April 7, 2026 • 16 mins
Water doesn’t need a flood to wreck a house. It only needs time, a hidden gap, and a place to collect. Jim and Laura walk through the small, everyday home inspection findings that turn into big, expensive repairs when homeowners miss them, and they keep the focus on what actually prevents damage instead of what merely covers it up.
We start with the sneaky spots, like the missing caulk line where a bathtub meets the floor. That tiny opening can feed water under vinyl and into wood until the floor gets soft and rotten. From there we move outside to the biggest “cheap fix, huge payoff” items in home maintenance: gutters, downspouts, and downspout extensions. We break down how poor drainage loads water against the foundation, why freeze-thaw pressure matters, and how simple grading can change where that water goes.
The conversation also hits other common home inspection report items that are easy to ignore: electrical panel double taps, small roof leaks and flashing repairs, and the furnace maintenance most people skip even though it can extend HVAC life and catch condensation problems early. We also share a hard-earned consumer lesson about contractor quotes, the “last man in” theory on roof jobs, and why reading the contract can matter as much as the repair itself.
If you want practical homeowner tips, smarter questions to ask contractors, and a clearer way to prioritize repairs, queue this one up. Subscribe, share it with a homeowner friend, and leave a review with the one small fix you’re tackling next.
To learn more about Habitation Investigation, the Three-time Winner of the Best Home Inspection Company in the Midwest Plus the Winner of Consumer Choice Award for Columbus Ohio visit Home Inspection Columbus Ohio - Habitation Investigation (homeinspectionsinohio.com)
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_01 (00:00):
Hello, everybody.
It's Jim, and of course, Laura'shere with me.
SPEAKER_02 (00:04):
Hello, everyone.
SPEAKER_01 (00:05):
Alright, so Laura.
SPEAKER_02 (00:06):
So, Jim.
SPEAKER_01 (00:07):
It is April when we're recording this.
Just had Easter.
SPEAKER_02 (00:11):
Wow, it is April.
Cool.
SPEAKER_01 (00:12):
Yes, yes.
So let's talk about some of themost important things that uh we
find on home inspections.
Therefore, it's in the reportthat people should uh you know
pay attention to.
Yeah, focus on before theybecome bigger issues down the
road.
So Laura, what is your my firstthought regarding a small issue
(00:35):
that ends up being a biggerissue always has to do with
water.
SPEAKER_02 (00:40):
Yeah, I was just thinking, so like water
intrusion in a roof, waterintrusion in the basement,
impacting the foundation.
So those those were where mymind went with that.
SPEAKER_01 (00:51):
Yeah.
Well one thing that people oftendo not pay attention to is
especially like kids' bathroom.
You got the tub where you don'thave the caulking between the
floor material and the bathtub.
Because they're they're gettingout, they're dripping wet,
they're probably splashing aswell, making them goof around,
(01:13):
which I guess.
SPEAKER_02 (01:14):
Kids splash in a bathtub.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (01:17):
I'd splash.
I'd splash now.
I don't care.
But anyway, you would there's agap there often.
And then once water gets insidethere, you really can't see it
because it's underneath that uh,we'll say linoum.
It's underneath there.
You can't see it, but over butunderneath that linoum, you have
(01:39):
uh wood.
And that wood over time is goingto rot.
And to prevent that, A, don'tdon't have kids, don't let them
take showers.
One or the both.
SPEAKER_02 (01:54):
They're gonna need showers, honey.
So that that's that's anon-issue.
SPEAKER_01 (01:58):
That's not a practical solution there.
SPEAKER_02 (01:59):
That's not a solution.
SPEAKER_01 (02:01):
So so the other option is maybe spend th three,
five dollars worth of caulkingmaterial, then caulk where the
floor meets the tub.
SPEAKER_02 (02:12):
Now, can I say something on this?
SPEAKER_01 (02:15):
Of course.
I couldn't stop you anyway.
SPEAKER_02 (02:16):
If you have not done any caulking before, it is not
something you pick up with greatrapidity.
This is something that you needto practice.
However, that having been said,it doesn't matter how crappy it
looks, as long as there's nogaps in the seal preventing
water from getting into thatthat floor space underneath it.
