Performing a Home Inspection & Writing an Inspection Report

[Music] hi i'm ben gromicko from internachi and today we're gonna do a home inspection and what I want to do is show you how I do a home inspection and how I write an inspection report and the cool thing is I'm gonna show you how I write an inspection report using my iPhone because my software is on my phone let me show you how I take pictures and videos how I create a summary really quick and how I find defects from my client okay so the first thing I do when I pull up during an inspection is well I'm here early so I'm gonna see if anyone is inside and I'll knock on the door but I'll get ready for my client to pull up just like I did and I'll have my business cards ready and a big smile for a really good first impression okay so let's knock on the door see if anybody's home and then we'll get to our equipment like unloading my ladder and my tool bag and I'll show you what's in my tool bag as well okay let's go okay so no one's home but we have access to the property so we're gonna have a lot of fun and the next thing is I want to unload my ladder and set that up because I want to do the hardest thing first which is the roof inspection and I know from the MLS and the information that I got from the real estate agent that this is a towel roof so I'm not walking on the on the roof I don't have to walk upon any roof surface according to the standards of practice so I'm gonna stay safe but let's say I wanted to walk on the roof I'm not going to because tile under my load it's just gonna crack so we don't want to damage the roof so let's unload the ladder set it up let's grab my toolbox and I'll show you what's in my tool bag okay let's do that next [Music] [Music] okay so I am in the back now it's a safer place so ladders are really dangerous so I want a nice safe place nice level stable ground on which I'm going to set my ladder I've got the safety position right so you stand in front of a ladder it should be about an arm's length away so that's a good angle and I'm gonna tie up the front sorry at the top of the ladder rung to the gutter just to make sure we have the about three feet above the gutter just for safety it's not windy I'm not gonna use a drone or anything or binoculars so this is a pretty safe installation here of my ladder and I'm ready to go up again it's a towel roof so I'm not gonna walk on it on the roof surface I don't need to I'm not required to walk upon any roof surface but I'm gonna get to the gutters edge and I want to check out a few things one of them is I know that there's a fireplace in the house so I want to check out the chimney I might add that section to the report and I want to take a look at any other vents that penetrate the roof so I'm gonna set this up I'm gonna grab a couple more tools I'll show you my tool bag in the front of the house and then we'll head up on the roof all right let's go okay so we set up the ladder and now we're in the front and before we start doing the home inspection I want to show you my tools so I'm wearing a few of them really important things for the exterior and maybe the crawlspace or basement or attic my knee pads and this is my basic tool bag it's not much in it it has my flashlight screwdriver a voltage tester a GFCI tester things I use a lot the other things that I may not use a lot of I bring to the front door because I'm ready to go I don't like to go from the house to the truck just to get a tool so I try to bring everything to the front door because we're trying to manage our time and be efficient and so one of the most important tools I have are my indoor only shoes because I respect other people's property and I don't want to be blamed for tracking in dirt so I actually take a picture of this and put it in the report or at least I'll have a picture of it got my FLIR c2 camera this is about five hundred dollars pretty affordable it makes me better a home inspector because allows me to see things that other inspectors can't see you don't need a very expensive infrared camera these tools are the best this is actually a gardening tool it's a three tine ho it's extendable and one of the tines I heat it up and straightened out in order to poke things and move insulation like at the band rim joist so this helps me probe things and look for wood rot or damaged wood or rotten wood so I'm on a deck here in the front and with this tool I could probably inspect the condition of the wood within like a minute with this tool the other tool I have that I really like is the hydro shark it's a moisture meter they're hard to find but if you want to email me I can show you where to get it and it's basically a little audible and visual indicator as a home inspector we don't measure things maybe approximate the thickness of the insulation but we'll measure like the relative humidity levels or moisture content or anything like that but this allows me to determine whether something is wet or not so I'll probe this in a carpet or in drywall the other things that I have well there's a bunch a big full bag of stuff to protect myself from breathing in nasty things in a crawlspace or attic PPE another cool thing is a guide book for wood destroying insects anything that damages wood eats wood this helps me be a better inspector because it helps me remind myself what I'm looking at and also it helps me communicate what I'm looking at so if I wanted to communicate what I see in a more formal way I can give this to my client as well and we can discuss what we see and then I like this this is a GFCI AFCI combination tester so I'll be using this inside on the outside there's no AFC I protect so it's just my GFCI tests are on the outside and in the garage and things like that but on the inside I'll use my AFCI tester as well there's a bunch of other tools I have and let's see I think I also want to show you my software so here's my software and it's on my iPhone and I highly recommend buying software that works on a mobile device so what I have here is spec Torah now you spec Torah software and what I want to do is take a picture of the front of the house and then get ready for the rest of the inspection so let me take a picture of the front of the house so I'm taking a picture of the front of the house that's very nice I'll use that photo and it'll pop right into my software as you see and then the inspection report starts with some details and what I want to do is I'm going to go to the general inspection information and in attendance well there's no one here about me so I'm going to skip that let's let's just say that the homeowners here and the listing agent is here and then occupancy the place is occupied and it's furnished weather conditions it's sunny and I sometimes like to take a picture of the sky so I'll just I'll snap it real quick that's easy and then it's an a it's a town house and it's that's it so I have a client didn't attend paragraph here which is really important and I'll show you what it is so it says my client didn't attend and there's a narrative about when my client doesn't attend they're missing out on a lot of things and we actually love when our clients attend the inspection so that they can address their concerns I can answer all their questions and it's really good for me because I don't want to answer the phone call that they have all these phone calls coming afterwards I want them here with me and I'm gonna talk and inspect and teach them how there are homeworks how to maintain it and how to save energy all at the same time and when I'm done with the inspection I'm done with everything but if my client isn't here well I want that in the report to remind them that they made a mistake not being here okay well not made a mistake but they lost an opportunity then I have a few other things I want to slam in here in my inspection report like what really matters in a home inspection there are really four things that matter during an inspection and one of them is major defects and those are things that I both observe and deemed to be major and things that may lead to a defect like a flashing problem that may lead to a roof leak I'm gonna remind my client to read their book and to schedule their next home inspection so while I'm here I use that phrase a lot