Inspector SnapShots

The photo shows both a larger heating/cooling duct and a disconnected dryer lint duct... Can you spot the concerns?During the inspection, it was noted that the soil was very moist.. That the large duct is not supported off the ground... And is in contact with the moist ground.There can be moistu...

Not White Paint At first glance, the home inspector thought the bottom of the subfloor had been painted white.Upon closer inspection, the inspector concluded it was a bio-growth. An inspector (unless they’re a certified industrial hygienist) shouldn’t say ‘mold’, as doing so makes them the expert...

It’s not everyday that home inspectors can say they walked on water.  The photo is a buckled wood floor.  Buckling is when wood flooring swells and lifts off of the sub-floor surface.Severe buckling is usually the result of excessive water flooding a wood floor... for example, an overflowing bath...

Ivy can look beautiful on house walls and brick chimneys, if maintained. The thick, green texture gives your home a woodsy feel. It can provide a canopy over a trellis or pergola.There is a dark side to ivy, though. As the ivy tendrils (a slender, whiplike or threadlike plant strand specialized ...

A good property inspector is always on the lookout for telltale signs. A door that rubs its frame… Exposed electrical wires… Loose handrails… Missing smoke detectors, etc. High water marks under a house; usually gets people’s attention. In the photo, the bottom of a heating/cooling duct in the cr...

This is an exterior termination exhaust duct for a gas wall heater or decorative gas log fireplace.  This is called direct venting.Direct venting uses a 2-layer pipe running through a hole in the wall behind the interior heating unit. The outer pipe draws air in from the outside to create combus...

  One of the interesting aspects of being a home inspector… Is that you never know what the next home inspection may bring. Most of my unusual photos come from the garage or under the house. It’s not too often that a sign is posted on a bedroom door: “Do Not open or touch this door Very importan...

Drywall (sheetrock) panels makes up a large part of today’s house interior walls and ceilings. As home buyers walk through an empty house during a home inspection, they tend to focus closely on the quality of the interior finish. Many people react negatively when they spot a hairline crack in th...

Today, many heating furnaces and air conditioning evaporator coils are installed in the attic. It frees up closet/storage space in the house and it’s quieter when the heating/cooling is on.When an air conditioning evaporator coil unit is installed in the attic (the silver box in photo), a condens...

The crawlspace... You know it as the dark, creepy place under the house, filled with spiders and other critters. For the plumber, the electrician and the HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) contractors... It's the shallow unfinished space beneath the first floor to provide access to ...