(02:39):
It can look crappy.
Just just practice and andlearn.
There are kits out there whereyou can buy like this little
rubber thing and then just runalong it and make it look all
nice and pretty.
No, it's not.
Like I dude, my shit stuffstyled in, like, seriously.
(03:02):
I've gotten fingers.
I get a rubber glove and I putit on and I just guide it down.
SPEAKER_01 (03:08):
I've done that also, yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (03:10):
It works great.
Like I have I feel like I havemore control over it for the
depth because it's not a plasticdevice, and I've got the
control.
But for someone just startingout, that stuff is perfectly
fine, and it makes sure that itgets all that stuff covered.
SPEAKER_01 (03:26):
Yeah, they do it, they do have little plastic
things that help make it smoothand uniform.
That stuff does work great.
SPEAKER_02 (03:33):
There's a kit that you can get where you can also
pull up old um caulking and thenredo it to make sure that it's a
little bit more than that.
SPEAKER_01 (03:41):
It's the same little tool, other end of it is the
digger to pull it out.
But anyway, easy, not expensiveat all, can be very important
because you do not want yourfloor to rot out around your
tub.
SPEAKER_02 (03:56):
That would be bad, especially if you're falling
through it.
SPEAKER_01 (03:59):
Well, yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (04:01):
Or your kids are falling through it.
SPEAKER_01 (04:02):
I've never seen one get that bad, but I have seen
them where they're very soft,and it's like, nope, you they
need to replace the floor inthere.
So there's that.
So once again, it's water.
Another simple thing uh that'scommonly found in reports is
your downspout extensions.
(04:22):
Or lack thereof.
Or lack of because thedownspouts they go down toward
the foundation, and maybe theand that little part, the bottom
of it curves out six inches,maybe.
That is not nearly enough, andI've seen people just leave them
there like that, or thedownspout, it comes down, goes
into a pipe that then guides thewater all the way to the curb.
SPEAKER_02 (04:44):
But the pipe may be blocked.
SPEAKER_01 (04:47):
Yeah, or it's disconnected, or it's
disconnected in the gutter justslipped out because the ground
settled, pulled away,disconnected.
Those are really easy to fix,those are not hard at all.
But if you let that go, you arelooking at faces from uh
foundation problems.
Because that water when itgathers around that foundation
(05:09):
and has a lot of weight, it willbe pushing towards the house,
toward the basement.
And if it is winter time and itfreezes, remember water expands
when it freezes.
You're now all that water pressgonna shove that foundation in,
and that's where we see lots ofhorizontal cracks in the
(05:30):
foundation.
I see in basements where thebottom of the foundation is
where a water cells all the waydown there, that is pushing in.
So the bottom of it's kickingout.
So your simple gutters anddownspouts huge difference,
inexpensive, but gonna save youthousands of dollars if you
(05:51):
catch things early enough.
SPEAKER_02 (05:52):
Well, remember that one guy that bought a
campground, and he got talkedout of doing an inspection on
the house because he was buyingthe quote campground.
SPEAKER_01 (06:02):
I remember.
SPEAKER_02 (06:04):
So you do an inspection for him, and he's got
some basement company tellinghim like$30,000 to$40,000 to fix
the basement, and you're like,well, try this first.
Yeah, just the downspouts, theextensions, and the grating.
SPEAKER_01 (06:18):
They want the pound, this the waterproof to come one
and charge him$30,000 towaterproof the basement.
The basement was it was like awalkout basement, so it's not
like very deep into the soil oranything like that.
But$30,000 to waterproof, andthey're gonna dig a trench on
the inside of the basement todirect water to the sump pump.
(06:39):
And as far as I can, those arethose just take care of the
symptom of the water coming in.
This house, what the guy reallyneeded was downspouts and
gutters on the house.
There were none, and to makesure the grating around the
house sloped away from thehouse.
He didn't have any of the any ofthose things.
And that found thatwaterproofing company was going
(07:01):
to charge him$30,000, and theywere not even going to address
the cause of the problem, justthe symptom.