while I'm here doing an inspection I'm going to have my clients schedule next year's annual home maintenance checkup so not only am i making money now I'm making money one year later so schedule ahead and those are the things I want in the report itself I have a buyback guarantee I'm gonna include that and I have a $10,000 honor guarantee so I'm gonna clue that in the report so I'm gonna go back and I know that I have to add sections so down in my software I have to add a section what well a chimney because not all huh not every home has a fireplace with a chimney stack so I'm gonna add my chimney section and there it pops in I'm gonna add another section which is this monster here it's gonna take me another 10 minutes to do a detached garage but I'm gonna add that and let's see if there's anything else I need to carport attached garage nope okay so I have all my sections first thing I do is the roof and then we're going to the fireplace an exterior basement and etc in my software I'm cheating because I'm carrying my work scope my list of things to inspect I don't I I look brilliant I guess because I have all this stuff in my hand and I don't have to like remember what I'm honest but am I supposed to do next it's like a cheat sheet so I'm gonna go to the roof and what on the roof am I supposed to inspect the roof covering the flashing the vent pipes and the gutters and downspouts is there anything else I need to add well if there was a skylight I'd add that section and there's flue gas vent pipes I actually took a look when I when I was um setting up my ladder in the back that we have flue gas vent pipes and that means I have a HVAC system that's gas fired so next thing is roof covering okay I have a little paragraph about homeowners responsibility because after I leave the inspection it's their responsibility and I have a couple other things like Tyl material and I was inspecting the roof from the ladder and then I can't see everything so there's a paragraph about that I'll show you in the report and I'm unable to walk upon the roof surface so I'm gonna add that to the report as well and then this is the list of my defects and this is basically why I'm here I'm here to find anything like this and all these defects are pre-written and if I find exposed fasteners which is a defect I'm just gonna tap it and put it in the report but I'm gonna wait on that right now right now I'm going to take pictures of everything that I inspect I'm going to then select the defect sentences or narratives we call them and then I'm gonna do a video so I'll show you that process so let's go to the back that's where my ladder is set up I have my tools set up and we have access to the entire place I have my software ready to go we're in the roof section and we're gonna look for defects so let's do that next okay so I'm on the roof not really I'm up to the gutters edge it's very safe for me if you don't feel safe on the ladder don't go up okay I'm really excited because right in front of my face is a major defect so right now personally like in my head I feel like I've earned my money because this is a major defect it's gonna cost probably five hundred dollars to fix okay and that's more value than the cost of my home inspection right so that's my goal how much value can I provide my client for the amount of money that I charge and so I've I've already reached it so I'm kind of having fun so what I want to do is take a bunch of pictures I'm gonna snap like crazy and on my iPhone it's really great how they have it so I just snap with my thumb so I'm gonna take about probably 20 pictures up here and then we'll do some video and then I'll show you how I write the report for the roof system so actually right here is the defect the tile is just destroyed so I'm going to take a picture of just about everything on the roof in general with large pictures like that but then I want to move in and get details and I don't have time for arrows so I'm just using my finger and the cutter looks okay so I'm gonna zoom in a little because I can't reach everything there's a hood vents they look okay I see a vent pipe from the sewer the chimney stack is messed up it's got a lot of wood rot and when I go in the Attic if we can get into the Attic I'm gonna look for roof leaks because it's so bad that's a chimney stack and the gas vent pipe that we added as a separate section and if the neighbors out I'm gonna tell them that their gutter needs to be repaired it's just filled with leaves and debris so they're probably having problems with things okay so now I've taken my pictures right now when I'm up here I'm gonna keep going so I want to add the narratives to my inspection report and I'm going to write their own special report before I step down when I get down off the ladder I'm done with the roof system including the inspection and the report itself so I have cracked roofing materials and what I'm gonna do is do a video of the cracked roofing material and I'm a talk so we have major damage at the cracked roofing material and we have several damaged tiles here so this is a tile it's damaged I think somebody must have stepped on it that's my only way of figuring out why this is damaged it's my diagnosis and there's a couple other damaged tiles there's a damaged towel over there there's a damaged town there there's a damaged towel up there and it's gonna cost several hundred dollars that's awesome okay so that's my video I'm gonna put right in the report itself and I have let's see material defects structural defect to close old system I think that's about it that's my major thing so I took pictures and I took a video of the major defect that I have and that video is gonna be in the summary and I'll show you that in a little bit I'm adding comments about the factory bill fireplace I have a chimney flashing defect I'm gonna take a video of it there's a flashing defect that's a chimney stack I'm gonna use that video and I can't reach the chimney I'm gonna say that as well I can't get close to the chimney stack but the exterior of the chimney stack is in poor condition it's rotten and it's a major defect we need a professional to inspect the damaged vent pipe of the gas vent next to the chimney stack let me use that video okay I think I'm done I'm gonna come down okay so we came down from the roof and I just wanted to show you what I do with this software that I have to finish up the roof system one of the cool things about this software is it reminds me again I don't have to be the most brilliant home inspector reminds me what it says you're not required to walk upon any roof surface stay safe come back home that's the most important thing you want you want to come back home nothing's more important than that and it reminds me also most asphalt shingles may be used on a roof slope from four twelve to twenty one twelve and if it's less than four twelve which this isn't a lot of other things for low-slope applications need to be done I don't have to remember that and I can just look it's like a cheat sheet when you hold your software in your hand so flashing nothing wrong with the flashing except for the chimney and our I did that so that's good plumbing vent pipes homeowner responsibility paragraph the plumbing vent pipes were inspected I can't reach all of the plumbing vent pipes and I didn't find any defects gas vent pipes there's a defect at a gas vent pipe damage and I'm going to add that photo so go to my photo library and there's the damage so I just choose that picture and I can put a little arrow if I wanted to that's kind of cool and that's it so I go back and I've done all those components or subsystems of the roof and now I am to the I did the chimney I did the inspection details now I'm doing the exterior so at any point of the inspection I can stop and do a summary with client if my client wants to review how's it going so far in my software here I have a little button that says summary so we can go to the summary and here are the videos that I captured and attached to each narrative so here's the the roof defect right and here's the summary video damaged at the crack the material and it's damaged somebody must have stepped on it it's my only so there's the other one there's the white vent pipe damage so you