Videos

It benefits sellers to make their homes as attractive to buyers as possible, while minimizing their personal investment in the property. Restorative paint on a deck is a perfect example of this ethos. These types of paints are meant to hide defects in wood like cracking and rotting, but they do nothing to improve the quality or longevity of the material. Most major paint companies have a specialized brand for restorative deck paint, including Deck Correct, Deck Over, RockSolid, and Deck Restore; none of these products have positive reputations in the industry. These products quickly begin to chip away, leaving the purchaser with an even more unsightly deck that they had before the product was applied. Look carefully when you encounter a deck that has this type of paint on it; the wood is likely in poor condition. The only acceptable repair for cracking or rotten decking is replacement.

Sometimes roofs leak. That’s the bad news. The good news is that roof leaks are often easy to fix. When I am inspecting a roof I often find damaged pipe vent flashings (AKA, “pipe boots”). Pipe boots are the most common place for a roof to leak.  There are several new products available that will stop the leak without touching the shingles. PermaBoot is the most widely available product. This is definitely a DIY job. If you are capable of safely walking on your roof, you are qualified to install a PermaBoot. For more information about permaboot, check them out at http://www.permaboot.co/.

This is a great opportunity to discuss the importance of hiring a home inspector who actually walks ALL roofs. At Gerard, our roof inspection policy is this: “If it is safely possible to walk on the roof, we are walking the whole roof.” This seems like common sense, but it is unique in the industry. Home inspectors are not required to actually walk on the roof, and most don’t. It is impossible to see most cracked pipe vents without walking on the roof, so you could easily walk into a leaking home if your home inspector didn’t get on the roof.

When I am inspecting a home, it is not uncommon for me to find water damage inside a furnace. The water comes from condensation on the evaporator coil (also called the A-coil, because it is in the shape of an A). The A-coil is a radiator inside your furnace with very cold refrigerant flowing through it when the air conditioning is turned on. Just like a glass of ice water on a warm summer day, water condenses on the coil when warm, moist air from inside your home blows by it. All of this condensation drains from the furnace to a plumbing drain in the house through a PVC pipe.

Problems arise when this PVC pipe gets clogged. With nowhere for the water to go, the drain pan for the a-coil overflows and leaks into the furnace case. If this leak is allowed occur over an extended period of time, it can damage or destroy your furnace. To prevent this from happening, pour  1/2 cup of bleach and water into the drain line whenever you change your air filter. This will kill any bacteria or fungus growing inside the drain line that can eventually clog it and cause a leak. For more in-depth view of the evaporator coil, go to http://www.explodedhome.com/evaporator-coil/.

The number of homes I see with fire damage might surprise you. Over the life of a home (often hundreds of years) small fires can occur that may damage the home to varying degrees. Though we have seen homes with large areas of fire damage, most fires cause limited damage to the structure. When the damage is minor, repairs are often easy and inexpensive. Now, fire damages do require a structural engineer’s stamp of approval, and that is often the most expensive part of the repair.

We all get a little superstitious when we see fire damage. It just seems like a bad omen. However, I would argue that if the repairs have been properly made, a small house fire should not be a substantial deterrent from buying a home.

While performing home inspections in Cincinnati, I’ve recently noticed several issues with service drops. The service drop is the cable that starts at the utility pole and ends at the meter mast or weather head. Obviously, this cable is important because it carries all the electricity that your home needs to operate. If something were to damage this cable, the results could be devastating. There are a myriad of issues that can effect the safety of a service drop including a lack of clearance from the roof, chaffing on the shingles or nearby trees,  poorly insulated “bugs”, improper installation, and general deterioration. These are all things that we’re watching for when performing a home inspection for you. The great news is this: you don’t own it. If there is something wrong with the service drop, you can get it fixed for free by the utility company who owns the line. Thanks for watching this video, and best wishes in your new home.

Testing for radon is often completed in conjunction with the home inspection. It is important to my customers to ensure that the home they are moving into won’t cause them harm. For more information about the risks of radon exposure, go to <a href=”https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/risk/substances/radon/radon-fact-sheet”>Cancer.gov</a>, or take a look at the <a href=”http://www.epa.gov/oncampus/pdf/radonfactsheet.pdf”>EPA’s Radon Fact Sheet</a>.

Mitigation systems are extremely effective in reducing radon levels in a home. I have not yet found a home with a radon mitigation system that tested high for radon. Even when the system is not working efficiently, like the system in the video, these systems are still extremely effective in reducing radon levels. The moral of the story is this: radon is certainly hazardous, but it can easily be reduced through the installation of a mitigation system. If we determine that your radon levels are high during your home inspection, you can ask the seller to pay for the home to be mitigated. Most of the time, they will comply.

