Leaking Bathroom Sink
April 8, 2011 by admin
Filed under Shocking DE Inspection Discoveries
As a Delaware Home Inspector Read more
How to tackle your home comfort repairs for warmer months
March 17, 2011 by admin
Filed under Home Maintenance Tips
Homeowners are looking forward to Read more
Brand New Program.
January 2, 2011 by admin
Filed under Home Maintenance Tips
Brand new product for 2011, Here at Quality Home Inspections Read more
Is your home under-protected from fire and CO poisoning?
January 2, 2011 by admin
Filed under Home Maintenance Tips
(ARA) – Just when you think you’re safe Read more
Thank You For all of Your Help
August 15, 2010 by admin
Filed under DE Inspection Client Reviews
Ted,
Thank you for all your help Read more
My inspection was great
May 26, 2010 by admin
Filed under DE Inspection Client Reviews
Ted was great and very personable. Being this is my first time buying a home, he answered all my questions thoroughly and without hesitation.
D. Flanagan
Middletown, DE
Replacing household products can keep you safe
October 21, 2009 by admin
Filed under Home Maintenance Tips
Replacing household products can keep you safe
(ARA) – While people take all manner of precautions to ensure the safety and health of their families, some household products may need more attention and maintenance to keep loved ones and the home environment as safe as possible. A recent study shows that many Americans are unknowingly at risk of illness, injury or worse due to living with and using products that have not been properly maintained or replaced.
“Most of us have trained ourselves to pay attention to expiration dates on food,” says Meri-K Appy, president of the nonprofit Home Safety Council. ”But, how many of us are thinking about the lifespan of the products we count on and live with every day? It’s easy to take for granted our smoke alarms and our pillows, or even our toothbrushes. But the truth is, if you neglect replacing these and other products, you could be putting yourself at risk.”
Following is a list of time-sensitive products that require regular replacement to maintain peak performance:
Smoke alarms – These potentially lifesaving devices have lives of their own and expire after about 10 years or 87,000 hours of service. Yet, a new study conducted by First Alert, a leading manufacturer of home safety products, recently uncovered that nearly a quarter of Americans (23 percent) have either never replaced the smoke alarms in their homes or have not done so in more than six years. Unprotected, these homes and their occupants are in danger of becoming among the 900 lives lost each year in U.S. home fires due to non-working smoke alarms as reported by the National Fire Protection Association.
“It is imperative that smoke alarms be properly maintained to ensure their effectiveness,” warns Tom Russo, president of Jarden Branded Consumables, Safety and Security. “Alarms should be tested every month and batteries replaced every six months for maximum security. If the alarms in your home are approaching the 10-year mark, or if you can’t recall when they were installed, be safe and replace them immediately.”
Carbon monoxide alarms – According to the American Medical Association, carbon monoxide intake is the No. 1 cause of accidental poisoning in the U.S. Still, an alarming 25 percent of American homes are not equipped with any CO alarms and another 23 percent have CO alarms that have never been replaced, according to the recent First Alert study. The NFPA recommends installing CO alarms outside each sleeping area and on every level of the home, including the basement. To ensure peak performance, replace batteries twice a year and check alarms monthly using the “test” function. When properly maintained, a CO alarm has a life of approximately five years, after which time it should be replaced with a new unit.
“Carbon monoxide is an especially dangerous threat because it attacks without warning and can be deadly,” says Russo. “The value of CO alarms is so critical that more and more states and municipalities are passing laws that require homes to have CO alarms to protect residents from this silent killer.”
Other products that require regular replacement include:
Fire extinguishers – Like their alarm counterparts, fire extinguishers need to be regularly checked to ensure that the pressure is at the recommended level and all parts are operable and not damaged. If an extinguisher is damaged in any way or needs to be recharged, it is best to replace the unit completely, advises the U.S. Fire Administration. Disposable models, like Tundra Fire Extinguishing Spray, come with expiration dates that inform owners when the unit should be replaced. Additionally, Tundra comes in a compact, familiar spray can design that is easy to operate and store.
Furnace filters – Not only do clean furnace filters help save on energy costs, but they also reduce the risk of fire. Just as full dryer screens can cause fires, so can dirty or clogged filters in the furnace. When replacing an old filter, note that many available products are disposable. But there are other products – such as electrostatic filters – that can be washed and reused time and again, generating even more savings if used and cared for properly.
Kitchen sponges – WebMD cites that kitchen sponges are the No. 1 source of germs in the entire house. They achieve this rank because of their moist, micro-crevices which make great homes for germs to linger in. Many experts recommend replacing kitchen sponges once a week, and at the very least twice a month.
Toothbrushes – The American Dental Association recommends replacing toothbrushes every three to four months or sooner if bristles begin to fray. Researchers have found that toothbrushes can hold microorganisms from mouths and the environment that can cause oral and systemic infections.
Mascara – According to Consumer Reports, mascara should be replaced every three months because it is likely to begin growing bacteria after that time. It also should be replaced if it begins to smell, is discolored or is used around the time of an eye infection.