could play a video or show your client pictures then there's the chimney flashing defect we have the chimney exterior even though process again is you take pictures with your camera as fast as you can then you go back into the software you select the defect the narrative that you want in the report the recommendation like I observed this defect you select that and you attach a video so you take a short video of it all of your defects will be video based right you'll be selecting narratives in your report but there'll be a video attached to the defect and this is important because your summary it's probably the most important thing your client wants from you and your summary is now going to be video based but right now I'm gonna just I'm picture happy so I take a lot of pictures and the siding looks okay I mean some worn-out areas like that's worn out and some worn out areas down there the window well looks great is a huge big window well but I do not like the wooden antique wooden stairs getting out and the steps on the side that's not too standard not to code the space between the spindles is large enough for a child to fall through so that's a defect I'm gonna put that in a report the condition of the deck is really bad oh and my ID is getting in the way there's a defect there and there's really a lot a lot of rotten wood there and there's rotten wood there and this downspout I don't know where it goes but whenever I see a downspout going underneath the deck that's a bit of a concern because I don't know where it's discharging and hundreds of gallons of water could be discharging right next to the foundation this is a an issue for me sometimes because whenever I see a lot of debris up against the bottom of a slider door or any door especially the exterior door with the deck this flashing area is critical so when it when you see debris like this that means things tend to puddle up if it wasn't puddling up there wouldn't be any dirt here so things are clogging up and settling and when it rains I bet it puddles up and this all gets wet and this flashing area is a is a concern so I'll go below here and see if I can see any indications of of water intrusion oh yeah I look kind of like the siding little weathering cosmetic blemishes really flaws but the siding looks good light fixture okay all exterior receptacles need to be GFCI protected so this one it's connected to a garden feature I want to test this but I'm not going to because it's an inspection restriction you you're not required to do stuff like removing things and and unplugging anything I don't want to mess this up this isn't mine so I'm just observing remember a home inspection is a visual only inspection it's like taking both hands behind your back and looking around so this is supposed to be GFCI protected I'm gonna put in a report as an inspection restriction and I'm actually on steps with one two three risers without a handrail international residential code section 311 says four risers you need a handrail but it's good thing I'm not a code inspector three risers two risers one riser is gonna be a difficult step for a little old lady or somebody who has a physical challenge they need to hold on to something imagine slipping right now you can't grab on to anything you're gonna hit the ground so I'm not a code inspector code says four steps that's ridiculous I'm a home inspector I'm gonna side on the safety of my client I see three one two three risers without a handrail is a defect it's an easy fix but actually my client probably won't do it won't put a handrail here because it kind of messes up with the look of the deck so my recommendations remember a seller doesn't have to do anything that I recommend but it's my job to make recommendations I want to take a picture of the inspection restriction I can't get underneath this deck so there could be a lot of things going on I can't tell all I know is that the surface is really aged so I'm gonna take some pictures of that and the grading looks okay I want the ground to be sloped away from the house the ground is sloped away here and we've got a lot of interesting stuff here so this downspout from the roof above is discharging right next to the house foundation and that's not good we want this extended away ideally it would be extended with a splash block or a downspout pipe they're probably not gonna follow my recommendations that's okay because imagine having a splash block here or a pipe here it's just gonna get in the way of all the fun gardening stuff that people do here so ideally you want water to be discharged away in my head I'm gonna remember when I'm in the basement I think there's a basement here I'm gonna look at in this area and also that other downspout area to look for signs of water penetration we got a gas meter gas valve pressure regulator the rust is surfaced no big deal we need some sealant around there frost pre frost free hose bibbs that's good and that's it for the exterior when you do the exterior you bump into other systems like the air conditioner and the electrical so let's do the electrical I'm gonna take some photos of all of these phone boxes this is phone phone this is a disconnect for something I don't know it's unlocked yeah it's a sprinkler system I didn't see any I'll take a look at the lawn irrigation system but I bet it doesn't work that's a it's old phone and cable boxes here's the meter I like to pull on it to see if it actually falls off the house it shouldn't underground service line that's in good shape sometimes the connection is bad and it should be locked so we're good there this is the electric panel it's unlocked maybe you're from the East Coast so this is an odd thing to have an electrical panel on the outside unlocked but some states are like this and let me help you see when I see so this is the dead front cover up I'll take a picture there's a dead front cover this is as insko panel I can tell by this type of breakers and the color of the breakers this is the main disconnect group so three throws there call them is good but this is in scope a no and there's no labeling and this is a defect since Co electrical panels have been recalled and they have inherent problems where the breaker is attached to the bus bar and you can do some research on that and the screws are missing at the panel and you could take the dead front cover off or not you're not required to but I'm going to okay again you're not required to remove the dead front cover it's a good idea not to if you touch anything inside you'll probably get electrocuted and that's fatal but I'm gonna take some pictures and we have a defect so this is great we have a bee nest bee's nest inside and it's old it's not active but it really should be removed and we have a lot of grounding wires that are not connected then it looks like they're just twisted together and that's improper you want a good grounding connection and it's really loaded up so we have multiple neutrals under single lugs and I'm looking for big fat breakers on small gauge wires and that all looks good okay so I'm kind of happy with that but I'm gonna ask an electrician to come and take a look at that because um that is a defect and those grounding wires are a defect and multiple lugs are defect okay so I'm gonna put this back on [Music] I don't have screws to put the dead front cover back on but I'll put that in a report and if I have some extra screws in my tool bag I'll just add them on just for safety all right nice ok let's go to the air conditioner system near the electrical system air conditioning system and it's old I bet it's original to the house which is pretty amazing so it's it's done a really good job but I have a narrative in my report about old systems not being reliable needing a lot of close monitoring because an old system can fail at any moment and a home inspection doesn't predict failures future conditions or future weather conditions or our future problems that might it's not a prediction of future events but if this thing turns on will turn it on that's great but I'm gonna tell my client start budgeting for a new one and if this is a real estate transaction made me negotiate ok I don't like the clearance around the unit there's supposed to be three feet from all sides so this thing