Home Inspection Insider Blog

News and tips for home buyers, sellers and homeowners

Home Inspection Insider News & Tips

Garage Door Safety and Maintenance: A Home Inspector’s Perspective

When most homeowners think about home safety, they picture smoke alarms, electrical wiring, or security locks. But there’s one large moving system that’s often overlooked—your garage door. As a home inspector, I can tell you that garage doors and their openers...

May is Deck Safety Month

Make sure your family's summer fun spot is safe and sound. Our decks and patios are like our homes’ fun-loving cousins, always ready for a good time. But to keep the good times rolling, you need to focus on safety. Sadly, the Consumer Product Safety Commission...

Updated Illinois Smoke Detector Laws – What Every Illinois Homeowner Should Know

In 1988, the state of Illinois passed the Smoke Detector Act. This law required all dwellings to have working smoke alarms. In order to be compliant, the alarms could to be either battery-operated or hard-wired. Effective January 1, 2023, newly-installed smoke alarms...

Water Heater Maintenance is More Important Than You Think

Your gas-powered water heater is probably not at the top of your list of homeowner concerns. For most of us, water heaters seem to work fine, until they don’t. And, when they fail, oftentimes the result is an extended period of cold-water showers followed by a costly...

Post-Close Home Inspection – It’s a Thing!

Buying a house has become more difficult in the last few years. There’s a shortage of available properties, making bidding wars all too common. Although most real estate agents advise against it, some desperate buyers are forgoing pre-close home inspections to make...

How a successful home purchase is like your favorite cocktail

Have you ever wondered why you can order the same cocktail from several bartenders, and none of them taste the same? Even when it’s something as simple as scotch and water or gin and tonic, the end result varies from bartender to bartender. There are many factors that...