Frost heaving is the main cause of foundation wall failure in this area, due to our lengthy freeze-thaw cycles. Frost heaving occurs when the soil outside of the foundation wall freezes, which causes the soil to expand. That pressure actually causes the wall to move inward, compromising the structural integrity of the wall. I have seen foundation wall that was completely collapsed due to this condition, but repairs are usually made before things get that bad. Block foundations are especially susceptible to this condition. If you’re looking at a home with a block foundation, make sure that it doesn’t have long horizontal cracking of more that 1/8″. Hairline cracks are normal, but larger cracks can be an indication of failure.

Shingle blisters are cosmetic damages that are often confused with more serious problems. Blistering is caused by moisture trapped in the asphalt. When the sun hits the shingles on a hot summer day, the water droplets inside the shingle boil and cause a cavity to form. The higher the moisture content in the asphalt, the higher the chance of future blistering.  Reducing attic temperatures can also reduce the chance of blistering; if the internal temperature of the shingles doesn’t reach 212 degrees, the water droplets inside won’t have an opportunity to boil. Blistering is often seen on roofs with minimal attic ventilation. Having multiple layers of shingles can also increase the chance of blistering. When the roof has multiple layers of shingles, more solar heat is retained in the shingles, raising the surface temperature of the roof. To prevent blistering, be sure that you have plenty of ventilation at the soffit and the ridge of the roof, and never install two layers of shingles on a roof.

A “double tap” is a circuit breaker that has two different circuits installed under one terminal screw. I hear different explanations all the time about why double-tapping a circuit breaker is a bad idea, or why it doesn’t matter at all. First, let me settle the latter issue: double taps are not ALWAYS bad. Most modern circuit breakers are rated for double taps; under each terminal screw, they have two spaces for inserting a wire. If the breaker is rate for two wires, we don’t write it up.  Having said that, I am not usually inspecting the most up-to-date equipment available. Older breakers only have one space for a wire. When two wires are installed under a screw rated for one wire, one of the two wires often has a loose connection. This is especially true if the wires are different sizes. When you lave a loose connection, limited surface area of the conductor is contacting the terminal which can cause excess heat, increased resistance, and eventually, a fire. This is not hypothetical folklore, I have actually seen this happen.

At the end of the day,  double taps are a sign of an electrician’s laziness or stinginess or both, and I just don’t want to sign-off on that kind of behavior. A circuit breaker costs $5-$10 at any local hardware store – the solution is to just go buy another one and install it.  What if you’re out of spaces in your electrical panel? Buy a tandem breaker. Tandem breakers are basically two breakers in one space. They’re a little more expensive ($20-$50), but they’re still relatively cheap, and they’re now made for all brands (even Pushmatic). Double-tapping is for amateurs. You’re better than that. Happy wiring.

Inspecting doors is a pretty simple thing: make sure they open, shut, latch, and lock. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist. However, consistent issues with the doors can make you aware of problems that may have been too nuanced for you to originally notice. For instance, if the floor of a home is an inch higher at the perimeter than it is at the center of the home, you may not have noticed. In that case though, many of the doors may not properly latch. If all of the door latches are hitting the strike plates 1/2″ too high, this may be your only noticeable clue of a structural issue without further investigation. Pay attention to the doors in any house you intend to buy. If they are all latching improperly, you may want to have a structural engineer on standby. Thanks for taking the time to read this, and happy house hunting.

No other home inspection company goes to these extremes for their customers. Home inspectors are not required to go into crawlspaces with less than 36 inches of clearance. Inspectors love this rule because hate liability, and if they can’t get in, they don’t have to accept any liability for any issues in the crawlspace. Also, they don’t have to get their clothes dirty. Since very few crawlspaces have more that 36″ of clearance, home inspectors hardly ever go into crawlspaces. Except us, of course… My company policy is, if our bodies can safely fit into a crawlspace, and there is no standing water, we are getting into the crawlspace. Here’s why: the tighter the space, the more likely it is that we’ll find some manner of calamity. See an example of this in the video to the left.

Nail pops can be a real concern to home buyers. They are obvious defects that are observable from the ground. While the roof may indeed be in need of replacement, nail pops are not the likely culprit. A nail pop happens when expansion and contraction causes a nail to back out through the sheathing. This nail can either push the shingle up or punch a hole in the shingle. If there is a hole in the shingle, it is important to seal it before leakage occurs. If the shingle has been lifted by the nail, the cure may be to simple seal the shingle back down.