Reuben's Home Inspection Blog

This has happened to me dozens of times, so I have to assume it happens to other home inspectors around the country every day.  I report a problem with a gas appliance, saying there is exhaust gas leaking in to the house, and I say it needs to be fixed because it's a safety hazard; exhaust gas co...

We post a new home inspection photo on the Structure Tech Facebook Page five days a week.  After pouring over all of our photos from the last year, we've come up with our favorite home inspection pics from 2012.  Click on any of the photos for a larger view, and feel free to share. Bent Outlet Co...

Allen wrenches, aka 'hex' wrenches, are those "L" shaped wrenches that come included with just about anything you buy from IKEA.  I save these wrenches every time I get one, and I've accumulated a nice little hodge-podge collection of wrenches over the years. To make sure you always have the size...

If you plan to renovate your kitchen, take the time and spend a little extra money to get the plumbing, mechanicals, and electrical right.  Home inspectors find a lot of remodeled kitchens where it would have been just a little bit of extra work to fix an existing problem or avoid future problems...

If you're buying an old house in the Twin Cities with pipes sticking out of the ground in your yard, heads up.  You might have an oil tank somewhere at the property.   While the vast majority of homes in the Twin Cities are heated with natural gas, there is still a small percentage of homes in th...

Home inspectors might find more hack repairs when it comes to plumbing projects than anything else - mostly because it's easy to  do a plumbing project wrong, but still have the drains work.   Sort of. I have about a million photos of hack plumbing repairs, but that's not the point of this post. ...

As a home inspector, I tend to take shut-off valves for granted and assume everyone knows what they are, how they work, and what can go wrong with them.  I recently had a client share a story with me regarding some problems he ran in to with the shut-off valves at his house - we'll call him Sir W...

There's a rumor out there that the faucets purchased at plumbing supply stores are superior to faucets purchased at big box home improvement retailers, such as Home Depot.  Just ask any plumber about this, and they'll probably tell you it's true. Here's how the story goes: a homeowner contacts a ...

Jerry Seinfeld:  "Have you ever noticed if a guy is out in his driveway, working on something with tools, how all the other men in the neighborhood are magnetically drawn to this activity?" Too true.  That's totally me.  You can see this bit here - men love work. My neighbor across the street was...

Everyone knows what LED light bulbs are by now, right?  The three main benefits of LED light bulbs are  longer life, less energy usage, and Conspicuous Conservation.  OK, that last one was a joke. Kind of. LED light bulbs have been around for many years, but they've been too expensive for me to j...