Crawl Spaces – Buyer Beware | Home Inspector Monmouth County NJ

Posted by Frank J Delle Donne on

Many homes in NJ have crawl spaces as part of the foundation. Foundations typically are either concrete slab on grade, basements or crawl spaces.  Over the years we’ve inspected many crawl spaces and it’s been some-good, some-bad. The bad ones have been very bad. A few photos are below.

One that comes to mind was a flip-house. The interior of this approximately 100 year old house in northern Monmouth County was nicely done; New floors, kitchen, bath and a fresh coat of paint. However the crawl space was an entirely different story.

Moral of the story, make sure you hire an inspector that will go into the crawl space. Don’t be mesmerized by the nice paint to forget about the bones or foundation. The house is only as good as the foundation it’s built upon.

certified home inspector monmouth county nj
Poor structural support.
home inspector monmouth county nj
Again, poor structural support.
home inspection pricing monmouth county nj
Wet wood due to lack of a vapor barrier. Measured with a moisture meter.

 

Monmouth County NJ Certified Home Inspections

Regal Home Inspections, LLC offers Monmouth County NJ certified home inspections, condo inspections, estate inspections, and townhouse inspections.

It’s likely your mortgage company will require a wood-destroying insect inspection. Regal Home Inspections has the NJ DEP Core & 7B Pesticide Applicator license, so we can offer professional termite and wood-destroying insect inspections as well!

Both of our inspectors are also licensed to perform radon inspections. We have NJ DEP issued Radon Measurement Technician licenses and are affiliated with the best radon lab in the state.

Call 908-902-2590 for your free quote or if you have any questions!

Rain Water Management | Part 3

Posted by Frank J Delle Donne on

Minimizing and Managing Potential Basement Water Problems | Home Inspections Monmouth County NJ

In September, 2014 I was inspired to write Part 1 because of what I had observed in my inspections and a call that I received from a client. In December, 2014 I wrote Part 2 because on October 18, 2014 and November 8, 2014 I performed two inspections that I was reminded of prior to writing Part 2.

This past, Memorial Day weekend, if you were in central New Jersey you know how hard it rained on Sunday, May 27. The link below confirms that in the town where I live, over 4 inches of rain fell.

https://forecast.weather.gov/product.php?site=NWS&issuedby=PHI&product=PNS&format=ci&version=1&glossary=1

Based on the amount of water in a couple of buckets I had in my yard, I think the 4+ official inches in this link is low. Regardless, let’s use the official number and do the math.  Why am I now writing this?  Because over the past couple of days I received a text and a call from home inspection clients saying that they had water in the basement after this weekend’s rains. The lessons and recommendations in the previous parts of this series of articles remains the same. Keep rain water away from your house; Maintain your gutters and downspouts. Have downspout extensions as far from the house as possible. Make sure the soil and pavements slope away from the house. I also recommend maintaining any sump pumps and have battery back up for the sump pumps too.

How much water is in 4.72 inches of rain?  For this example we’ll assume a 40 foot by 60 foot house. That’s 2400 square feet of surface area. After the math is done, just coming off the roof is over 7000 gallons of water! If we add in a five foot apron around the house, that’s another 2943 gallons making the total amount of water from this one day’s rain was over 10,000 gallons deposited close to the house.

The consequences of epic rainfalls like this can’t be determined during the course of a 2 – 3 hour home inspection.

Keep your gutters clean and maintain your gutters and downspouts.

Make sure the soil and pavement are sloped away from the house.

Maintain your sump pump systems.

 

Other Services | Certified Home Inspector Monmouth County NJ

Regal Home Inspections, LLC is thermal imaging certified and offers Monmouth County NJ certified home inspections, condo inspections, estate inspections, and townhouse inspections.

It’s likely your mortgage company will require a wood-destroying insect inspection. Regal Home Inspections has the NJ DEP Core & 7B Pesticide Applicator license, so we can offer professional termite and wood-destroying insect inspections as well!

Call 908-902-2590 for your free quote or if you have any questions!