Watch Out For Flipped Homes part 1

Flips can be a disastrous purchase. While there are some good flippers out there, a lot are out there just to turn a quick buck not caring what their doing. Make it look good, even if it's #notdoneright. Get the most money and move on. We'll be showing some of the flips we inspect in the coming weeks in a new series. "Watch Out For Flipped Homes". In the part below you'll see how the structure is moving, wrong materials are used, and just lack of knowledge or care is done to sell at top dollar. Without a home inspection this buyer would've been in serious financial issues trying to fix it  

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Things you might not see without a home inspection #2 Water Leakage

One of the biggest items home buyers don't want to see is water leakage. A lot of basements get painted, I mean a lot, when people are selling their home. They either paint it for better appeal or to cover something up, especially if it is a flipped house. Without trained eyes to spot evidence of former or current water leakage into the home, you may never know until that first hard rain. Watch the video below to see some things to look for when purchasing a home.

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Things you might not see without a home inspection, #1 Roofing Issues

A lot of excitement goes into purchasing a home. Making decisions on what home fits your needs, how will you set up the house to make it your home with your tastes. Sometimes in order to get the winning bid on a home you may need to concede on home inspections or appraisals. It's a risk you may need to take in order to get your dream home but don't forget you can always get a home inspection for informational purposes so that you know and can budget for repairs that you'll need to address in the future. In this video we'll show you a moisture intrusion issue that you won't see from the ground and may not notice in the home until stains or mold show up. Check out this video!  

For more information on home inspections in Eastern Ohio or Western Pennsylvania visit our website at www.BloodhoundHomeInspection.com

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Real Estate Agents, what to watch out for on a home inspection

I get a lot of joy in teaching real estate classes on various topics including home inspections. Here is one of my latest classes Avoiding The Aggravations of Home Inspections. In this class I teach what to expect during a home inspection, contracts that the inspector has, what is covered and what is not. There are also red flag issues to watch out for that you might come across when you tour a home that is for sale in the Northeastern Ohio Area.

 

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Attic Stair Installation Done Wrong

 One thing that a lot of people don't realize is that attic stairs get installed incorrectly quite frequently. One of the things home inspectors look for is how the ladder is fastened to the framing. A lot of times they get screwed into the framing. You may ask: What's wrong with that? Screws hold things together, right? While screws are easier to install then nails on these units, it's wrong. The shear strength of a nail is stronger then that of a screw. The manufacturers even put tags on these units that say to place nail through holes in brackets. These labels are usually found near where the ladder meets  the framing. When we come across this, we recommend adding 16D nails to the unit for better support as opposed to taking the whole thing down.   

Sometimes we run into strange things during a home inspection in the Youngstown Ohio area. On this home inspection on a home that was over 120 years old we found an old stone well under the basement floor. Not something normally found as when the cover was pulled off, it dropped about 15-20 feet. This home also had a major radon gas problem. When tested this home tested at an 18! Numbers we want to see are under 4. After our sister company Bloodhound Environmental at niXradon.com installed a radon mitigation system, we were able to lower it down to a 0.6. That well was pushing a ton of radon gas into the home.

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Basement flooding? Check the grade first.

One of the most common items buyers are afraid of when purchasing a home is a wet basement. No one wants water in it and you don't want to have to pay thousands to correct it. So before you go hiring a company to bust open the floor, install drain tile, and a sump pit, check the grade and downspouts. A lot of times your downspouts are draining right next to the foundation. Water drains straight down and finds the weak spot which is the floor to wall connection and then leaks into the basement. So put those extensions on the downspouts and drain it away from the home. Next, look at the grading. Are their low spots around the home? Does it slope towards the home? If it does, get fill dirt and slope it away. Don't use mulch or rock landscaping as it won't direct water away. Fill dirt, slope away and monitor. You'll find that a lot (not always) of times this will fix your leaking basement and you won't need to go to the costly repair of busting up the floors with drains and sump pits. If you do this and you still get water, then seek out a waterproofing company. Make that your last step, not the first.

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Spider cracking? What is it? And what does it mean for your roof?

One of the main areas checked on a home inspection is the roof. Home inspectors are looking for areas that may cause leaks such as around flashing areas around chimneys, vent pipes, skylights, etc. Home inspectors are also looking at the materials covering the roof for signs of wear. In the video below the home inspector talks about Spider or Craze cracking in the shingles. What does it mean? Watch below.

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What a blown window seal looks like and what it means

One of the things we look for during a home inspection is blown window seals. What is a blown window seal? The short answer is this: Windows are vacuum sealed at the factory. Over time, those seals can go bad and the window loses it's vacuum seal. When this occurs you will typically see a fogging or moisture in between the glass. This doesn't affect the weather coming in, however, it does affect the energy efficiency of the window and they can get pretty ugly. Check out the video below.