Like it's like, hey, doctor, Igot a broken arm, it really is
really painful.
Doctor just gives you anaspirin.
Doesn't fix your break.
So, anyway, that's not gonnahelp in the long run.
Once again, it's the downspouts,gutters controlling the water.
(07:22):
That is a huge uh it's a simplething, but it can become a huge
issue for a house.
So, Lord, what like little roofleaks, those are important to
take care of those.
SPEAKER_02 (07:33):
Right.
SPEAKER_01 (07:33):
Because they're starting off little, it will
only get worse from therebecause that wood rots, now you
gotta replace the woodsheathing.
Hopefully, it's not getting thesay the truss wet, because then
that truss rots.
Now you now you're gonna havereally sagging areas and more
structural concerns with that.
SPEAKER_02 (07:53):
Catch it while it's small and in the beginning.
SPEAKER_00 (07:56):
Yes.
Habitation investigation is theway to go for a home inspection
in Ohio.
Trusted licensed home inspectorsfor your needs from radon to
mold to warranty.
For a great home inspection, youreally can't go back.
(08:18):
Visit home inspections in Ohiodot com.
SPEAKER_01 (08:23):
Other issues that seem little.
I I I guess I've I see a lot ofpeople with a double taps on the
electrical panel.
SPEAKER_02 (08:34):
Ask about that.
SPEAKER_01 (08:36):
It depends on your type of breaker, but most
breakers are designed only tohold one wire.
There's some that are designedto hold two, but they need to be
in a very specific position.
I I've seen people go, well,that's no big deal.
I'm like, Well, it it could be abig deal, but get it fixed.
It's not it's not expensive todo that.
(08:57):
No.
Same thing.
SPEAKER_02 (08:58):
Especially if you've got the room in your panel.
SPEAKER_01 (09:01):
Yes.
Yep.
Now, another thing that thatshould be done that is not a big
deal, and that really is thiskind of thing that's related to
water, is the grading around ofyour soil.
You need to make certain youryour dirt is higher near your
house than it is farther away.
That way your water from meltingsnow, rain, it when it uh flows,
(09:26):
it flows away from the house.
It's kind of like the guttersand downspouts.
Correct the water away from thehouse.
And it's just dirt.
You just bring dirt into thehouse, dump it.
I mean, you could pay somebody,I don't know, I haven't bought
dirt forever.
Yeah, pay somebody uh$500 tobring in a big a truckload of
(09:47):
dirt, and then you put it aroundyour house close to your house,
not too high, you don't youdon't want touching the the
siding.
You want some space there, anddo it that way, or you just move
if you have have the land justmoved around yourself, do it
that way.
But that's one of the thingsthat should be done all the
time.
And here's something we don'tsee very often is people don't
maintain their furnaces.
SPEAKER_02 (10:09):
Oh, and and that just is insane to me because it
can last so much longer.
SPEAKER_01 (10:13):
Yes, yeah.
So you should look at have yourfurnace, HFAC companies will
tell you look at it, have itlooked at and inspected every
single year.
We rarely see anybody do that.
Every two years is far betterthan most people do.
But what's going to happen, theycan catch a condensation leak
early and therefore keep yourfurnace from rusting out and
(10:36):
causing other issues.
So that is not expensive to do.
SPEAKER_02 (10:40):
Yeah, and usually you can get like specials,
they'll run every so often, like99 bucks for a service or 69
bucks for a service, you know,depending on what company's
running what when.
SPEAKER_01 (10:51):
Yeah, it's well worth it.
It is now you do know that somecompanies though, like when
they're saying, hey, I don'tknow,$79 for a radon test.
For any, yeah, or or any draincleaning, you know they're
coming in with the hope thatthey're gonna hope that they're
gonna find something else theycan sell you, which I get, and
(11:14):
you all should understand, like,yeah, I I get it.
They need it, they want to makesome money, but you also want to
get your your problem takentaken care of as well, less
costly.
But you can always cut get asecond opinion and have somebody
else take a look at it.
SPEAKER_02 (11:28):
It it definitely makes sense to have an
inspection company come out anddo a maintenance inspection for
you.
