Basement Walkouts
The most important item with any exterior drain is to keep it clean. This includes window wells, bottoms of driveways, patios, and also these walkout basement stair that we are talking about here.
Missing Header Over Window
Another construction gone bad. The opening was enlarged to fit this window in this photo. The studs that supported the head on the left side was removed. The header was not replaced. Heck it wasn’t even removed so it could be replace. I removed some of the duct tape to expose above the window. As …
Fireplace Safety
During my tenure in the fireman business (1980 to 2018) I have been on multiple house fires caused by fireplaces that were not in safe condition. Two of those fires burned enough to make the houses inhabitable for almost a year before the houses were able to be repaired
Water Spigots
In the last few days, the inspections that we have been doing we found frozen spigots.
Head Flashing Over Doors and Windows
Head flashing is sometimes referred to as Z flashing. The purpose of this type of flashing is to direct water away from the house. When windows are installed, part of the window protrudes from the siding. When water flows down the wall, it hits this protrusion and flashing is needed to keep water from flowing into the house
Garage Door Springs
There are two types of garage door springs. Expansion (extension) and torsion. All springs are under tremendous pressure and are considered dangerous. Only professionals should work on these springs. Torsion Springs First I will talk about the torsion springs and how we inspect them. Torsion springs come in many different sizes. They twist to help support …
Chicago Deck Inspections
We do many home inspections in Chicago. There are many times we run into poor installations. Heck, never have we found something perfect. Sometimes we find things that are appalling. This porch was built in such a way that is just out-right dangerous. I included a few photos of the porch and put some comments …