5 Things The Seller Can Do To Prepare For A Home Inspection

Correct and incorrect ways to organize electrical wires in a panel.

Each week handymen across the country earn great money repairing homes under contract for sellers who listed their “not ready for prime time” home. There are literally dozens of issues I find each week that, if repaired in time, could have saved the seller hard earned cash. Most repairs are simple and could have been […]

What is That White Powdery Stuff on My Brick Wall?

Gary Smith - Home Inspector - Brandon, MS

We know that efflorescence is a fine, white, powdery deposit (see photo at right) of water-soluble salts left on the surface of masonry as the water evaporates. These efflorescent salt deposits tend to appear at the worst times, usually about a month after the building is constructed, and sometimes as long as a year after completion. Three conditions must exist before efflorescence will occur. If one is left out, efflorescence cannot form.

3 DIY Repairs Homeowners Should Leave to the Pros

garage door spring

Do-it-yourself repairs are certainly not new. Home and garden shows and networks (HGTV) have glamorized being handy.  That’s not necessarily a bad thing, however, in effort to save money, the DYI option could backfire.

Garage Door Maintenance

Collapsed brick chimney with scattered bricks outside a house.

Since 1992 the CPSC – Consumer Product Safety Commission has considered garage doors dangerous. In an effort to reduce the number of deaths to children who become entrapped under garage doors with automatic openers, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) today issued final rules for automatic residential garage door openers. The rules, which will […]