10 Easy Ways to Save Money & Energy in Your Home

Tobacco smoke creates an odor that is notorious for its ability to saturate living spaces and persist long after its source is gone. Inspectors may be asked by clients who recently purchased a smoke-infused home, or by sellers before their house goes on the market, about how to remedy the situation. Facts About Tobacco Smoke and its Residue Smoke particles can be as small as .001% of the width of a human hair, which allows them to penetrate almost any part of a house. Tobacco smoke can easily circulate through a building’s ventilation system or come up through apartment floors. Tenant/tenant and tenant/landlord disputes commonly arise when smoke odors penetrate adjacent housing units.  It is not clear whether tobacco smoke odor is dangerous or if it is merely a nuisance. While tobacco smoke is a known carcinogen, little is known about the health effects of the particles that are left in the air after you can no longer see the smoke. The American Cancer Society states of cigar...

Wood-destroying insects and other organisms can cause serious problems in the wooden structural components of a house, and may go undetected for a long period of time.    New Construction   All chemical soil treatments, bait systems, and chemical wood treatment must be approved by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and applied in accordance with the EPA label's instructions. In some cases, it is not feasible for a builder to arrange for soil treatment. In this regard, the International Residential Code (IRC) by the International Code Council allows a builder to utilize pressure-treated wood as a measure of termite protection. If pressure-treated wood is used, however, it must be used in all framing members up to and including the top plate of the first floor's level wall. This includes the sub-floor and floor joists of the first floor. The use of pressure-treated wood in only the sill plate is not acceptable. In such cases, the builder must provide the len...

  According to  InterNACHI's Home Inspection Standards of Practice , home inspectors are required to inspect the gutters and downspouts as part of the roof portion of the home inspection.   www.HomeBossInspection.com www.FLBoss.com Some important factors a home inspector should consider include: that the guttering system is adequately sized to prevent runoff; that the gutters are free of rust, cracks and holes in order to prevent leaking; and that the downspouts divert water 4 to 6 feet away from the home's foundation.             A few inches of rain falling on the roof of a house can produce several thousand gallons of water runoff. This runoff must be channeled away from the home's foundation. Otherwise, the excess water can quickly saturate the soil surrounding the building and wick through the foundation to the interior. (See Figure 1 below.) Once inside, this moisture can lead to a variety of problems, incl...

Grinder pumps are waste-management devices used to grind up household waste into a finely ground slurry and then force it into the sewer system.  Grinder pumps are required where a building’s drain system is at a level below a municipal sewer line or septic tank. Even if a building is at the same level as its sewer line or septic tank, the geography of the site may prevent sewage from flowing fast enough by gravity alone, making a grinder pump necessary. A   typical application of a grinder pump is in a home where a basement bathroom is located lower than the height of the sewer line that leaves the home.  www.HomeBossInspection.com www.FLBOSS.com How do they work? Household wastewater flows into the grinder pump’s tank. When the wastewater reaches a pre-set level, the grinder automatically turns on, grinds the waste, and pumps it into the public sewer system or septic tank. Grinder pumps will normally run for a few minutes and turn off when the tank is emptied...

The purpose of this article is twofold. First, at InterNACHI, we’d like you to take measures to keep your garage free from fire. Fortunately, there are ways this can be done, some of which are described below. Secondly, garage fires do happen, and we’d like you to make sure that a fire cannot not easily spread to the rest of your house. While you can perform many of the recommendations in this article yourself, it is a good idea to hire an InterNACHI inspector to make sure your home is safe from a garage fire. www.HomeBossInspection.com   www.FLBOSS.com   Why do many garages pose a fire hazard? Where are you most likely to do any welding, or any work on your car? These activities require working with all sorts of flammable materials.  Water heaters and boilers are usually stored in garages, and they can create sparks that may ignite fumes or fluids. Car batteries, too, will spark under certain conditions.  Oil and gasoline ...

What is a home inspection?   A home inspection is a visual examination of the home's major structure, systems and components that are visible and safely accessible.  The inspector should substantially adhere to a standards of practice that outlines what should be covered during a general home inspection, as well as what is excluded. Some inspectors may strictly follow the standards of practice, while others may exceed the standards and inspect other items, or perform a more detailed inspection. Whatever the inspector includes in his or her inspection should be discussed prior to the inspection – this is known as the scope of work. The inspector should be able to provide you with a copy or online link to the standards of practice they follow.  The inspector should provide you with a written report, which may include photos and/or recommendations, of his or her findings of the inspection.  Read  InterNACHI's Standards of Practice  to find out what is typ...

Purchasing foreclosed homes in desirable areas at below-market values can be a sound investment strategy. Appreciation on their original prices may be tax-free.  Buying foreclosed rental properties can provide positive cash flow, as well as valuable tax deductions. On the other hand, buying a foreclosure involves homework, patience, and a certain amount of luck. For those wishing to get a bargain house through the foreclosure process, it’s best to learn the basics. www.HomeBossInspection.com Four Ways to Buy a Foreclosed Home A  presale  is when the prospective buyer negotiates with the current owner before the house is foreclosed upon. Presale discounts can be considerable, but communicating and reasoning with the owner isn’t always easy; they might have legal problems, lost their phone service or electricity, or greet you with suspicion, having already been hounded and threatened by creditors. And after time and energy have been invested, the de...

Building orientation is the practice of facing a building so as to maximize certain aspects of its surroundings, such as street appeal, to capture a scenic view, for drainage considerations, etc. With rising energy costs, it’s becoming increasingly important for builders to orient buildings to capitalize on the Sun’s free energy. For developers and builders,  orienting a new home to take advantage of the warmth of the Sun will increase the home's appeal and marketability.  For homeowners, it will increase their indoor comfort and reduce their energy bills.    Thus, building orientation, along with daylighting and thermal mass, are crucial considerations of passive solar construction that can be incorporated into virtually any new home design.  InterNACHI inspectors who consult with new homeowners can pass along this valuable information to help their clients reap long-term energy benefits and savings. www.HomeBossInspection.com   Facts and Figure...