At the time I saw this when inspection an older home in Dayton I thought nothing of it, other than this is an old furnace with a name that has disappeared and no longer builds furnaces. For sentimental value I took a photo of the manufacturers tag and thought I would be able to find […]
Selling Your Home?
Have you ever thought of the home inspection your home will have? The inspection requires the inspector access all the areas of your home along with access to all the components like water heaters, electric panel, main water shut off. The covers need to be taken off electric panels, if that can not be done […]
Basement Damp (What’s It?)
In a basement there is a plastic or metal strip around a section of or all round the exterior walls (foundation). What is it you wonder, looking further you notice that the floor was removed and filled back in and there is a cover with a pipe. This basement has had a history of wet […]
Window Fogged (What’s It?)
It’s not privacy glass even though it works as one. Insulated glass that is standard in all modern windows is made up of two panels of glass separated by a filler piece. The seal between the filler and the glass develops a small hole allowing air into the space between the glass panes. The moist […]
Incorrect Certification
Inspecting a new construction home last week we observed and noted that the thickness of the insulation in the attic was between two and eight inches deep, as opposed to the twelve inches that should have been there according to the foreman. There was no card (as required) stapled at the access stating what the […]
Dryer Vent (What’s It?)
This often evokes the question, what is that? It is not a chimney, it’s not a plumbing vent, an oil tank filler or any of the other suggested uses we have heard.The answer is simple, it’s an exterior clothes dryer vent.This vent remains sealed when the dryer is off, air from the dryer opens it […]
Garage Door Opener could be the unwanted Key to Your Home
Video: Would you leave a key in your front door lock when leaving your house, your garage door might be its equivalent.
New Construction Hand Built ?
This photo is all the lumber that is needed to build a home on a basement. The floor joists are the only part of the structural framing that has to be put together by hand. The exterior walls come as pre-made panels with the window and door openings already cut in. They are most of […]
20 Year Membership
It’s hard to believe that we have been in business since 1999 and members of the Dayton Area Board of Realtors all that time. For years we taught classes at the DABR to help new Realtors understand what a home inspection was all about and how to deal with needed repairs. There have been so […]
Lead Water Main is Hazardous
In the basement of a home from the mid 1800’s there was a heath hazard that no one noticed. Buyers, the current owner who had purchased that home six months ago, real estate agents and our clients all walked past this piece of pipe as they anxiously looked for potential issues with the house. The […]
Transformer (What’s it?)
This funky and worrying thing with wires hanging out of it is often found in the oddest of places. They can be found on the wall in a closet, in the basement on the wall or in the ceiling joists, beside the breaker panel, just about anywhere in a home.Nervous buyers often look at those […]
Venting Frustrations
There is nothing worse than badly draining sinks, tubs, and showers, not to mention toilets that need three flushes to finish the job. A call to a drain cleaning company did not help. They looked down the drains of the three year old home with a camera scope, all the way to the city sewer […]
When Wood Siding is Not Real Wood
Video about the rush to build houses cheaper, its often the beautiful wood lap siding that becomes a major liability.
Don’t Be Stranded…
When connecting stranded wiring (a wire that is made up of numerous smaller wires as opposed to a solid wire) all strands of the wire must be secured under the terminal screw. In this photo of a wire connected to a circuit breaker, there is less wire connected to one of the connections which means […]
