TOPIC: Why To Paint Your Porch Ceiling Blue

On Tuesday Troy Pappas came to spend part of the day with me.  Coming up early from Virginia Beach, we were together for two of my three inspections that day.  It was good to spend time with a fellow home inspector!

On one house there was a large, wrap-around front porch.  I noticed that the ceiling was not painted blue.  There is a tradition of painting front porch ceilings blue in Virginia, and perhaps elsewhere, and that is so for a reason.  An important part of any home inspection is explaining why it should be blue.  Troy heard me!

One of my fluff classes at the University of Virginia was called "Virginia Folklore."  It was a very fun class, all about the sayings and rhymes and songs and traditions that we are all familiar with, at least in part.

One tradition I learned about in class was that of painting a front porch ceiling light blue.  I see this everywhere, and virtually every day on my home inspections.

Some people do it to bring a nice blue sky onto the porch during a cloudy day.  That is NOT the reason.  The real reason is, according to traditional Virginia folklore, that a blue porch ceiling wards off ghosts!  This is Virginia - we have a lot of those here!

If it is not painted blue I dutifully note it as a home inspection deficiency and warn the buyers...   ;>)

Well, on an inspection today I noted pulling up to the house that the porch ceiling was white.  White!  I felt an immediate chill.

While up on the roof, knocking around with my thermal infrared camera, I looked into a window and boom!  There it was!  An image!

Ghosts are far easier to see in a reflection or mirror (unlike vampires...) and he was sitting on the ridge of the roof, just staring at me.  In the image the purple color shows his cold eyes and cold heart.  Looking into his eyes was like looking into his skull!  And he was holding out his warm, yellow hands like he was asking for something.  Sure, like I'm carrying ghost collectibles around during an inspection. I shuddered!

I turned around and looked in his direction, and boom, he was gone!  Just like that...

My recommendation:  Paint your front porch ceilings a beautiful light blue!  Don't let happen to you what happened to me...

You should add it into your contract that you won't inspect any houses unless they make sure the porch is painted blue! I wouldn't want to see any of those big ugly ghosts.

Or give them a copy of the book, "Virginia Ghosts:  And What To Do If They Show Up At Your House."

Actually it is to keep mud daubers and other insects that build little homes from invading the area.  I like the ghost reason better...

The color blue keeps the insects away? Interesting!

The color blue keeps the insects away? Interesting!

They think it is the sky so they fly or crawl back down... It is an old Victorian trick that goes way back to, well the Victorian times!