can breathe there's a lot there's a big fan moving a lot of air and it needs a lot of space for circulation the other thing is the label I take pictures of every manufacturing label on air conditioners heating systems hot water tanks and if I can't read it then that's two things one I can't help my clients determine more information about the unit and I can't see the age of the unit and also just a worn out label means this unit is pre old the suction line which is the large diameter line this is liquid this is section should be insulated and it's not so this insulation is in poor shape and it looks like the whole thing needs to be replaced that's pretty easy to do got some electrical lines here one is an attachment here unfortunately they put it here so I can't see what's going on and it's locked but this looks like the utility company did something on the outside to help the homeowner save energy it's a monitoring system the fins need to be cleaned and serviced every year and so the homeowner can do this with a gardening hose they have a faucet here with a house and they can wash off the fins and right now the fins are clogged dirty and they usually clog a lot when there isn't a lot of space so it's it's another reason to have a lot of space but again my recommendation probably isn't gonna be followed because there's nowhere else to move this thing the fence is right here no one's gonna move the fence because of property line problems and so I'll just make the recommendation and that's what we do as home inspector some of our recommendations just aren't applicable to the real life situation that people go through but we'll write the report anyways okay so I'll turn that back on when we get to the thermostat inside that is the backyard I don't inspect fences but if I see a defect on the fence I'll put in the report just as courtesy so here are my exterior pictures we'll run through them real quick again I'm picture happy I hold my phone vertically and with my thumb I press the photo button so it's going through all these pictures and it's as fast as I can snap so those pictures I will add later if my client wants me to add them I wants to wait for me to add them I will set up my computer in the kitchen at the end of the inspection and just slide the pictures in I'll show you how to do that so I'm taking plenty of pictures not all of them are going to be in a report but a lot of them will be because my report is the best inspection marketing piece that I have so I also do video there's a few worn out areas of the exterior signing but it's not too bad like by that window and down there by the window well window it's GFCI receptacle because it's plugged into I think a gardening feature missing handrail at the exterior steps of the deck next to the air conditioner there's one two three risers the condition the condition of the deck is in poor condition I'm kind of concerned about this area with the flashing and the slider door but there's a lot of cracked boards splintered areas and wood rot very old condition of the deck floorboards a lot of cracking and poor surface old deck it's a major wood rot at the deck in some areas at the rear deck the space between the spindles is too far apart safety hazard damaged window screen at the back missing window screen at the rear window well window was worn out this is an older air conditioner unit at the end of its service leaf missing insulation at the refrigerant line the air flow around the air conditioner unit is restricted due to the close proximity of the fence the air conditioner system is estimated to be at least twenty thirty years old it could be original to the house which is beyond the surface life expectancy careful how high the main breaker panel is it's a little difficult to reach this is about seven feet or so above the floor the electrical panel is as Ensco panel so we need an electrician to come and inspect it further orang material inside the electrical panel double neutrals to neutral wires white wires under the same lug and properly connected inside the main electrical panel as in scope panel should be inspected by an electrician no AFCI is installed at the old electrical panel in just some still shots of the electrical panel interior cousin opened very well the lock is damaged there's some damaged areas especially this area by the tree the tree has grown and pushed on the old fence an offense in general is import conditioned in some areas let's go to the front of the house and do the exterior and the detached garage what we can do is the process is member take a bunch of pictures click click click click click and then go back to your report software check the report narrative that has the defect description and you're going to attach a video to that defect and then at any moment during the inspection you can show your client the summary and go over this summary with them and also that key is at the end of the inspection you can just send the summary you're done you're done with the inspection and then writing the inspection report you've identified the defects you've taken all the pictures you've also attached the videos of those defects in the summary which you can immediately send to your client and later on I'll show you how you can add photographs almost instantly really quick as many photographs as you want right into the report so pictures select narratives attach a video to each narrative and then you have a summary available immediately and you can then later on put in a ton of photographs into your report okay so let's keep going with the report and the inspection all right now we're in the front of the house right next to the garage door of the detached garage and we're going to do the inspection of the exterior and then we'll hit the detached garage as well ok so I've got my phone out and basically yeah it's as fast as my thumb can snap pictures so I'm going to inspect the site and the environment and the landscaping and basically that is falling over the retaining wall is falling over and just like the backyard we have one two three risers without a handrail so this is a defect and I'll put my hand out just through a Ryan remind myself that I'm talking about a graspable handrail and we have a stone retaining wall and it's starting to lean out a little bit as well retaining wall defect so that's a defect looks like a part of the the wooden retaining wall is missing the walks the steps oh the detached downspout is not diverting water away from the structure so I'll take a look at that on the inside look for water penetration so the grading is okay it looks like it's in a lot of shade so there isn't a lot of grass growing but they use it to store their bikes the handrail is not graspable for the front step and the front steps well it's worn out so that these are worn out steps the paint condition is worn out and actually so this in that and this Fras if I could pick it up for you I really can't there's a pallet there it is so this sawdust comes from carpenter ants so carpenter ants - on wood and they spit it out they don't eat it and they throw it out of their holes and their holes are like oval long holes and so they're inside and though two galleries out back and forth in the wood and they'll spit out or throw out the the chewed up sawdust so within the sawdust if I could find out it's probably too early to find a body part but sometimes there's an ant body part like a head that'd be awesome to find no so that sawdust sawdust comes from one area from bugs and that's from damaged wood so oh yeah there's more sawdust here so we have we're destroying insect here carpenter ants carbon Granite's love rotten wood and this wood is not pressure-treated because I can see like the ends are not pressure-treated and it's run and I'm gonna get my screwdriver see if I can find some wood rot there's more carbon during at the image oh there's more permanent damage so it looks like it's moved around so this is kind of fun to find rotten wood and damage and so I just use my screwdriver and tap and I'm using my ears because this sounds good but when we move to the end something rotten does not sound very good it's a different sound more sawdust here so they're tuned up different areas of the deck I'm gonna make that as a