That way we can tell you exactlywhat's going on.
This is what you need, this iswho you should contact.
We've got a list ofprofessionals that aren't gonna
screw you over as a client.
They, you know, they're good,reputable companies that treat
(11:48):
people with respect.
SPEAKER_01 (11:49):
Yep, and that reminds that reminds me of the
roofer.
Right.
We're not gonna give his name,but if if you use that for a
home inspection, you'd end upgetting it.
Yeah, you'll what we can let youknow.
But he alright, here's here'sthe last man in in theory.
SPEAKER_02 (12:04):
The what?
SPEAKER_01 (12:05):
The last man in.
So let's say you have a roof,you have somebody come the roof
oh say the roof is all messedup.
And this is actually kind ofrelated to what I did the other
uh like two weeks ago.
So you have a roofer come in,the roof's all messed up.
The roofer who comes in just tofix that, he does not want to
(12:27):
come in just to fix the issuebecause the roofer before did
not do a lot of thingscorrectly.
So there's lots that's allissues.
The last guy in does not be wantto be responsible for everything
that went wrong before, even thethings he didn't touch.
So last man in theory is the newroofer in this case doesn't want
(12:49):
to take the blame for it, soit's so he's gonna say we need
to redo it.
This is his best interest toredo the whole roof.
First of all, he's gonna beblamed for a work that he didn't
even touch.
SPEAKER_02 (13:01):
Or yeah, and I can't say as I blame him because I
mean, let's be realistic.
He goes up, he works on theroof, all of a sudden there's a
leak, and it's not fromsomething he did, it's from
something somebody else did.
But who's gonna believe that?
SPEAKER_01 (13:12):
And they'll complain.
Well, well, you should havesolved that while he's here.
And he's like, dude, you didn'teven want me to even look at
that.
So that's last-minute in theory.
So but we do know a roofer whowill come in and do just repairs
and not tell you you need abrand new entire roof when maybe
you really don't.
Really do just need one section,and it really pairs well when we
(13:35):
do a home inspection reportbecause we're up in the attic
seeing if there's leaks or not.
So if he does repair work andthere's still no leaks, might
listen, he didn't cause problemsin this area, it was already
there, whatever.
But he's a good guy, but we canhelp with that stuff.
But uh, yeah, water, water's thebig one.
SPEAKER_02 (13:57):
You've got mold, you've got deterioration, you've
got rot.
SPEAKER_01 (14:01):
So those are some things that should be taken care
of, not hard, definitely notexpensive.
Roof they say you have a$600roof repair that needs done,
okay?
Say flashing around the chimney,yeah,$600.
That's a lot cheaper than$20,000for a new roof.
$20,000 for a brand new roof, oryou let that let the flashing
(14:23):
issue go, and now it's gonna belike$15,$15,000 because all
right, you ride out part of theroof because you let it go for a
while.
SPEAKER_02 (14:31):
Oh, and then it damaged stuff, and then the
water came down, damaged stuffdown below.
So now you have material fordown inside your house, and for
items that got damaged, you'regonna have to replace stuff.
SPEAKER_01 (14:44):
That just reminded me of another thing uh years
ago.
We did an inspection, we calledout some issues, some roofing
company came in and fixed thoseissues.
Okay.
Okay, they didn't do a good jobbecause there's water coming in
and it damaged the interior ofthe house.
The roofing company, by theirpaperwork, had no responsibility
(15:07):
for any damage on the inside ofthe house.
SPEAKER_02 (15:09):
I remember that one too.
It's been a long time.
Remember that?
SPEAKER_01 (15:12):
Yes, yes.
So be careful you choose.
SPEAKER_02 (15:14):
And and read, read, for the love of God, read the
contracts, people.
If it sounds too good to betrue, it probably is.
Read the contract becausethey're not taking
responsibility for anything andmove on to another company.
SPEAKER_01 (15:26):
Well, here's another the lady was living there.
All right, it takes a while forthe water to get that bad that
the ceiling's gonna collapse.
And this did collapse on her, Ibelieve, right?
SPEAKER_02 (15:35):
I I think it did for me.
I it dude, it's been a longtime.
