Using Thermography During a Home Inspection
Thermography, or Thermal Imaging, has been around for many years. The first time I remember seeing thermal imaging was in the movie “The Predator” back in the late 1980’s, where the predator creature chased Arnold using thermal imaging to find its prey. It was a super...
Ice Damming (or Darn Icing)
Ice damming is one of those conditions that I encounter fairly often and is often misunderstood and improperly treated. So I thought I would do my best to explain the phenomenon and give my suggestions as to how it should be corrected. Ice damming occurs when the...
Home Inspection Checklist
Due to the unregulated nature of the industry, the scope, level of detail and the type of report that you get from a home inspection can vary dramatically from inspector to inspector. If you are wondering whether your home inspector has checked the essentials, this...
How to Make the Most Out of the Home Inspection Process
Finding a new home may be one of your biggest and most important investments and in order for you to ensure that you are protecting that investment it would be best to know how to make the most out of the home inspection process. Why do you need a home inspection?...
Choosing the Right Home Inspector
Buying or selling a home, choosing the right home inspector is very important to saving you money in the long run. Home inspectors provide a professional assessment of a home and are looking for age related defects, poor workmanship and safety hazards. Buyers normally...
Wet Basements
Have you ever walked down the basement stairs of a house and gotten transported back in time to your parents dark, shag carpeted, wood paneled damp, musty teenage hangout? As a home inspector, this is a common occurrence. That damp funky smell, you know the one, is...
Window Sill Mortar Cracks Repair How-to
It is a common building practice to install window sills which are comprised of multiple sections of stone or pre-cast concrete. The joint between these sections are jointed using brick mortar. This is fine when the building is new but as the building ages and settles...
How exhausting!
Houses need to have an indoor/outdoor exchange of air to replenish oxygen used by the occupants and to remove moisture and pollutants generated by: breathing, heating, cooking, and emissions from building materials and furnishings. The homes of bygone years were...
Oil Heating
The oil furnace has been, and continues to be, a common heating solution in areas which are not served by a natural gas service. To run an oil furnace requires an oil tank in which to store the oil and these tanks can be located inside or outside of the home, above...
External Insulated Finish System (EIFS)
We've all seen it, but what the heck is it? EIFS is a lightweight synthetic wall cladding that includes foam plastic insulation and thin synthetic coatings which resembles traditional stucco. EIFS can be used on new buildings and can also be installed on existing...