recommendation non grasp Oh handrail worn out weathered out condition of the surface and we have wood rot in carpenter ants infestation combine that with the defect on the roof and the exterior stuff that we found the electrical defects the old air conditioning system the downspout stuff the value that I'm providing for the price that I'm charging is overwhelming so I'm feeling really good that I'm providing my client a ton of value for getting a home inspection okay next it's the detached garage so let's do that next okay this is the detached garage and from 10 feet away I could see some defects so we have problems with the roof tile over there that's actually let me take some pictures that's actually cracked and damaged and we have a cracked and damaged tile here we have exposed fasteners all along and we have a missing gutter so I'm going to combine these defects with the house roof defects and that'll be really valuable for my client on the backside of the detached garage I don't like the grading so I'm going to look for water penetration on the inside of the garage and again this downspout of the garage is not diverting water away from the garage structure so I'm going to take a look on the inside okay so this is an odd thing not many homes have it it's a light sensor if you don't know what this is it's it's supposed to be connected to these like landscaping lights so if it gets a little dark the landscaping lights turn on if you don't know what something is just say you don't know to your client and that you'll look it up later and you'll put it in a report if it's a problem security system again we have missing handrail but that's okay and for any door or window I do the same pattern so bottom right I'm sorry bottom left bottom right top right top left counterclockwise so when I inspect the door like a garage door I'm gonna get my tool and I'm gonna tap for wood rot there's some weathered paint there some weathered paint there and that's good so these are areas where it usually rots out so bottom bottom bottom top top all that's good let's open the garage door let's take a look on the inside first thing I do when I go to any garage attached or detached is I take a look at the floor it has to be sloped away or towards the garage door itself so I can tell with my eyes that it's sloped but I actually have a slope app on my phone and I can put it down and take a picture of the actual slope of the four so we are sloped so that's good remember that downspout on the side not diverting water away well right there is the downspout about and we have a crack in the foundation and efflorescence now efflorescence is white salt deposits left behind after concrete absorbs water and dries so all along here is efflorescence which is an indication of water penetration I'm gonna take a bunch of pictures of that and we have a crack in the foundation that corresponds to a downspout location that's not diverting water away from the house and we also have efflorescence up here wow this is cool so I took a bunch of pictures of that I don't see water damaged so that's good so the downspout could be diverting water away further away from the house and foundation this is a minor structural defect is a hairline crack if you can imagine a 1/4 on edge if you can stick a quarter inside it that's a major structural movement we don't want movement this way or displacement this way and this is just a hairline I'm not really concerned okay what else in the detached garage ground faults so looking for receptacles wall receptacles every receptacle in a garage needs to be protected by a ground fault so I must get my ground fault tester this is wired properly I'm gonna take a picture I'm gonna test it it's not testing so this is a defect I'm gonna cross my fingers just to remind me that's a so all receptacles in a garage need to be protected by a ground fault there's a missing gutter on the outside member I don't see any problems on this side but whoops but I'm gonna take some pictures of the wall and the inspection restrictions I mean photo is worth a thousand words I'm going to take a picture of this because boy I would love to see the foundation but I can't because it's all filled with all this stuff from the homeowner so I'm gonna make sure that I take pictures I may now put those pictures in the report but I'm gonna certainly take pictures of the inspection restrictions next garage door so let's do a test of the garage door okay there's basically ten steps to do an inspection of the garage door what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna go through them real quick the one thing I like to do is grab the detached grab the red handle above and see if it detaches the door and it does I can see I'll just pull it closed again nice the garage door itself is plugged in so that's good the fastening is good the rails look okay but there's no labeling so there should be a label on this opener which is right here and there should be a label on the door itself in these areas at the bottom and at the photoelectric eyes let's see if the photoelectric eyes work ready they do so all I do is put my foot through the beam and the photoelectric eyes aren't supposed to be more than six inches above the floor so they're good this isn't more than six inches above the floor so that's good the rails are strong I'm missing labels but I'm really not concerned about that the springs should have a safety wire through the middle of this brain and I see that it's installed so if you don't know how to inspect a garage door opener Internet she has online courses on how to inspect a garage door opener so I see the safety wire so that's good and the wheels look good the rollers look good okay I kind of like the garage door opener it's doing well there's one more thing I like to do and I'm going to borrow something to help me with that let's try this so once you step outside and it's a non-contact auto-reverse okay the laser beam works let's do another one this is contact so that's a good test so you just put something in the path on the floor flat and let the door hit it and it's supposed to bounce out I think that's it there's no main electrical the roof structures and Trust built I don't see any roof leaks so that's it for that but remember we take our pictures and then we do a video and we put video in our report so I'm gonna do a video hmm of the defects now what are the defects so at the downspout area we have a foundation crack it's a minor crack that's not a structural problem but we have efflorescence which is an indication of water intrusion into the garage wall on the left side so that's gonna be in the report anything else GFC is all receptacles in the garage need to be GFCI protected and this one is not that's a defect any others I think that's it let's do the exterior now video this time retaining wall is leaning over missing handrail at the front steps defect at the retaining wall there downspout is not diverting water away from the house or the detached garage detached garage defects at the tile roof sections where there's missing sections the fasteners are exposed and there's a missing gutter poor condition of the front porch no graspable handrail and carpenter ant damage [Applause] [Music] all right well we're at the heating system we have an older air conditioner on the outside but the heating system here is relatively new and it's a gas-fired heating system and according to the stands our practice we are to use normal operating controls so that means the thermostat upstairs so my kick on the thermostat and there's a service switch above my head so I can use the service switch as well and I'm gonna take a look at the burners the burner chamber and I'm looking for the air filter my client was with me I would show them where the air filter is located which is right in here somewhere and get to the air filter it's right here and this one is uh it's a little dusty but it's not that bad so it needs to be serviced and cleaned which means replaced is a disposable air filter every 30 days the system itself the heating system itself needs to be serviced and cleaned every year and what I do is I don't guess I just look for the service tag and I actually don't see a service tag so what I'm gonna do is recommend that