SPEAKER_01 (15:38):
So this gets into thing like, all right, how long
did you let this go before youreport it?
So there's oh, I can't think ofother term, but there's a legal
term that basically as soon asyou see there's an issue, you
can't stop it.
You can't just let it keep keepgoing, make that make it worse
and worse.
You have a responsibility tomitigate mitigation of damages,
you have a responsibility to tohalt that.
(15:58):
So, anyway, I think that's it onthis one.
I don't like I I like around 15minutes or so.
So always get it inspected andtake care of the little things.
And most things are not bigthings.
SPEAKER_02 (16:10):
Read the report, read the report, understand your
house.
If you have questions, call us.
That's what we're here for.
SPEAKER_01 (16:15):
Yep.
All right, bye-bye.
SPEAKER_02 (16:16):
Bye.
Hello, everybody.
It's Jim, and of course, Laura'shere with me.
SPEAKER_02 (00:04):
Hello, everyone.
SPEAKER_01 (00:05):
Alright, so Laura.
SPEAKER_02 (00:06):
So, Jim.
SPEAKER_01 (00:07):
It is April when we're recording this.
Just had Easter.
SPEAKER_02 (00:11):
Wow, it is April.
Cool.
SPEAKER_01 (00:12):
Yes, yes.
So let's talk about some of themost important things that uh we
find on home inspections.
Therefore, it's in the reportthat people should uh you know
pay attention to.
Yeah, focus on before theybecome bigger issues down the
road.
So Laura, what is your my firstthought regarding a small issue
(00:35):
that ends up being a biggerissue always has to do with
water.
SPEAKER_02 (00:40):
Yeah, I was just thinking, so like water
intrusion in a roof, waterintrusion in the basement,
impacting the foundation.
So those those were where mymind went with that.
SPEAKER_01 (00:51):
Yeah.
Well one thing that people oftendo not pay attention to is
especially like kids' bathroom.
You got the tub where you don'thave the caulking between the
floor material and the bathtub.
Because they're they're gettingout, they're dripping wet,
they're probably splashing aswell, making them goof around,
(01:13):
which I guess.
SPEAKER_02 (01:14):
Kids splash in a bathtub.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (01:17):
I'd splash.
I'd splash now.
I don't care.
But anyway, you would there's agap there often.
And then once water gets insidethere, you really can't see it
because it's underneath that uh,we'll say linoum.
It's underneath there.
You can't see it, but over butunderneath that linoum, you have
(01:39):
uh wood.
And that wood over time is goingto rot.
And to prevent that, A, don'tdon't have kids, don't let them
take showers.
One or the both.
SPEAKER_02 (01:54):
They're gonna need showers, honey.
So that that's that's anon-issue.
SPEAKER_01 (01:58):
That's not a practical solution there.
SPEAKER_02 (01:59):
That's not a solution.
SPEAKER_01 (02:01):
So so the other option is maybe spend th three,
five dollars worth of caulkingmaterial, then caulk where the
floor meets the tub.
SPEAKER_02 (02:12):
Now, can I say something on this?
SPEAKER_01 (02:15):
Of course.
I couldn't stop you anyway.
SPEAKER_02 (02:16):
If you have not done any caulking before, it is not
something you pick up with greatrapidity.
This is something that you needto practice.
However, that having been said,it doesn't matter how crappy it
looks, as long as there's nogaps in the seal preventing
water from getting into thatthat floor space underneath it.
(02:39):
It can look crappy.
Just just practice and andlearn.
There are kits out there whereyou can buy like this little
rubber thing and then just runalong it and make it look all
nice and pretty.
No, it's not.
Like I dude, my shit stuffstyled in, like, seriously.
(03:02):
I've gotten fingers.
I get a rubber glove and I putit on and I just guide it down.
SPEAKER_01 (03:08):
I've done that also, yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (03:10):
It works great.
Like I have I feel like I havemore control over it for the
depth because it's not a plasticdevice, and I've got the
control.
But for someone just startingout, that stuff is perfectly
fine, and it makes sure that itgets all that stuff covered.
