I'm master inspector and certified builder Toby Condell. Let's answer your questions from the internet. This is House Support. Tidbits of Experience asks, "Are termites really that bad of a home pest?" Left unchecked, they will literally eat you out of house in home. The worst case I've seen was on a really nice house. This house had so much termite damage, I could put my finger through a structural 2x6 to the other side. Common signs that you might have termites are frra. These are little tiny

pellets that they leave behind. They'll kick them out of the little holes. If you see pellets collecting on the floor or a window sill, that's a really good sign. Sometimes they're in your attic and you might not see them for a while. Sometimes it takes a few years to see any signs. So, by the time you do find them, there could be significant damage. When I see a house that's covered with what looks to be a circus tent, that is actually a fumigation going on. They

have sealed off that house and have gas going inside of it with fans for a few days. And that gas will not only kill termites in there, but any other insect or rodent that's not paying rent. Queen Latte asks, "What home issues would warrant not purchasing a home if found during inspection?" Well, Queen Latte, most everything can be corrected. As a builder, I typically gut the houses I buy, so nothing really scares me. The only thing that would really prevent me from buying a property would be a sinkhole. A sinkhole is a void under your house that is typically created from aquafers that have dried out and then the earth that was covering that aquafer starts caving in and it can

swallow the whole house. Getting swallowed alive is where I draw the line. Pretty Lips S asks, "What's the biggest red flag you've spotted in a home inspection?" The two that come to mind are both structural. One of them was a town home in the master bedroom on the second floor. The floor had dropped about 3/4 of an inch. There was tile on the baseboard and tile on the floor. You could see where they used to meet up just from the grout line, but it had separated and that's a big drop and that's a red flag to me. Another huge red flag was the doors. Some of the doors would not close and the ones that did, there was a gap difference between the left and right corner. Skinny over

here and wider over here. Doors not closing properly indicate structural issues and further investigation is definitely warranted. Other red flags I'd keep an eye out for are furniture or rugs put in a weird position. Usually that indicates they're trying to hide something. Also, if your AC vents have a lot of dust coming out, that is a big indicator that you might have a mold problem in your duct work. Other red flags include dehumidifiers in the garage, that would suggest there was recent water damage. Of the thousands of inspections I've done, it's super rare to see dehumidifiers sitting in a garage or in the house, especially when there's multiple. Cleber 888 wants to

know, "Help! New house and mysterious smell in one upstairs bedroom that we can't figure out. The room smells so strongly of body odor doesn't seem to be coming from the attic. Is there a bathroom nearby?" My first guess would be sewer gas. Sewer gas can enter your home through any type of damaged piping or if the P trap doesn't have water in it. The way P traps work is they'll trap water to stop sewer gases and any rodents or insects from coming into your home. A home that's been vacant for an extended period of time where water is not constantly going through the P trap, that water will dry out and then let sewer gases and god knows what else through. Mento asks, "New homes aren't

built as good as the old ones. New homes are definitely built safer. They're safer building products, better guidelines regarding fire protection. They're also built more energy efficient than older homes. But older homes tend to be built more robust. Case in point, a 2x4 was called a 2x4 because it measured 2x4. Today, that's a nominal term. 2x4s actually measure about 3 and 1/2 by 1 and 1/2 in. Engineers have determined that is still sufficient enough to build with, but it is not as robust as they used to build it. Older homes are built on crawl spaces, which gives you access to the plumbing and

electrical, and they're very easy to work on. Newer homes are built slab on grade, which means they pour a concrete pad and footers directly onto the ground itself. The benefit of that is there's more stability. Some drawbacks is you don't have access to the plumbing and electrical for easy repairs. Here's a question from the home improvement subreddit. There's bees in my wall. What steps do I take to remove them? The first step is to identify what kind of bees they are. The last thing you want to start messing with is Africanized killer bees. Typically, that involves hiring a professional. they can actually determine what type of bee it is, capture the queen, and potentially

relocate the bees instead of destroying them because we need our bees, right? So, bees actually give off a heat signature, and I've actually found them using my infrared camera in the wall. Every object gives off energy and what the infrared camera does is it looks for any variance between surfaces. So, the heat from my hand is being transferred to the surface and that residual heat can be picked up by infrared technology. That's how sensitive these cameras are. Typically studs are spaced 16 in on center. And you will see with the heat signature of the camera, there will actually be a defined line on each side where the hive is growing. So that's

