Zoom in as far as it will let you by clicking on the "+" sign at the top of the magnification slider at the top left of the map.

When you're in as far as you can go (heh) but not all the way to street view (if the location you're looking at even has street view), look over at the white space just to the top left of the map....where the little printer and chain link buttons are.

Click on the chain "link" button. That will show you a box with a long URL to the map you are looking at and another box with some HTML code to embed. Ignore the HTML code.

Copy the long URL and paste it into your browser's address bar, but don't hit enter to go to that URL yet. Instead, click to edit it and scroll all the way to the right. It should end with something like "&z=22". Change the 22 to 23 ("&z=23") and hit enter. If Google Maps has imagery at that higher zoom level, it will show it to you.

See HERE ----> http://lifehacker.com/the-hidden-way-to-zoom-in-closer-in-google-maps-476437355

Wow, thanks for the detailed answer! I will try this.

That answer was copied from the web site I provided you :)

Unfortunately there's no "chain link" button anywhere in Good Earth. So can't follow these directions.

I found a tip: in Google Earth, go to Tools, then Options, then Navigation and turn on the button that says "do not automatically tilt" when zooming. So this allows me to zoom in further than before. However, the zooming in is really out of focus--like an out of focus camera. There seems to be no way to adjust the focus. That kind of defeats the whole zooming in thing. I wonder what I'm missing here?

If you do not want to go into 'ground level view', go to tools/options/general and choose "do not automatically tilt while zooming". That will stop it from tilting into ground level view. You can zoom in further, but in my case, the image is not very clear.

From: https://support.google.com/earth/answer/21417?hl=en

If the Streaming Indicator is at 100%, and the image still appears blurry, it's likely that we don't currently provide high-resolution data for this location.

My suspicion is that the resolution you're seeing is the best they have for your region. Nothing you can do except hope that someday they re-image your region using higher resolution equipment.

I don't really know though, just thinking out loud.

The chain link is in Google Maps rather than Google Earth.

This kind of technology is going to be great--someday. The lack of focus makes it seems like a bad camera. Just a tweak here and there and it will be great--but not there yet.

Well, I can see that I have two things besides the chimney poking out of the roof, but I can't tell what they are. Just a wee bit more focus to the zoom would help!! I sure hope one is the vent stack (we've got a bit of trouble with sewer smell in this old house (new to us) and are trying to trace the source. At least it is hopeful now that the vent pipe is actually piped to the outside).

It's been great for the last 50 years, marita, during which time satellite image resolution has gone down to 6 inches or better. Mostly for governmental intelligence use. I was told once that even back in the 60s, with the right lighting, satellite images were clear enough to tell the difference between a beer can and an oil can on the ground.

There are commercial sources now for high resolution images but the very detailed ones aren't available for free.

Have you thought about getting a drone for this? Cam-equipped drones are available starting at under $100, and can make videos as well as stills.

Perhaps the OP got this resolved 6 years ago when he posted...;-)