Under Bill 18-0185 that has recently been enacted by the Baltimore City Council, landlords of all non-owner occupied residences will be required to register their properties and obtain rental licenses. Prior to receiving a license, properties must be professionally checked by home inspectors licensed by the State of Maryland and registered with the Baltimore Department…
DetailsHome inspection is an exciting and rewarding profession that provides virtually unlimited career opportunities to inspectors with the right credentials. The best way to receive the training needed to become a certified home inspector is through Inspection Certification Associates’ Home Inspector Online Training Course. To learn more about life as a professional home inspector, check…
DetailsIndoor air quality can play a big part in the quality of life. Whether it be the office, your home, or your neighborhood, the air you breathe has to be clean enough so that you remain healthy and functional. Much can get in the way of this goal. Mold, radon, VOCs, CO, CO2 and more…
DetailsPhotos are an important part of home inspections. That being said, many older home inspectors who have been in the business for many years might forego taking pictures, just because they never have before. This is the kind of attitude that can put a company out of business. With the dawn of smartphones, photos changed.…
DetailsMany homeowners who have basements or crawl spaces that suffer water infiltration opt to install sump pumps. They’re not cheap, but they’re cheaper than the water damage that can result from a flooded basement. What should you look for when inspecting homes with sump pumps? The connection — Where is the water being discharged? Some…
DetailsHomes can be fraught with dangers of all kinds, and one of the biggest is stairways. The National Safety Council says falls are one of the top three causes of preventable, injury-related deaths. Among the things homeowners can do to cut down on injuries in the home is to make stairs safer. What can you…
DetailsRegardless of whether basement window wells are deep or shallow, they come with some common problems. A window well is helpful in that it allows light and air into an otherwise dark and dank space, but it often lets in other, less-desirable elements, such as opossums, and water. What commonly goes wrong with window wells?…
DetailsNot every state has its own association for home inspectors. Luckily, any home inspector working in the United States can qualify to join ASHI, the American Society of Home Inspectors. But depending on where you work, you may want to join your local society as well, if there is one. Some of these call their…
DetailsDepending on what area of the country you work in, you may encounter fuse boxes rarely, frequently, or somewhere in between. Regardless, even if you’ve never seen a fuse box, you should be prepared for the day you do, which will likely arrive eventually. Fuse boxes haven’t been newly installed in homes since the 1970s…
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No matter where you live and work, many homes you inspect will have decks. While more slightly more common in temperate regions, even the most northern of cities will contain at least a few homes with decks. According to the Center for International Trade in Forest Projects, 85 percent of all single-family homes in…
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