actually a good indicator not only of where the hive is, but how big the hive is. Pate 712 asks, "What's a common cause of house fires that most people don't think about, but should?" I think the best way to answer this question is to show you. The dryer vent itself has been clogging for some time and the lint has backed up into the attic and this is pretty close to a flash point. I would say as dangerous as it can get before it goes up. The heat can escape from the dryer and the dryer doesn't turn off. You can actually ignite the lint and that's exactly why you need to clean your dryer vents. By and large, people don't even consider cleaning that. It will not only

prevent fires, but it'll also help extend the life of your dryer and make your dryer work more efficiently. They should have a flap to prevent any rodents or birds or insects from coming in, but they should never be screened. I hate lemon lime asks, "Inspection tomorrow. What to expect and in need of moral support?" Well, here's what you can expect. Your inspection should take about an hour to an hour and a half per thousand square ft. I like to say, let the age set the stage. The age of the property is going to tell me what common deficiencies I have to rule out. If you're looking at an old house, such as a house built in the 70s or before, you can look out for aluminum wiring, cast

iron drains, and cloth wiring. Aluminum is known to cause fires because of a phenomenon known as cold creep. The aluminum wire itself is not bad. It's actually the connections going into the breakers that tend to wiggle themselves loose through expansion and contraction, and then heat forms, and that's where some fires have started. Cast iron drains were used from 1975 and before. The average life expectancy for a cast iron drain is 50 years. So, you're looking at 50-year drains at the youngest, right? The problem with cast iron is that they corrode on the inside.

They can have cracks. Cloth wiring is an issue because the jacketing itself can fray exposing the wires on the inside at cauliflower niece wants to know, "So, I just saw this beautiful house for sale. Drano was under the sink. Is that a bad sign?" When you see Drano, you don't know what the cause is. It could be as something simple as the P trap being clogged from hair because it traps water. It can also trap debris. Drano usually is used in order to help clog that. You can also mechanically just unscrew it and clear it out. That's what I personally would do. The challenge with drains is that it flows by gravity typically. To give you an overview of

how the drain systems work in homes, here's a diagram. You see that cleanout? That's where we typically access for drain inspections. We will put the camera in. It's reviewed all the way up to the toilet as you see under the house. and then back down all the way to the sewer tap. All the way up to the sewer tap is your responsibility. And that drain should be free of debris. It should be free of any sagging, any roots, and any offsetting. For older drain pipes such as clay or cast iron, the condition of the pipe itself deteriorates over time. It can be pretty expensive to fix. It can cost anywhere to 20 to $30,000 to repipe a home.

Here's one from Alterior Kid 324. Question for home inspectors. When you open an electrical panel, what makes you go, "Uhoh, you know what? Let me show you a problem panel." So, the first thing I look for is the panel brand. Challenger has known issues, such as overheating, loose breakers. The other clue would be if there's breakers in here from different brands. Here we have a GE breaker, a gold, and an IT. And there's no listings that have these breakers in this panel. That's a big sign that somebody that doesn't know electrical is messing with electrical. So, let's see what we see on the inside. If you notice right here, there's been some overheating. Looks

like a breaker might have caught fire or overheated and melted part of the bus bar. This panel itself has a known history where these breakers don't sit properly on the bus bar, as well as the breakers not tripping properly. So, whenever I see these type of panels, I automatically recommend replacing. Some other deficiencies I look for is double tapping. That's when two wires are going into one breaker. All this looks good. There's no overfusing. But given the history of this panel alone, combined with evidence of overheating, this panel is in need of replacement. What I also look for in these situations is overspray paint. When the painters come

by, typically they don't protect the panel. And these bus bars, if they have any debris on them, you won't have a proper connection, and you have a heat point, which can create fire, smoldering, or melting. And that's definitely a panel that makes me go, "Uh-oh." Yuwatmate MD asks, "How am I? Is this asbestos?" Hard to tell from the photo. My first question would be, how old is the property? If this flooring is from the '7s or even into the early '9s or before that, because there is no room for error with asbestos, I would seal up the floor and call in professional to test it and then move on from there. One of the applications for asbestos was heat

