40 inches of rain a year, mostly October through April, and older vapor barriers and sill plates don't handle that forever.
I hold Certified Master Inspector® certification (top 3% of the industry), Oregon OCHI license #1898, and Washington DOL license #1856. Every inspection includes free thermal imaging.