this unit to be serviced and cleaned prior to closing if this is a real estate transaction where every year as part of a homeowner's routine maintenance plan this is a mid efficiency unit so I get to see the burners if you can touch the burners it's not high efficiency so if you can touch the burners which I can I'm touching them now that means mid efficiency low efficiency is natural draft it wouldn't have a fan so this one has a draft inducer fan so that's mid efficiency and the heating system exhaust gases go up into the chimney stack and we have that defect on the top where the roof is okay the only thing I see is delayed maintenance because there's dirt and dust and there's also a separation in the ductwork so I can stick my hand in here and touch my fingers so this needs to be sealed up we're losing energy so conditioned air warm or cold air is escaping this ductwork area and this could be easily sealed up in order to make the unit operate more efficient so I'm gonna put the panels back I'm going to turn on the air conditioning in the heating just for a brief moment just to see it cycle through and that's all I need to do I'm not taking temperature of the intake and out I'm not doing a delta T measurement or anything like that what are what else is attached to this system well we have a humidifier not in all countries but in all climates but in some climates where it's kind of dry like Colorado you want a humidifier to turn on during the winter time to humidify the winter dry air and then there's the gas shutoff here start off shut off switch above and it's some ductwork so I'm going to take a look at every room that's livable should have a supply register and I'm gonna look at the return registers as well and that's pretty that's pretty much a basic inspection of the HVAC system so that's only a few seconds I'm gonna take some pictures to put in the report and I'm just gonna snap away I'm going to take a picture of the system here and that's the vent pipe the electric shutoff switch and the gas shutoff switch in the humidifier but my recommendation is good not just get serviced and cleaned but to do the the ductwork sealant there all right let's go to the hot water source so right the hot water source is a hot water tank it fills up with water heats it up from the flames below and what I'm gonna do is run water and all the fixtures and I'm gonna make sure all the fixtures have hot water but there's a couple components I like to inspect when looking at the hot water tank and this is a fa ir flame resistance vapor resistant ignition resistant sorry unit so it collapses if it senses that there's something wrong with the flame below I'm going to take a picture of the valve and it's setting I'm not going to touch the setting there's a gas shutoff valve and the TPR discharge pipe extended to the drain in the floor so that's good and it's a natural draft and then natural draft pipe goes up this same chimney stack and there's some valves cold water shut-off valves and the main water shut-off valve actually is hidden back here so this is the location of the main water shut-off valve back here so I'll take a picture of that and for any water valves I like to rub my hand underneath them to see if it's leaking if it's leaking it'll be wet so want to make sure let's see what I have here and it's wet so we have a drip at the main water shut-off valve and that's a call for a plumber so you have a lot of recommendations where professionals are needed from electricians the plumbers the HVAC to roof so this is really good really good inspection alright that's it for the HVAC and the hot water source and the water valve which is leaking now I go back to do doing video I want to put video in my summary so for the HVAC system it's basically a couple seconds delayed maintenance at the HVAC system and we need to seal up that ductwork now for the hot water source I don't have any defects for the hot water source but behind the hot water source we have a main water shut-off valve I mean water shut-off valve is leaking so the video will be part of this summary and that's it for this okay let's move on so I'm doing the interior now according to the standards of practice there's a lot of representative number of things representative number of doors representative number of windows representative number of wall receptacles floors and ceilings and things like that so I'm just gonna go around in each room pick one wall receptacle and test it to see what happens and I'm going to use my little GFCI tester because already know from an electrical panel there are no AFCI circuits so this is properly wired so this is good I'm going to take a picture of that and then smoke detectors so I'm gonna try to find all the smoke detectors but I'm required to comment upon absence of detectors so I'm gonna test this hold your ears so that works and it's battery backup representative number of windows here's a window and I'm in the basement and I'm gonna work my way around the house but this is an egress window actually this is a bedroom a livable space and it can't be more than 44 inches above the floor now that's what code says and again we're not code inspectors but you can use your software on your mobile device to help you remember is it 42 inches or 44 inches and it's actually 44 inches so this is too high actually so this is a bit of a code violation but it's an older home and real estate agents and other professionals will say well it's grandfathered well I actually don't care about that word grandfathering I inspect a home regardless of the home age so if there's a defect like missing GFCI protection in the bathroom that's a relatively modern thing a hundred years ago GFCIs didn't exist I'm gonna comment upon that defect this is another defect we're firemen coming in to rescue can't be falling because this is too high people wanting to escape out can't have this too high so this is a defect and I'm going to call it out just like the spindles of the railing that are above here through the window the space is too far children can fall through and then really hurt themselves in the window well so if it's a defect call it out don't pull any punches and I'm gonna call this out as a defect but again I don't think my recommendation is gonna have any actual impact on the home they probably won't fix this but I want it in the report anyways okay let's keep going so we have a fireplace it's a factory built fireplace it's not masonry built and according to the standards of practice if you have a fireplace you have to inspect the damper door and the damper go oh it's not a handle it's a chain that's good and then yep that works so it's been used a chimney should be swept by a certified chimney sweep every year so I'm gonna add that in my report and the flue I was gonna take a picture up and that worked and then the firewalls or the panels I'm gonna check for warping or cracking and I don't see any so that's good and the clearance looks okay but I can check that and that's around and the lintel all looks good so I don't have any defects with the fireplace except that it needs to be serviced and cleaned good all right so let's hit the bathroom okay so this is the bathroom one of three bathrooms so each bathroom has the same inspection process that I do I run water flush the toilet and run the shower in the top so that's what I'm going to do and take pictures while I'm doing it so let me take a picture here alright so I'm gonna run hot and cold water let that run and then grab my flashlight and see if there's any water leaks and then we use the bottom my hand to see if there's any water leaks coming from the valve like we have it the main water shut-off valve downstairs nope and it's hot water that's good GFCI protection for all bathroom receptacles so GFCI protection for all bathroom receptacles and that works and it resets right there that's good toilet flush close it to it use the side of my leg to see if it moves on the floor if it does that's a defect and it's not there's a shutoff valve that looks good and then the tub and shower [Music] so I'm running the shower at the same time that I'm running the water at the sink and flushing the toilet and then looking at the shower ahead one more time to make sure that there's