SPEAKER_01 (03:26):
Yeah, they do it, they do have little plastic
things that help make it smoothand uniform.
That stuff does work great.
SPEAKER_02 (03:33):
There's a kit that you can get where you can also
pull up old um caulking and thenredo it to make sure that it's a
little bit more than that.
SPEAKER_01 (03:41):
It's the same little tool, other end of it is the
digger to pull it out.
But anyway, easy, not expensiveat all, can be very important
because you do not want yourfloor to rot out around your
tub.
SPEAKER_02 (03:56):
That would be bad, especially if you're falling
through it.
SPEAKER_01 (03:59):
Well, yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (04:01):
Or your kids are falling through it.
SPEAKER_01 (04:02):
I've never seen one get that bad, but I have seen
them where they're very soft,and it's like, nope, you they
need to replace the floor inthere.
So there's that.
So once again, it's water.
Another simple thing uh that'scommonly found in reports is
your downspout extensions.
(04:22):
Or lack thereof.
Or lack of because thedownspouts they go down toward
the foundation, and maybe theand that little part, the bottom
of it curves out six inches,maybe.
That is not nearly enough, andI've seen people just leave them
there like that, or thedownspout, it comes down, goes
into a pipe that then guides thewater all the way to the curb.
SPEAKER_02 (04:44):
But the pipe may be blocked.
SPEAKER_01 (04:47):
Yeah, or it's disconnected, or it's
disconnected in the gutter justslipped out because the ground
settled, pulled away,disconnected.
Those are really easy to fix,those are not hard at all.
But if you let that go, you arelooking at faces from uh
foundation problems.
Because that water when itgathers around that foundation
(05:09):
and has a lot of weight, it willbe pushing towards the house,
toward the basement.
And if it is winter time and itfreezes, remember water expands
when it freezes.
You're now all that water pressgonna shove that foundation in,
and that's where we see lots ofhorizontal cracks in the
(05:30):
foundation.
I see in basements where thebottom of the foundation is
where a water cells all the waydown there, that is pushing in.
So the bottom of it's kickingout.
So your simple gutters anddownspouts huge difference,
inexpensive, but gonna save youthousands of dollars if you
(05:51):
catch things early enough.
SPEAKER_02 (05:52):
Well, remember that one guy that bought a
campground, and he got talkedout of doing an inspection on
the house because he was buyingthe quote campground.
SPEAKER_01 (06:02):
I remember.
SPEAKER_02 (06:04):
So you do an inspection for him, and he's got
some basement company tellinghim like$30,000 to$40,000 to fix
the basement, and you're like,well, try this first.
Yeah, just the downspouts, theextensions, and the grating.
SPEAKER_01 (06:18):
They want the pound, this the waterproof to come one
and charge him$30,000 towaterproof the basement.
The basement was it was like awalkout basement, so it's not
like very deep into the soil oranything like that.
But$30,000 to waterproof, andthey're gonna dig a trench on
the inside of the basement todirect water to the sump pump.
(06:39):
And as far as I can, those arethose just take care of the
symptom of the water coming in.
This house, what the guy reallyneeded was downspouts and
gutters on the house.
There were none, and to makesure the grating around the
house sloped away from thehouse.
He didn't have any of the any ofthose things.
And that found thatwaterproofing company was going
(07:01):
to charge him$30,000, and theywere not even going to address
the cause of the problem, justthe symptom.
Like it's like, hey, doctor, Igot a broken arm, it really is
really painful.
Doctor just gives you anaspirin.
Doesn't fix your break.
So, anyway, that's not gonnahelp in the long run.
Once again, it's the downspouts,gutters controlling the water.
(07:22):
That is a huge uh it's a simplething, but it can become a huge
issue for a house.
So, Lord, what like little roofleaks, those are important to
take care of those.
SPEAKER_02 (07:33):
Right.
SPEAKER_01 (07:33):
Because they're starting off little, it will
only get worse from therebecause that wood rots, now you
gotta replace the woodsheathing.
Hopefully, it's not getting thesay the truss wet, because then
that truss rots.
Now you now you're gonna havereally sagging areas and more
structural concerns with that.