There's not many, if any, companies still around that fix these, however, if you know the brand name and size, sometimes you can order just the replacement sash. A lot of times you will need to replace the window.

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Water Heater Making A Popping Sound

One of the things that our home inspectors check at Bloodhound Home Inspection check during a home inspection is the water heater. Of course we're always looking for the common items like water leakage from the tank, valves, etc. We also look at, if gas, venting, gas lines and the hookup of water and other lines. Sometimes we come across units that make a popping sound. This is not water boiling inside the tank but usually a sediment issue. Depending on your water source and the use of filters, you may get large deposits of sediment inside the bottom of the tank. As the sediment can stick over time, the heat from the unit can cause the sediment to come loose making a popping sound. Depending on how bad the amount of sediment is in the tank, fixes can range from flushing out the unit to having to replace the unit entirely, Check out the video below! 

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Thermostat placement is key to having balanced comfort in your home

If you've ever wondered why one side of your house is cooler then the other? It could be the location of your thermostat. Generally you want to keep your thermostat away from any areas near exterior doors and windows. When those windows or doors are open, they will effect the thermostat. Keeping it close to an exterior door in the winter can kick your furnace on more frequently and making the house warmer in other areas. The same effect will occur in the summer with your air conditioning. In this video, the thermostat is in the kitchen. If you're baking around the holidays that will keep the furnace off and make the rest of the home much cooler. Ideal placement is typically the hallway where the bedrooms are. This is where you'll get more balance throughout the home. In some larger homes you may want to have zones which will have multiple thermostats that will regulate different areas of the home.

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Electrical Issues During A Home Inspection

One of the items inspected during a home inspection in the Youngstown area is electrical systems. Part of this is checking outlets, appliances, light switches, etc. During one of Bloodhound's Home Inspection lights flickered when testing the garbage disposal. Every time the switch from the garbage disposal was turned on, lights flickered in the hallway and basement. Likely this line has too many items on it or a faulty breaker. Home inspectors will find issues like this during a home inspection which gives the professional electrician a guide on what to look for and needs repaired. Without home inspections, buyers could be stuck repairing these items after the sale taking more money out of their pockets while the cost of housing is currently high.

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Got Mold? Better check the attic

One of the areas we check during a home inspection is the attic. We're looking for the basics, like insulation, damage to the framing, water leaks, etc, but we're also looking for mold issues. A combination of things can cause mold in the attic. Lack of insulation, humidity, water leaks, condensation to name a few. In this video we encounter painted surfaces in the attic. No one paints the attic for the heck of it. Usually it's a treatment or cover up for fire damage or mold. Here we see mold spots bleeding through the paint. Obviously not professionally cleaned and treated. If you're buying a home, make sure you get a professional home inspection to help detect issues like these.

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Got GFCI Protection? This is a must have in your home

During a home inspection in the Youngstown area, we test for GFCI protection (Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter). These are designed to be a safety measure for outlets in water or moisture exposed areas such as around kitchen or bath sinks, exterior locations, laundry, garages, etc. These will shut off in the event a ground fault is detected. As home inspectors, we'll check not only to make sure they are in the correct areas but also that they are functioning.    

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The number one cause of lung cancer in non-smokers

The number one cause of lung cancer in non-smokers is radon. Radon gas is a colorless/odorless gas that is in everyone's' home. The EPA recommends every home be tested. The standard for measurement for radon mitigation is recommended at 4.0pCi/L or above. Testing typically take a minimum of 48 hours. Test kits are available at local hardware stores, however, they don't give you an hour by hour reading like professional radon monitors do. So what do you do if you have high radon in your home? Below is a video of what a radon mitigation system will look like. After this home was tested during a home inspection, it was discovered that the level was at 30pCi/L! That is way high radon levels! After Bloodhound Environmental installed the radon mitigation system, these levels dropped from 30pCi/L all the way down under 1 at a 0.4pCi/L. This family can now breathe easy! 

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You Don't Want To See Mutant Green in the Water

One of the services we provide in addition to our normal home inspections is septic dye testing. In running these tests, we dump about a gallon of dye into the toilet, sometimes green, sometimes red. Then we run a lot of water to fill the system. Depending on the size of the home we may run water 45 minutes to an hour and a half. Then we check the field to see if any dye leaked out or in this case a small stream running on the property. You can see in the video the bright green in the water. That is not good.

 

One of the worst decks I've ever inspected

As a home inspector of 18 years, I've done quite a few home inspections around the Youngstown area. There's always something new I'll find every day and the video of the deck below was the most defects I've found on one deck. Safety is always a key factor during these inspections and this deck was definitely not safe. So many things were wrong that I had to put it in video as it would be a long read. Enjoy! 

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