adequate flow coming out of the shower so all that looks good it's basically trying to make a fail you turn on all the fixtures at the sink you flush the toilet so it's refilling and then you turn on the showerhead to see if it works and everything's working really well the tub stopper works the tiles I pounded on the walls I used my hand to grab the soap dish so everything's working well bathroom exhaust we know that it goes into the attic space and that's a defect all bathroom exhaust should terminate outside the surface condition is good the floor I'll move the tile I mean they'll move the carpet to see the tile and the door is a little scratched up maybe from a pet and that's about it okay so that's the bathroom [Music] so we're in the attic space another dangerous place when there isn't a floor so be careful you don't really have to enter any attic space that doesn't have a floor and you want to protect yourself so I've got my personal protection equipment with me but I'm not gonna use it so you can hear me and what I want to do is approximate the depth or thickness of the insulation and in some areas it's really thin and some of it is missing in areas and I'll take a picture of that and put it in the report and you'll see it so that's one defect that I see that the insulation thickness varies a lot from only a few inches thick and absent areas too thick insulation that's good the roof is trust built I'm gonna identify the structure of the roof and I'm gonna look for roof leaks remember that chimney stack defect well that's way over there can't see anything I'll shine my flashlight to see if I can see something from my vantage point but I'm not moving any more than this and I also see a couple of other defects all bathroom exhaust fans should terminate outside and I see one - it's probably the second-floor bathroom and master bathroom exhaust fans that are blowing into the insulation so that's a minor defect mmm probably need a contractor to help us out with that and I'll take a look around with my flashlight to look for structural problems I don't want any modified trusses and I'm gonna look for roof leaks those are my two concerns and anything else that pops up and the insulation and we have a house fan here and I'll take a picture of that as well but the insulation is the main concern all right so I'll take pictures now and put that in the report [Music] so we are inspecting the interior staircase and there should be a handrail for all the steps so right here there isn't a handrail that goes with the steps there's a hand row up here it's really a guard up here but there isn't anything to hold on to here and also as I turn the corner from this landing there isn't anything from here - until way down there so that's not good so we're missing a handrail the second thing is I'll take a picture of that missing a handrail and the second thing is the space between the spindles is too far apart it's - it's large enough for a child to fall through and code standard building practices require that the space be smaller and someone may say well that it's grandfathered because it's an older home but I inspect a home without any regard to the date or the age of the home so this is a safety feature it's a defect and I'm gonna put it in the report let me show you what the software looks like so you can write your report on the fly so I have all those things doors window switches floors etc and I'm on switches and fixtures and I'm going to force next and I click that I inspected the floors walls and ceilings and I really don't have any defects next to stairs and next is railings railings guards and handrails and we know that we have a missing handrail and a guard problem so I inspected the guards click that here's the defect list and I'm going to choose my defect and attach a video to it so that it can appear in the summary so I click the defect and there's my button for the video there's a missing handrail at the interior steps there's a few steps here that simply do not have a handrail as you go down and as you turn there's no handrail and so that's the video and the software tells me it's in that section there and we have another defect it's that space between the spindles is too far apart at the stair guard the stair guard opening so I click that and I click the button to add a video so it pops into the summary the stare guard is too far apart in between the spindles nice short video and I keep moving on so next to smoke detectors and at the top I can remind myself about some standards for smoke detectors so I look really smart and that helps me write a really good report so imagine that I'm at the kitchen table on site right after the inspection or I'm back at the office and what I want to do is create a really nice looking inspection report and with pictures and video so you remember I had my camera and I was taking pictures and video during the inspection and what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna pull those pictures and video off of my camera into a folder on my computer and so I'll take those pictures and pull them into the software so that's one of the tips to create an inspection report it's simply dragging and dropping pulling it off of your camera and throwing it into the software so that your reports are really robust and they look great with pictures and video but it's got to be quick I need to manage my time and if I'm on site doing this and my client wants to wait for the entire report I'll do it but it can only be just for a few more minutes because I've got to get to the next job and I don't want to write inspection reports at night so it's all about being quick taking pictures really quick taking videos really quick and sticking them in the narrative just where you want them and having a summary ready and then throw in some pictures into the report and as quick as possible all right so let me show you what it looks like okay so here is all the pictures from my inspection that I pulled on my camera and here I dragged and dropped them into a folder on my computer on my laptop and here's the software that I'm using and we could take a look at the software right now actually the report so here's what the report looks like viewing the full report I inspected almost a hundred things but I'm not done with the report fourteen minor defects thirty-eight major defects and no material defects here's the summary all those pictures and videos lots of videos right and some of the pictures we threw in so this is a really nice summary of all the problems in the home that's excellent okay now the report itself the full report oh it's chopped up into sections here it's like tabs so I have limitations so here's a video that I recommend it's another inspection tip for report writing just shoot a video about why it's important for your client to attend we invited the client to attend their home inspection unfortunately the client did not attend the home inspection so I put that video in my inspection report every inspection report where my client doesn't attend and there's the standards of practice and then let's get into the report itself so it looks like that I have another video about how important it is to read your home maintenance book here's another one about scheduling an annual home inspection here's the buy back guarantee here's the roof and all the pictures there that's pretty good there's some illustrations another good tip to make your report look really nice is to add illustrations and that's from internachi's gallery and so the pictures are worth a thousand words right and video is really incredible this these pictures are just the pictures that I took quickly during the inspection they're not identifying defects the ones that are major material defects or major defects those are the videos right so these are the problems so the video helps with the defects now let's say I wanted to add pictures right so because the report looks really good so let's add some pictures to oh I don't know let's let's go to the how about the bathrooms I flushed all the toilets so that's one of the things on my phone you'll see bathroom toilets sinks and tubs and showers the exhaust fan the GFCI all these things I have to inspect in every bathroom but let's say I flushed