Home Inspection Photo Log

Pennsylvania Home Inspections in Berks, Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, & Philadelphia counties

(1)

This is a picture taken of a "foreign object" that was embedded in the 3rd floor roof of an apartment building.  If I had to guess, I'd say this was a Happy New Year bullet; straight up and straight down.  It's safe to say this roof is shot.

(2)

A sidewalk trip hazard is a common defect found on many inspections.  We define a trip hazard as any surface irregularity with a height of 1/2 inch or more.

(3)

A common, but undesirable side effect of poor exterior surface grading around the house is water infiltration in the basement.  In this picture, the crawlspace wall shows evidence of active water penetration.

(4)

Painting tip of the day: when painting a wall, go AROUND the electrical outlets.  Not OVER them.  This amateurish rush job resulted in the bottom outlet being painted completely shut.  The outlet now needs to be replaced along with 12 other outlets in the same house that fell victim to the runaway paint roller.  

(5)

There are many projects in a home that can be safely completed by the average do-it-yourselfer.  Electrical work however is not one of them.  Here is a picture of an unsafe electrical connection.  The splice joining these two sections of electrical cable needs to be enclosed in a junction box and mounted to the overhead joists.  The hanging section of wire needs to be secured as well.  This requires the services of a licensed and certified professional electrician.

(6)

Another common safety concern is a missing handrail on a run of steps.  Handrails are necessary for safety on any run of interior or exterior stairs with three or more steps. 

(7)

A common misconception among homeowners is that raising the thermostat setting on the water heater increases the amount of hot water in the tank.  The only thing that happens is the water is often heated to an unsafe temperature level.  In this picture, the hot water level in this house is at an unsafe 140 degrees which is hot enough to burn and scald human skin.  Water heater thermostats should be adjusted to produce hot water not in excess of 120 degrees.    

The nifty device used to measure the water temperature in this picture is a Raytek MiniTemp Laser thermometer.

(8)

The front porch on this house has seen better days.  The top photo shows the upper portion of the roof pulling away from the house and an unstable rear support beam.  The bottom photo shows a sinking front porch slab and clothes line being used to hold the bottom portion of the support beam in place.  Clothes line is great for holding wet clothes.  However, it's not so great when used to help hold up your porch roof.  The situation is a hazard waiting to happen and requires immediate repair work.  

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