John Martino's (looksmart) Blog

A furnace humidifier is an appliance that home inspectors in NJ and real estate agents will see regularly in homes. Home inspectors and realtors should have a basic understand of how a humidifier operates and the maintenance involved in its upkeep. NJ home inspectors do not have to inspect these ...

Something that New Jersey home inspectors and real estate agents encounter often while inspecting or showing homes to clients is ineffective and poor grading or surface water controls around the home. Proper grading and surface water controls are vital in keeping water from collecting close to th...

It is useful to both home inspectors and realtors to understand what a roof truss is and the main issues that exist with them. With proper knowledge both realtors and inspectors can educate their clients regarding these sometimes-misunderstood structural systems.  A roof structure is typically co...

It is important for New Jersey Home Inspectors and real estate agents to understand how septic systems operate in order to be able to educate their home buying clients about their function and maintenance. Inspecting septic systems is beyond the scope of a home inspection in New Jersey but having...

luminum wiring is a major electrical defect and New Jersey home inspectors should be careful and inspect for this potentially wire during the electrical inspection of the home. During the years of 1965 and 1973 aluminum single strand wire was at times used in place of copper wire in residential h...

Temperature pressure relief valves are a component that NJ home inspectors will encounter almost daily. A temperature pressure relief valve is a specialty safety valve that is designed to discharge if pressure in a hot water appliance such as water heater and boiler gets to unsafe levels. The val...

A question that NJ Home inspectors get often from clients is what is an expansion tank and why do I need one on my water heater? Thermal expansion is the tendency of matter to increase in volume when it is heated.  This thermal expansion is especially important in homes because there is a water s...

It is important for NJ Home Inspectors to inspect and educate their clients about the condition and importance of a properly configured chimney crown. The Crown if often confused with a cap or rain hat. The crown is made of cement and the cap or rain guard is a metal cage like cover installed at ...

One of the important things that a NJ home inspector can look for is a properly installed dryer vent pipe.  I can't speak for other home inspectors, but I really try to inspect the dryer vent. The dryer vent pipe is a crucial part of a safe clothes dryer system. Yes, at times the dryer vent pipe ...

 Making sure that an attached garage meets fire rating requirements is something that is crucial when performing home inspections in NJ.  Garages that are attached to a home should meet certain fire rating requirements so a fire that starts in the garage will not quickly breach the garage walls a...