all the toilets well I'm gonna go back to my pictures right and these aren't these aren't the toilets but I'm gonna pick this one this one this one this one this one this one and this one and I'm gonna drag them into where my bathroom is there they are BAM I mean that's fast and that's now going to be in the report GFCIs let's see if I wanted to have some GFCI pictures so I just um where's my chiefess I picture as well here's let's say there's two of them I just grabbed it in there boom and then let's see you the heat source let's say there is a heat source in the bath there wasn't but they say there's a problem well I had four pictures I was drag and drop them now you can see right that this is going to be a really good report and one of the best marketing pieces that you can create is a fantastic home inspection report so let's say there's the steps right and we had oh the railings and guards remember inspecting the railings of guards and we had problems with space between the spindles while I added an illustration as well what if I wanted to add some additional photos but let's say there's there there for pictures right slam that is really fast now looks really beautiful right got extra pictures in there let's take a look at the report and let's jump down two bathrooms there's the bathrooms remember I threw in any kind of picture but these are your bathroom toilet pictures right and there's some GFCI pictures and there's some heat source pictures and it looks really beautiful that is a beautiful looking inspection report filled with a lot of videos and pictures we're in the kitchen and this is actually where I like to end the inspection so that I can go over the summary with my clients and maybe go over some other things like Oh any kind of agreements that we need to pass out or home maintenance books and things like that I'll show that to you so every kitchen I do the same thing I start with this stove so I'll turn on everything and make sure everything just turns on I'm not an expert in any appliance so what I'm gonna do is I'm just gonna look to see if everything's turning on everything's turning on if I don't want to cook anything and be careful so that's turning on wait for this to turn on yep okay I want to burn my hand dun dun don't leave the stove an oven without turning everything off you don't want to have somebody come home with an oven that's on 450 the microwave you can get out your microwave detector and see if it turns on but what I like to do is I like to get a wet rag I'm just gonna borrow a rag in about 10 seconds or so and see if it warms up I just want to see this is my basic test to see if the microwave warms up this wet rag here yep and it does so I know it works I don't know if it's gonna cook eggs or anything but it's certainly gonna pass that test so I wanna make sure that is in my report GFCIs all counter receptacles need to be GFCI protected so I'm gonna get my tester out and that's why properly I'll test it and it pops off I'll reset it so we're good to go so that worked and I'm gonna run water at the sink hot and cold I have a garbage disposal and that's at there and also have a dishwasher and I'll run a short cycle and I'll just let that run and if it happens to leak while I'm here oh that's fantastic but I just want to make sure it turns on runs and it doesn't leak and I'm going to take a picture of the inspection restrictions underneath the sink and then get my get all my flashlights and make sure that nothing is leaking garbage disposal wire is attached that's good drain traps are good I don't see any water leaks I see the valves so everything's okay in there no leaks and I hear the dishwasher running and the interior of the kitchen is the same as the interior of the entire house representative number of windows so I'll open it up and close a window so that's good the surface of the kitchen is good the ceiling is good the cabinet's I'm not going to do all the cabinet's but I'll do representative number of cabinets that countertops really nice countertops they look good the front edge is always the place where you know you can feel some imperfections but if nothing is majorly damaged I'm not gonna call it out so we're good in the kitchen now here's where I end the inspection by going over the report summary which is on my phone and I'll show you that but also if you wanted to print out a report you can put it in a binder and internachi has a home maintenance book you can include that in the binder and also other things like while I'm here marketing it helps you sell ancillary services while you're here so this is while I'm here I can do an Energy Report for you also have inside here a letter for the home owner saying that I tried to keep your house clean I put everything back and also we leave a little lunch box for the homeowner so that when they come back we tell them that we really appreciated being in their home and to look inside this lunch box for a gift from your home inspector and you can put anything you want in there all right so just a few ideas some tips for you for writing an inspection report don't use no visible evidence don't say those words don't write those words down somebody could debate with you in court on whether the the evidence was visible or not and don't use the word evidence because evidence conveys that it's a permanent condition so what you want to say is but and we know those home inspectors the condition of a home changes from day to day almost immediately after you leave the inspection site the condition of the home changes so say things like I observed this defect during my inspection right so you want to write in past tense as well because when someone is reading the report and it's written in present tense they may be reading it three months six months one year after you perform an inspection but if it's written in the past tense that helps you set the expectations and confirm and ensure that my inspection was done in the past right and now the condition of the home could be very different in every report add some illustrations and that's at Nazi dot org slash gallery you can download some really great illustrations to add in every report and in every report you should have some videos of yourself talking about how to maintain your home how to change the air filter how to clean the gutters or the importance of cleaning the gutters so have some explanatory videos for your clients that always go in your own special report and if you wanted some home inspection report samples we have several to choose from you can look at other inspection reports and compare what you are creating - what certified master inspectors and certified professional inspectors are writing so we have a web page just for that checking out home inspection report samples and we also have inspection report classes how to write an inspection report and those are videos you can watch of previous classes that we've had on how to write an inspection report and we also have inspection checklists inspection report checklists so you can add checklists and standards and reminders to your software so that you can simply not remember how to for example the ten steps to inspect the garage door opener remember that in the video you can simply follow the checklist that you have in your hand and perform inspections and it helps reduce liability as well when you have your inspection checklists and your software in your hand any performing inspections you make fewer mistakes so those are some last tips that I have for you so that's my inspection that's how I perform a home inspection and that's how I write an inspection report so feel free to contact me at internachi my name is ben gromicko from internachi hope you enjoyed the inspection and if you have any questions I'm always available stay safe out there [Music]

Channel: International Association of Certified Home Inspectors (InterNACHI)

Views: 41,415

Rating: 4.9569507 out of 5

Keywords: International association of certified home inspectors, InterNACHI, NACHI, become a home inspector, home inspection training, home inspection education, gromicko, ben gromicko, writing report, report software

Id: elgyHP6Oa5k

Length: 88min 21sec (5301 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 06 2019