It’s October. You take advantage of the fall real estate market to purchase the home of your dreams before the holiday season. You move in—then something goes bump in the night.
Is My House Haunted?
You move in—without incident. In fact, it went so smoothly that your unpacked and all set up within a week! Life returns to its normal rhythms; kids off to school, sports activities, work schedules, a few friends over—then ‘it’ begins to happen.
One day you’re in the living room, and you hear scraping directly above, as if someone is moving furniture upstairs. This is impossible because your husband is at work and your kids are at school. You go upstairs to check it out only to find everything in place and no one is in the room! The next day you hear footsteps in the next room—again no one is in the room.
Soon the entire family begins to hear strange noises throughout the house. Footsteps, whispers, a shriek or two and every time you go to the area that the sounds come from, no one is there.
Everyone complains of headaches. Kids are tired and crabby. Your tired and crabby. Your dream home is not as dreamy as you thought.
Night time visitations
Your kids come to your room at night, asking why you called them—and you didn’t. One night, in the middle of a deep sleep, you find two people you’ve never seen before standing at the foot of your bed. Time to seriously freak out!
Is your home really haunted? So what do you do? You call a paranormal expert, of course. During the next few weeks, the expert suggests many solutions, but none seem to work. You finally open up to your family about what has been going on—and your brother-in-law, who just happens to be an HVAC man asks a few questions and the mystery is solved!
“Are you all having headaches? Are you depressed? Do you wake up paralyzed? It’s not ghosts,” he says. “You’re being slowly poisoned by carbon monoxide.”
He replaces your furnace, and all the symptoms your family had been experiencing vanish overnight! The moral of this story? Your house probably isn’t haunted. But you may have a bad furnace.
Before you buy—Inspect!
A thorough home inspection before purchasing your new dream home will insure it is ‘ghost’ free. Follow these steps to keep you and your family safe.
1.Clean and inspect your heating system, chimney and flue by a qualified technician every year. Keep chimneys clear of bird and squirrel nests, leaves, and residue.
2.Have your furnace, gas oven, range and cook top inspected for proper ventilation yearly.
3. Hire an inspector to come out to check your gas fireplace to ensure the pilot light burns safely.
4. Never, ever operate gasoline-powered engines in your garage or basement. Don’t leave your car, mower or other vehicle running in an attached garage, even with the door open.
I will provide you with a reputable home inspector that insures you don’t have Casper hanging out with the family! Contact me today!
