Every year unsuspecting homeowners fall prey to many home repair scams. These scams cost homeowners millions of wasted dollars for unfinished or subpar work. Here are six basic steps to protect you from being on the five O’clock news 1 Avoid Home Repair Scams by Never paying the full amount upfront. Paying
Bonding of metallic water lines and gas lines is required by all major codes. Being bonded is not the same as being grounded. Bonding refers to the process of connecting different systems, so they have the same electrical potential as the electrical service. Bonding reduces the chance of arcing caused
A water heater may be the more common storage type. Or a recent arrival, the instant or on-demand heater. The storage type is by far the most commonly found in a home inspection. This post is concerned only with the standard storage heater. Water heaters may be gas, electric, or
A false ground or bootleg ground involves using a jumper wire to connect the ground screw and the neutral screw on a receptacle. False grounds will fool the handheld testers most inspectors use to check for open grounds. This is a common trick used by misinformed do-it-yourselfers and some clueless
Grounding is the term loosely used to describe the built-in safety for residential electrical service. As the electrical industry ages, the safety level improves with each passing year. Electrical Grounding is one of those improvements. Originally residential wiring was knob and tube, only 110 volts, and usually fed by a
Double lugged or double-tapped breakers are among the most typical electrical defects we find during a standard home inspection. Double lugging is defined as two or more wires installed in a breaker rated for one wire. There are two instances where this commonly occurs; 1 on standard 120 or 240-volt
On March 1, 2015 CBS News opened their television show “60 Minutes”, with the following statement. “60 Minutes found that Lumber Liquidators ’ Chinese-made laminate flooring contains amounts of toxic formaldehyde that may not meet health and safety standards”. According to Forbes Magazine Lumber Liquidators has over 360 stores and
Closing can be scary, you made it this far, now what? Here are 16 things you should and should not do before and after closing. 1. First, you must remember nothing is final until you get the keys at closing. 2. Your agent is here to help you do not
Radon testing is the only reliable way to determine if your home has unsafe radon levels. Radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer, exceeded only by smoking. Like smoking, Radon is a long-term threat with variables such as the radon level present and the length of time you
So often we find something we have done a certain way for years is suddenly no longer considered proper. This is where we are today with what is called a shared neutral. For many years electricians saved time and money by using a three wire conductor with a ground (12-3
