When home owner maintenance goes unchecked. Home owner maintenance is critical when you own a home. In fact no matter what the structure is like a home a garages or even a back yard storage shed. There are very few home owners that get a bi annual inspection of there home let alone an annual inspection. These unsuspecting home owners are just asking for trouble when it comes to selling a home. Many as I have been told over the years is that they don't want to pay for a annual inspection because all we find are issues that would cost the home owners money to get repaired. Let's see of that is a good call by the home owners. Price of annual inspection $100.00 Repairs to roof found at inspection $250.00 Repairs to exterior trim $250.00   Total costs for issues found is $600.00 On to buyers... 04/29/2014

Your rubbing me the wrong way. Electrical service feed. The over head electrical feed to this home was not installed correctly. Or was it? I can't imagine the chimney was added at a later date. Looks as if the chimney was an original design of the home. The over head electrical service to this home was rubbing on the chimney. So much so the line had already worn into the chimney about one and a half inches. Upon inspecting the incoming service line there was no damage at all. Was this service line replaced in the last couple of years? If it was then it should had been re routed so it would not rub on the chimney. The home owners must have known. The line had paint on it from the owners painting the chimney. Take a look at how the service line ties into the service mast? Here is a good l... 04/27/2014

Just hanging around the home. Not good. Home inspection electrical. It is amazing what we find when inspecting homes. In many cases the home owner was not the best person to be handling the "Electrical work" within the home. My guess is that the owners wanted to save money and "Not pay" for an electrician to do the electrical work in the correct way. Just hanging around. The first plug box I found just hanging around was at the furnace plug assembly. Take a look at the way the plug was in the furnace closet. Then when I got to the Laundry area. There was additional plugs that were just hanging around. Why these plugs were even located where they were was not known. I also noticed that there was no covers for them either. Not a good thing when being used around water. I recommended they ... 04/21/2014

Hanging out on the back patio. But not for long. When home owners have the brilliant idea to do something. They need to make sure it is done the "correct way". This looks like they had been wanting to do this for a long time. But the home has to be built right to start with. The Rafter tails. And the tie plate. On this home there was no rafter tail tie plate. That is the board that ties the rafter tails or overhang of the rafters together to keep them in proper alignment. This tie plate also helps keep the tails from warping and twisting when ever the moisture gets too high. Missing the Rafter tie plate the homes roof decking has no proper support. It will and has sagged over time. This home was built back in 1980. Even back then there were county and municipal inspectors that could hav... 04/16/2014

You will need to call a plumber. Do not attempt this repair yourself. This is what I wanted to tell the home owner. But after he was telling me a story about how they had remodeled the kitchen.  I didn't have the heart to tell him. But it will be in the report. I have seen this before. Making changes and improving the homes looks. Like adding a garbage disposal and not wiring it correctly. Or a new sink and faucet that they didn't know was leaking under the sink. Having good intentions. Most home owners want to do things the right way. Most just don't have the skills necessary for the project they wanted to do. It works don't it? Just because it works does not mean it is correct by any means. Take for example this sink that was installed. The plumbing simply was connected to the existin... 04/14/2014

Garage wiring and time to start over. Garages are a vital part of the home selling. Most homes have a garage. So when you put your home up  for sale then you should have a complete inspection on the home and detached garage. A pre listing inspection would have found these issues and the owner could have had the issues repaired or the very least had them listed in the disclosure statement. Safety is number one priority. Having poor wiring creates safety issues within the building being inspected. But this garage had a very long way to go to get to a safe wiring system. Pictures tell the story. This is why it's so important the take as many pictures as possible.  Here is a few of those issues listed I the report for the buyers. This switch was live and in operation. No box no cover simply... 04/13/2014

Replace those part's that are not working. Of course if you know about the non working part at all. A home inspection recently I found a number of issues with the homes electrical plumbing and the roof. Plus the attic power vent. There were a lot of issues with this home. The owner was there and I asked him if he got a home inspection when he bought the home Four years ago. "No I didn't". (but he should have) He said that and then said "You are looking to find the faults with the home. There are a few. but I knew that when I bought the home". I told him "I am not looking for faults per say, I am inspecting the home to help the buyer make an informed decision on the home". I entered the attic and found several issues. Open electrical junction boes. Spliced wires a horse and this little g... 04/13/2014