House to Home Inspection

One important part of your home’s electrical system is the grounding rod.

The grounding rod does help balance the electrical potential of the system with the earth and is used a safe place to dissipate stray electrical voltage from lightning strikes and power surges.

Always get your home inspected!

These metal straps are called brick ties. They are laid into the mortar between the bricks to help provide lateral support to the brick veneer. This support is what keeps the bricks from tipping over.

Half of these ties are not laid into the mortar at all and the ones that were rusted out leaving this brick wall highly unsupported.

Always get your home inspected!

This 2 x 4 was an important part of the structural system of the brick veneer around this home’s crawlspace. The 2x4 had the brick ties secured to them as a way to ensure the brick veneer would not tip over and crumble.

Luckily this was found before this became a bigger issue!

Short little video about what a Ufer ground is, important part of your home’s electrical system!

The grounding rod is part of your home’s electrical system that will help dissipate ground fault voltage and deal with power surges. Without it the electrical components around your home could be damaged by excess voltage!

Always get your home inspected!

The water pressure at this home maxed out my pressure gauge. Water pressure is always good. It means you can run multiple appliances and showers at the same time a without a big pressure drop.

But what is the long term implication of this high of a water pressure?

Higher pressure means more stress on the plumbing pipes and fixtures around the home. This can potentially lead to damaged plumbing system components and cause small leaks that could become big problems.

Typically a home should have 40 - 80 psi of water pressure. Anything outside of that typically requires further evaluation by a licensed plumber and contacting your local water utility provider to report the issue.

Always get your home inspected!

Yes this is from a busted sprinkler head! The water pressure to this home was well over 100 PSI which is way above the standard threshold of 40-80 PSI.

This spring Klee zone was running for over 20 minutes during the program dumping gallons of water on the roof and along the side of the foundation. This can result in erosion of the soil around the foundation as well as potential moisture intrusion issues into the home.

Always get your home inspected!

AFCI stands for arc fault circuit interrupter. It is a special type of breaker that has a computer chip in it and analyzes the wave length of the electrical current passing through it.

The computer chip is looking for evidence of arcing in the form of voltage spikes in the wavelength. At the the first sign of arcing the circuit breaker is supposed to trip and cut power to the circuit.

The National electric code started requiring these devices on electrical circuits that serve habitable living spaces around the home starting in the early 2000s. They were slowly phased in and initially only required in a few rooms. No all circuits that serving habitable living spaces such as bedrooms, living rooms, kitchens, etc. need to have an AFCI type breaker installed.

Here we can see this AFCI breaker is no longer functioning and does not properly trip! An important safety feature as the NEC attributes over 60% of electrical house fires to arcing electrical current.

Always get your home inspected!

You never know what someone has put down a drain, especially in a new construction home.

This main sewer line for this home was backing up out of the cleanout and overflowing into the yard and street!

Repairs to main sewer lines can add up to thousands of dollars which is why you need to get your home inspected!

Your home is your safety and your shelter. Always take care of your home and it will take care of you!