Stephen Gaudet's (sgaudet) Blog

First problem, missing cover trip hazard.  Second, needs a dedicated NON GFCI outlet.  All to often I see pumps plugged into extension cords.  Reason you don't want GFCI is what happens if the pump trips it?  Ans:you won't know until the basement is flooded.   see anything wrong? different angle ...

Don't know if anyone caught this last week but sales of foreclosed homes was up while sales for new homes were down.  Investors are buying these homes and flipping them for a nice profit.  In addition, when you consider what it cost to build new you can't compare with these foreclosure homes some...

Well you can imagine my surprise when I noticed this furnace had no air filter...at all.     Well that worked out well.   Enjoy,    

This happened to me.  Had a water pipe that leaked in my new home after about 16 months.  What happen was a sheet rock screw was driven into my hot water supply and finally rusted away causing a leak inbetween floors into the basement.   The picture here is a water leak in the kitchen closet.  Hu...

Here's an interesting one.  Someone upgraded the sub panel from fuses to breakers.  However, can only imagine what they were thinking.  As you see the electrical main 100 amp service runs into the fuse box, left side is ok.   However, someone used stranded wire from the supply side to the new fus...

I came across this roof in a very tight neighborhood.  All you could see was the front and back from the ground.  This is a hip style roof (4 sides) and the reseller/flipper did the front and back.     As you can see the sides are end of life...and it was leaking in the attic space.     One can o...

  Replacement Windows Last year I replaced all the windows in my house with that expensive Double-pane energy efficient kind, and today, I got a call from the contractor who installed them. He was complaining that the work had been completed a whole year ago and I still hadn't paid for them.  Hel...

Wanted to share a few issues I've personally seen with the TV advertised Draft Guard.  Once this cloth based device gets wet it wicks into the home.  If left unchecked it will result in water damage.  2 photos one at the door the second with the damage caused. If you use it make sure a storm wind...

No feed back on the 1st try so trying again. Realtors, please be honest…you are the life blood of my business; When you see an Infrared camera come out do you cringe?  Reason I ask is I try to be as no alarming as possible such a tool can kill a deal. Agree? If an average inspection takes 2 hour...

Looking for some candid views from realtors and home inspectors on the value of Infrared Inspections.  Inspector feed back please; My research tells me that the camera will not pick up moisture in the walls after 72 hours of a past rainstorm. Is this true?  If there is a moisture problem in the w...