SPEAKER_02 (07:53):
Catch it while it's small and in the beginning.
SPEAKER_00 (07:56):
Yes.
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in Ohio.
Trusted licensed home inspectorsfor your needs from radon to
mold to warranty.
For a great home inspection, youreally can't go back.
(08:18):
Visit home inspections in Ohiodot com.
SPEAKER_01 (08:23):
Other issues that seem little.
I I I guess I've I see a lot ofpeople with a double taps on the
electrical panel.
SPEAKER_02 (08:34):
Ask about that.
SPEAKER_01 (08:36):
It depends on your type of breaker, but most
breakers are designed only tohold one wire.
There's some that are designedto hold two, but they need to be
in a very specific position.
I I've seen people go, well,that's no big deal.
I'm like, Well, it it could be abig deal, but get it fixed.
It's not it's not expensive todo that.
(08:57):
No.
Same thing.
SPEAKER_02 (08:58):
Especially if you've got the room in your panel.
SPEAKER_01 (09:01):
Yes.
Yep.
Now, another thing that thatshould be done that is not a big
deal, and that really is thiskind of thing that's related to
water, is the grading around ofyour soil.
You need to make certain youryour dirt is higher near your
house than it is farther away.
That way your water from meltingsnow, rain, it when it uh flows,
(09:26):
it flows away from the house.
It's kind of like the guttersand downspouts.
Correct the water away from thehouse.
And it's just dirt.
You just bring dirt into thehouse, dump it.
I mean, you could pay somebody,I don't know, I haven't bought
dirt forever.
Yeah, pay somebody uh$500 tobring in a big a truckload of
(09:47):
dirt, and then you put it aroundyour house close to your house,
not too high, you don't youdon't want touching the the
siding.
You want some space there, anddo it that way, or you just move
if you have have the land justmoved around yourself, do it
that way.
But that's one of the thingsthat should be done all the
time.
And here's something we don'tsee very often is people don't
maintain their furnaces.
SPEAKER_02 (10:09):
Oh, and and that just is insane to me because it
can last so much longer.
SPEAKER_01 (10:13):
Yes, yeah.
So you should look at have yourfurnace, HFAC companies will
tell you look at it, have itlooked at and inspected every
single year.
We rarely see anybody do that.
Every two years is far betterthan most people do.
But what's going to happen, theycan catch a condensation leak
early and therefore keep yourfurnace from rusting out and
(10:36):
causing other issues.
So that is not expensive to do.
SPEAKER_02 (10:40):
Yeah, and usually you can get like specials,
they'll run every so often, like99 bucks for a service or 69
bucks for a service, you know,depending on what company's
running what when.
SPEAKER_01 (10:51):
Yeah, it's well worth it.
It is now you do know that somecompanies though, like when
they're saying, hey, I don'tknow,$79 for a radon test.
For any, yeah, or or any draincleaning, you know they're
coming in with the hope thatthey're gonna hope that they're
gonna find something else theycan sell you, which I get, and
(11:14):
you all should understand, like,yeah, I I get it.
They need it, they want to makesome money, but you also want to
get your your problem takentaken care of as well, less
costly.
But you can always cut get asecond opinion and have somebody
else take a look at it.
SPEAKER_02 (11:28):
It it definitely makes sense to have an
inspection company come out anddo a maintenance inspection for
you.
That way we can tell you exactlywhat's going on.
This is what you need, this iswho you should contact.
We've got a list ofprofessionals that aren't gonna
screw you over as a client.
They, you know, they're good,reputable companies that treat
(11:48):
people with respect.
SPEAKER_01 (11:49):
Yep, and that reminds that reminds me of the
roofer.
Right.
We're not gonna give his name,but if if you use that for a
home inspection, you'd end upgetting it.
Yeah, you'll what we can let youknow.
But he alright, here's here'sthe last man in in theory.
SPEAKER_02 (12:04):
The what?
SPEAKER_01 (12:05):
The last man in.
So let's say you have a roof,you have somebody come the roof
oh say the roof is all messedup.
And this is actually kind ofrelated to what I did the other
uh like two weeks ago.
So you have a roofer come in,the roof's all messed up.
