John Martino's (looksmart) Blog

As home inspectors in New Jersey, we still come across electrical panel boxes that are made by the Zinsmeyer company. These panels were installed in homes in the 1950's to the 1970's. Zinsco electrical panels were both used in residential and commercial applications and their appeal was their low...

New Jersey home inspectors should be on the lookout for powder post beetles while performing the wood destroying insect piece of the home inspection. Termites and carpenter ants get most of the attention however we can't forget the powder post beetle which can cause havoc to a wood stricture over...

NJ Home inspectors often discover mold growth in attic of the homes they are inspecting. Attics are an important portion of the home often being used for storage and sometimes having the homes mechanicals such as furnaces and water heater units. Mold in attics can be a significant health hazard f...

NJ home inspectors should inspect for and identify moisture or water entry into a home's electrical panel box. The home inspection standards of practice in NJ indicate that we as home inspectors should remove the panel box cover and inspect the interior of the panel box for defects and safety haz...

As a home inspector in NJ we are always learning. One of the things I learned about recently was that the insurance claims history for a home is available to potential buyers. These reports are called CLUE reports. CLUE stands for Comprehensive Loss Underwriting Exchange. This is a claims data ba...

One of the great frustrations that home inspectors in New Jersey have is that sellers don’t often properly prepare their homes for the home inspection. Home inspections would proceed much more efficiently if the seller would take some time and get their home ready for the inspection.  Here are so...

New Jersey home inspectors should understand proper deck and balcony guardrail and stair construction. Guardrails are an integral part of the safety system of a deck or a balcony. A guardrail is simply a barrier to block a person from a fall from an elevated surface. The word guard in guardrail i...

While performing home inspections in NJ Home inspectors often find rodent activity. Typically, a home inspector in NJ will find droppings or nesting, materials. These can be located in the basement, garage, attic, in back of appliances, or inside cabinets.  Although reporting on the presence of r...

New Jersey home inspectors should be familiar with the use of carbon fiber straps for horizontal foundation wall reinforcement. While performing home inspections in NJ it is likely that on occasion home inspectors will discover that the foundation walls in the home they are inspecting have horizo...

New Jersey home inspectors should be familiar with the different types of smoke detectors on the market their preferred placement and proper operation. It is true NJ home inspectors do not perform fire inspections. Fire inspections are typically   left to the municipality however it is important ...