Ask the Charlotte Home Inspector

Staging a home once meant adding accessories, props and even furniture to a home for sale, to create a feeling of warmth and appeal, and make it easier to sell. Today, staging a home still connotes rearranging possessions and furniture, but in more and more cases, the furniture and accessories are digital rather than real, [...]

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Americans spend millions of dollars on the water they drink, and not just for bottles of Evian. We spend countless dollars each year in search of just the right home water treatment system. In fact, according to an association that monitors water quality, one out of every ten Americans now uses a home water [...]

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Every season, lawn will be challenged by, varying temperatures, drought conditions or crazy insects. You should realize that even the best turf will stress and thin and this is why you need to aerate and seed annually.

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Ever wonder what problems may be lurking unerneather your house? In this video by Preston Sandlin of Home Inspection Carolina he shows some problems he find in the crawl space of and old farm house in Monroe NC. Thes problems include high moisture contentent, open wasteline, wasteline with an impropper slope, impropper support piers, floor [...]

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Do you have high moisture in your crawl space? Will a sealed crawl space fix it? Yes it will but how does it work. A “normal vented” crawl space actually pulls in more moisture if there are air conditioning ducts there. By sealing off the vents you are preventing new moisture [...]

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Moisture in a crawl space is bad news. It can cause a host of problems including but not limited to undermining the foundation and footers. Moisture is also a conducive condition for termites. We all know the damage those guys can do. Another big time problem with moisture in the crawl [...]

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Do you have high moisture in your crawl space? In North Carolina it is considered high moisture if the moisture content of the floor joists or subfloor is 20% or greater. This is considererd condusive conditions for termites and for fungus. There are multiple causes and multiple fixes for high moisture [...]

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Do you have trim damage? Do you have soft wood around windows and doors? What happens here is water gets in behind the wood where it’s not primed or painted, then the pourous wood will suck it up and it will cause damage. Moisture in wood is also attractive for termites. [...]

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Have you ever had bats, squirrels, or other rodents in your attic? This is probably the result of not having screens or not having adequate screen coverage. Often flood lights attract bugs which attract bats. If these bats get in your attic they poop. The poop can carry disease and parasites. [...]

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We all know the real estate market is a little depressed right now. Heck the news media will not let us forget it. Which one is causing which? Ever notice that in history many recessions corrospond with election years? Check it yourself, I am not kidding. Is it because of [...]

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