The roofer who comes in just tofix that, he does not want to
(12:27):
come in just to fix the issuebecause the roofer before did
not do a lot of thingscorrectly.
So there's lots that's allissues.
The last guy in does not be wantto be responsible for everything
that went wrong before, even thethings he didn't touch.
So last man in theory is the newroofer in this case doesn't want
(12:49):
to take the blame for it, soit's so he's gonna say we need
to redo it.
This is his best interest toredo the whole roof.
First of all, he's gonna beblamed for a work that he didn't
even touch.
SPEAKER_02 (13:01):
Or yeah, and I can't say as I blame him because I
mean, let's be realistic.
He goes up, he works on theroof, all of a sudden there's a
leak, and it's not fromsomething he did, it's from
something somebody else did.
But who's gonna believe that?
SPEAKER_01 (13:12):
And they'll complain.
Well, well, you should havesolved that while he's here.
And he's like, dude, you didn'teven want me to even look at
that.
So that's last-minute in theory.
So but we do know a roofer whowill come in and do just repairs
and not tell you you need abrand new entire roof when maybe
you really don't.
Really do just need one section,and it really pairs well when we
(13:35):
do a home inspection reportbecause we're up in the attic
seeing if there's leaks or not.
So if he does repair work andthere's still no leaks, might
listen, he didn't cause problemsin this area, it was already
there, whatever.
But he's a good guy, but we canhelp with that stuff.
But uh, yeah, water, water's thebig one.
SPEAKER_02 (13:57):
You've got mold, you've got deterioration, you've
got rot.
SPEAKER_01 (14:01):
So those are some things that should be taken care
of, not hard, definitely notexpensive.
Roof they say you have a$600roof repair that needs done,
okay?
Say flashing around the chimney,yeah,$600.
That's a lot cheaper than$20,000for a new roof.
$20,000 for a brand new roof, oryou let that let the flashing
(14:23):
issue go, and now it's gonna belike$15,$15,000 because all
right, you ride out part of theroof because you let it go for a
while.
SPEAKER_02 (14:31):
Oh, and then it damaged stuff, and then the
water came down, damaged stuffdown below.
So now you have material fordown inside your house, and for
items that got damaged, you'regonna have to replace stuff.
SPEAKER_01 (14:44):
That just reminded me of another thing uh years
ago.
We did an inspection, we calledout some issues, some roofing
company came in and fixed thoseissues.
Okay.
Okay, they didn't do a good jobbecause there's water coming in
and it damaged the interior ofthe house.
The roofing company, by theirpaperwork, had no responsibility
(15:07):
for any damage on the inside ofthe house.
SPEAKER_02 (15:09):
I remember that one too.
It's been a long time.
Remember that?
SPEAKER_01 (15:12):
Yes, yes.
So be careful you choose.
SPEAKER_02 (15:14):
And and read, read, for the love of God, read the
contracts, people.
If it sounds too good to betrue, it probably is.
Read the contract becausethey're not taking
responsibility for anything andmove on to another company.
SPEAKER_01 (15:26):
Well, here's another the lady was living there.
All right, it takes a while forthe water to get that bad that
the ceiling's gonna collapse.
And this did collapse on her, Ibelieve, right?
SPEAKER_02 (15:35):
I I think it did for me.
I it dude, it's been a longtime.
SPEAKER_01 (15:38):
So this gets into thing like, all right, how long
did you let this go before youreport it?
So there's oh, I can't think ofother term, but there's a legal
term that basically as soon asyou see there's an issue, you
can't stop it.
You can't just let it keep keepgoing, make that make it worse
and worse.
You have a responsibility tomitigate mitigation of damages,
you have a responsibility to tohalt that.
(15:58):
So, anyway, I think that's it onthis one.
I don't like I I like around 15minutes or so.
So always get it inspected andtake care of the little things.
And most things are not bigthings.
SPEAKER_02 (16:10):
Read the report, read the report, understand your
house.
If you have questions, call us.
That's what we're here for.
SPEAKER_01 (16:15):
Yep.
All right, bye-bye.
SPEAKER_02 (16:16):
Bye.
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