Jack Gilleland Home Inspection Services

  Is your doctor a member of the American Medical Association?  No they don’t need to belong, but most do.  Does that make them all good doctors, in a word, no.  How many homebuilders belong to NAHB (National Home Builders Assoc.)? Are all the ones that do good homebuilders, bad homebuilders?    ...

  In my first blog concerning sprinkler systems I tried to dispel some of the myths that have come to seem like truth. Sprinkler systems have come to be known to save lives and property in businesses all over the country and yet they are frowned upon in residential buildings.  Looking at the reas...

What happens if you have a fire in your home?  The first thing that happens (hopefully) is your smoke alarms/detectors sound with that annoying alarm that occurs every time I broil meat.  The next thing that happens is you evacuate the house or in some cases look for the fire extinguisher and tr...

For those of you that are confused by R factors and what to put where (with reference to your insulation) this is an excellent blog on that subject.  Thanks Ian for putting this together for all of us.            One of the key issues in energy efficiency is the insulation of your home. Proper in...

Did you ever take a trip. Your looking at the bathroom floor and it comes to you that you would like to get rid of that old vinyl.  It would be wonderfull to have ceramic tile.  I see this all the time.   There is carpet in the bedroom and ceramic in the bath, but the bathroom floor is much highe...

Here is one of the photos of an inspection I did 2 days ago.  As you can see this roof has a problem.  It also has 3 layers of shingles.  As if the snow in Ohio wasn't heavy enough, this homeowner decided he'd add the weight of several layers of asphalt shingles.  The problem here is an old hous...

Electrical Outlets and their abuse. Are you abusing your receptacles? I have in the past, we take so much for granted. Everyone has done this without even thinking. Home Inspectors (most of them) check a random sampling of outlets throughout the home for a few things like polarity (is the hot on ...

What is that noise? Sounds like something is broken in the wall. That’s “Water Hammer” and you need to fix the problem. Why? First let me explain what “Water Hammer” is. Have you ever turned off a faucet and heard a loud bang or thud? This is water rushing through the pipes and suddenly there is...

The Plumbing Vent That pipe rising above the roofs surface is an eyesore. Does that have to be there.  Well the truth is it does.  There is a possibility that it doesn't have to be right there, but in many cases yes it has to be there. Why? The easiest explanation for the existence of plumbing ve...

  Roof Drainage and the Foundation. This is not a blog about how to do something.  As I said in my last blog about "reasons" this is a blog about why.  When submitting a report or discussing an issue with a client it is important to know why it is an issue.  You can tell the client that the house...