Today lets talk about a Home Inspection before you put your home on the market.

Why would anyone want to do that you may ask? Isn't that just another couple hundred bucks out the window? Both great questions! There are a few main reasons why you should do this.

One of the biggest reasons is a counter offer based on defects of a home. If you didn't have a pr-inspection and you set your listing price your stuck with no where to go other than to lower the price for your home and or lose the buyer.
The bigger question is why did your realtor not insist on you having an inspection before hand? Kind of seems they may not of had Your best interest in mind, A troubling thought!

Why take less money for your home when it could have been avoided by a pr-inspection and the asking price adjusted accordingly, or at least a small allowance made for the repair work in advance. I get to see the day of responses on buyers faces everyday and the disappointment is very real.

It is my recommendation to leave a copy of the report on the counter for your potential
buyers that way they know you are not hiding anything and that you also know the defects of the home and have the listing price set. I can email a PDF copy of your report to any potential buyers before hand at your request. The buyers always call me for an explanation of defects if any. And that is the important part of the inspection.

Most counter offers are well above $10,000.00 so how did saving a couple of hundred help?
When defects are explained correctly most buyers understand that they are really just small maintenance items that all homes have.

Contact me today to scheduled yours!


Your Buckeye Home Inspector
(614) 907-5268
www.buckeyehomeinspect.com

Fall is upon us and winter is close by. I know I'm sorry!

Today lets talk about Ice Damning & why and how it occurs. The real cause of Ice Damning is energy loss(Heat Loss) from walls and attic areas. Ever wonder why it seems to start at the edge of your roof area or in the valley?

The area directly above a homes walls is "around" 8" tall plus or minus, to the underside of the homes roof sheeting. A poorly insulated wall/attic allows that warm air to radiate upwards.
This radiation of heat causes a constant thawing/warming of that area and when the melted snow or rain gets past that point it re freezes and causes Ice Damning to form.

Some Roofers will tell you all you need is Ice Shield 3' up from the edge of the sheeting.
Ice shield does protect the sheeting from ice damage however it will do nothing to stop Ice Damning. Proper wall and attic insulation/Soffit Venting/Insulation Baffles are the cure for the problem.

Also keep in mind that a clogged gutter system also plays a Hugh part in creating Ice Damning when it is full of frozen water/debris from the fall.
Make sure your gutter are properly pitched and have debris protection installed.
Make sure the Insulation company didn't fill the soffit/wall area full of insulation without baffles- This happens all the time!
Make sure you have properly install soffit venting installed.

Remember Ladder safety Please
Stay tuned for more soon

A Waterproofing System:

What is it?  Well most people feel it is Drainage tile for the basement area of their home and includes the sump pump and discharge piping away from the foundation/sealing of the exterior foundation walls.   Partially correct.

A waterproofing system starts at the roof of your home (Gutter and Downspouts) and continues to a discharge point well away from the foundation.
Proper drainage / Grading away from the home is just as important as any other inspected item and is often overlooked or taken lightly. That is a costly oversight of around 15 to 20k when the foundation fails.

Trees planted within 6' of a foundation wall is a real problem with modern homes and tons of beautiful landscaping,  Yes it does look really nice    But at what cost?

Little attention is paid to the Gutter systems of a home, allowing water to fall straight down to the over dig area of the home (Excavated area to dig out your foundation)  This is disturbed soil after the dig and settles for 15 to 20 years thereafter and if you don't keep a proper grade around the home water ends up pooling from the gutters and rain run off right next to your foundation.

Edged flower beds and thick mulch look really nice I agree. However in reality it creates a deep pooling area for water to lay trapped.  Paver patios are beautiful but in order to properly install them the ground needs to be dug out to a depth of around 8" deep and sand installed for leveling.  Well you just installed a mini swimming pool right against your foundation.
With the ground settling around your home from the over dig and the paver area 8" deep where do you think all that water is going?  Correct! Right in your basement taking all that soot and dirt with it to clog your existing water proofing system.  Most patios do not have a drain tile installed for drainage.  Foundation companies love to see this! And as you can see below that is not a phone call any of us want to make.

Questions? Please feel free to ask!

Stay tuned for more soon

Charlie

I recently moved my website here to be more responsive to both  Mobil and Desk top
devices.

In doing so I lost 5 years of blog pages from the old site, I will re post as soon as I can. The entire website is a work in progress, Let me know what you think!

Charlie

More Home Safety:

This is the 2nd time in less than a month that I have ran across incorrectly installed flue pipes.
This is something I get to see way to often during my home inspections.

I am not even sure what to say or comment on this one,  This one is beyond being installed incorrectly. 
This is a newly installed Gas hot water tank in a rental, I am glad no one had moved into this unit yet.

In the long run it cost less to do it right and is so much safer.

Charlie

Hello Everyone:

Safety in your Home.

All homes no matter what age they may be should have at least a bi-yearly inspection. Why?
Major mechanical s fail from normal use, they vibrate/shake/move around from ground movement/settling of a home.

A homeowner calls for an appointment today on a inspection and happens to mention that his entire family have been sick for over a year and can't find any reason for it in the home.
He said the HVAC system was just checked along with the air quality in the home, and everything checked out fine.

Upon inspection of the basement area I saw 2 Gas hot water tanks both vented into one slightly larger pipe that had a really long way to go before making the connection to the main flue pipe, The furnace was also tied into that same run of pipe.  WOW!
As if that wasn't enough, there were cracks in all of the flue pipes from over heating.

Every time either of the hot water tanks turned on or the furnace ran for heat it was pumping Carbon Monoxide straight into the basement and of course no O2 detector installed.
I explained to them that they needed to make other living arrangements until this was corrected.

Thankful everyone is okay now!

Bi-Yearly Inspections are important.
Charlie
Be Safe.