Additionally, consumers are advised to replace pillows, medication, hair brushes and sunscreen on a regular basis. Check product packaging for expiration dates and replacement guidelines.
For more information and a complete home safety checklist, go to http://www.firstalert.com/safety_checklist.php. For more home safety tips, visit http://www.mysafehome.org.
Courtesy of ARAcontent
Snuggling up to a stove this winter?
September 14, 2009 by admin
Filed under Home Maintenance Tips
Snuggling up to a stove this winter?
ARA) – As the mercury drops and days get shorter, you may be snuggling up to a wood-burning stove to keep your tootsies toasty. With today’s economy, alternative heat sources may become more popular as penny-pinchers try to minimize gas and electric bills.
While wood-burning and pellet stoves can be quaint and efficient, they can also be dangerous. To avoid injuries and damaged property, ask yourself these four questions, posed by QBE Regional Insurance Senior Vice President Charles Valinotti. He’s seen many dangerous stove set-ups and the devastation that can result.
1. Was it installed by a professional?
Installing a stove isn’t a do-it-yourself job. Work with a professional. If the stove was installed before you moved in, it’s worth having it inspected. One tip-off is if it has more than two connector pipes, it’s probably been tampered with, Valinotti warns.
Also, take the same precautions with your outdoor wood-burning stove or one in your garage or outbuilding as you would with one that’s inside your home. A stove in your shed could cause as much damage as the one in your living room.
2. What’s above, under and around your stove?
Don’t find out after it’s too late – like one Oregon homeowner did. He woke in the night to put another log in his stove – but didn’t close the door all the way. As he snoozed on the couch, the kindling shifted and a log rolled out, igniting his carpet. While the man luckily escaped unharmed, his home was destroyed.
Make sure your floor is covered with non-combustible material all around your stove in case a log accidentally escapes. Similarly, keep all decorations and clutter away from the stove, so that a puff of ash or an errant spark doesn’t set your magazine collection or lace doily aflame.
3. When was your stove last cleaned and by whom?
Your answer should be: It was cleaned within the last year by a professional.
“We ask this question of our General Casualty and Unigard policyholders, and I can’t tell you how often they say it’s been ages since the last cleaning or – just as bad – that they clean it themselves,” says Valinotti.
He explains that you can sweep and tidy up your stove and the surrounding area, but a professional chimney sweep should clean it annually. Only professionals can spot and fix creosote buildup and hairline fractures, which are a major fire hazard and liability risk.
4. How do you dispose of your ashes?
An elderly woman in Washington recently swept ashes from her wood-burning stove into a plastic bucket and put it on her deck. Still smoldering, the ashes destroyed her home and belongings, totaling more than $400,000 in damage.
Make sure ashes are cooled, dampened with water and stored in a metal container with metal lid. “Never put ashes near or inside a paper bag, carton, box or anything combustible. I know it sounds obvious, but we see these very sad accidents more often than you would believe,” Valinotti says.
Courtesy of ARAcontent
How does a GFCI outlet work?
August 3, 2009 by admin
Filed under Home Maintenance Tips
That outlet is called a ground-fault circuit interrupter (GFCI). It’s there to protect people from electrical shock, so it is completely different from a fuse.
The question on appliance plugs talks about fuses. The idea behind a fuse is to protect a house from an electrical fire. If the hot wire were to accidentally touch the neutral wire for some reason (say, because a mouse chews through the insulation, or someone drives a nail through the wire while hanging a picture, or the vacuum cleaner sucks up an outlet cord and cuts it), an incredible amount of current will flow through the circuit and start heating it up like one of the coils in a toaster. The fuse heats up faster than the wire and burns out before the wire can start a fire.
A GFCI is much more subtle. When you look at a normal 120-volt outlet in the United States, there are two vertical slots and then a round hole centered below them. The left slot is slightly larger than the right. The left slot is called “neutral,” the right slot is called “hot” and the hole below them is called “ground.” If an appliance is working properly, all electricity that the appliance uses will flow from hot to neutral. A GFCI monitors the amount of current flowing from hot to neutral. If there is any imbalance, it trips the circuit. It is able to sense a mismatch as small as 4 or 5 milliamps, and it can react as quickly as one-thirtieth of a second.
So let’s say you are outside with your power drill and it is raining. You are standing on the ground, and since the drill is wet there is a path from the hot wire inside the drill through you to ground (see How Power Distribution Grids Work for details on grounding). If electricity flows from hot to ground through you, it could be fatal. The GFCI can sense the current flowing through you because not all of the current is flowing from hot to neutral as it expects — some of it is flowing through you to ground. As soon as the GFCI senses that, it trips the circuit and cuts off the electricity.
“How does a GFCI outlet work?.” 01 April 2000. HowStuffWorks.com. 03 August 2009.
Door Damage
July 15, 2009 by admin
Filed under Shocking DE Inspection Discoveries
I found this door the other day while I was standing in the kitchen And I wanted to share this. If you look on the upper right hand side of the door you will see the gap. The frame of the door had seperated from the glass causing water to enter the home run down the door and was leaking into the basement. I did not take a picture of the underside or basement area but there was rot to the wood framing members.
