DIY Swimming Pool Leak Test
Easy DIY swimming pool leak test. Need: bucket – swimming pool – about 3 days. This post includes a nice 1:32 video. Follow professional home inspector Gary Smith for more Real Estate Reality!
How to Maintain Your Tankless Water Heater – Annual Descale Flush
Nothing beats a nice clean cool drink of water. However, if you own a tankless water heater, you’ll want to keep the heat exchanger free of lime and scale. You should flush it annually. Here are some basic steps. The pump and hoses will cost less than $100.
What is That White Powdery Stuff on My Brick Wall?
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 Challenges of Buying and Inspecting a Foreclosure
I got a call yesterday to inspect a home in foreclosure. For the inexperienced inspector, this could be quite the challenge. We have little to no access to data or history about the properties we inspect and when the home is owned by a bank or other governmental agency the opportunity to ask questions or uncover […]
Preventing Waste Line Noise in a Two Story Home
The Issue We’re at the inspection and I ask my client to stand near a downstairs wall that I suspect holds the waste line for an upstairs toilet. Before heading upstairs I asked her to listen for sounds of rushing water. I flush. I hear a few comments from the downstairs “listener” (and they’re not […]