resistance. That's why you see it in applications such as chimney flu or furnace flu insulation. I do know that it does have flame retardant properties. So insulation around furnaces is definitely beneficial. However, once you pulverize it and it becomes airborne, it can stay in the air for a while and continuously get kicked up. It is a known carcinogen, but if the asbestos has not been touched, it should be safe. The prophet himself asks, "How do I know if my roof is shot?" The only literal way you can call a roof shot is to find bulge, which I found on two roofs. One was coming straight down, which appeared to be fired in a celebratory fashion,

and one was coming from an extreme angle, which appeared to be from an altercation. But all kidding aside, depends on the roofing material. Tile roofs are hard to tell because tile is not the waterproofer. It's actually an architectural feature. Water runs under tile. So the waterproofing material, the membranes are hidden and therefore we can't really tell. What we go off of here is average life expectancy. Tal roof last about 25 years. If you're hitting that 20, 21, 22 year age mark, you're getting into needing a new roof pretty soon. Asphalt shingles are easier to tell if you need a new roof because the granules, which are the protectant from the UV light, starts wearing away.

And once that happens, the roof starts accelerating. It dries out. It's not pliable anymore. When I see asphalt shingle roofs with repairs and washed away granules, it's time to re-roof. A stain on the ceiling doesn't really tell you that the roof is shot. It just tells you that there's a leak, which I found leaks on brand new homes. Ask roofers in your area what the average lifespan is for that roofing material. Take the age of the roof and then you'll know with

about 90% certainty how much more time you should have on that roof. Your 40in slip asks, "Msterious ceiling stains. Is this a leak, condensation, mold, or an animal in the attic? Yeah, it can be any of those things. The most common cause I find with stains on the ceilings is going to be a roof leak. My first order of business if I see a stain on the wall or ceiling is I'll use my infrared camera to see if it's possibly active. The infrared camera here shows that there's a difference in temperature, but it's not verifying moisture. You need the moisture meter to determine if the moisture is elevated. place us on the spot in question and then also test a

nearby spot to give a comparison because all building materials carry some type of moisture. We have a higher reading. 99.9 is the highest this moisture meter reads. I would recommend only opening up this area under containment because of potential mold exposure. KBO TV asks, "What's the point of having gutters on a house? Why not just let the rain fall off the house?" Gutters help with water management. You want to keep the water away from the house. The gutters not only collect the water falling off the eve, but should divert it 7 feet away from the structure. Over here, you can

see that the gutter diversion is proper. It's actually diverting the water sufficiently away from the structure. In this clip, you can see a gutter that is not properly diverting water away from the home. That's going to pull all that water coming off the house back to the structure, which can lead to structural issues and water intrusion. The soil around the structure is actually supporting the footer of the home. Once soil erosion starts, you can possibly see some cracking. Berto813 asks, "Spray foam versus regular pink insulation." Personally, I'm a fan of spray foam.

There's two different types. There's open cell and closed cell. Closed cell is solid. You can't push into it. Open cell is more of a sponge. Reason for that is if you have a roof leak, you want to see it before you have structural failure. So, open cell allows for that water to come through and will warn you that you're having a roof leak. What I like about spray foam is that it actually provides more of a homogeneous temperature within the house. When you put that pink insulation on the attic ceiling, there's still heat coming into the ceiling area. Therefore, you'll need

fans to help keep the air more homogeneous. With spray foam insulation, you're actually spraying the interior ceiling of the attic. The attic is thereby hermetically sealed, so on the interior, it's very comfortable. Crash Override exe asks, "What's the worst house you've ever inspected?" The worst house I've ever inspected, every square inch, I'm talking ceiling, floors, and walls was covered with black mold. Now, obviously, no one was living there. It was a vacant property. It was actually a bank-owned property, and it had been vacant for several years. Bamboo Boogie Boots asks, "How would you know if there's mold in the house if you can't see or smell it?" The only way to

determine it is to order a mold inspection. What this pump does, it draws air into the sample right here. And the sample has a little sticky plate in there. As the air bounces off that plate, little spores or anything in the air will stick to that plate. And that is sent to the lab. The lab will read that plate, determine what type of species the mold is. Comparing that sample to an exterior sample is going to tell us if there's elevated molds of concern inside your home. Mold needs three things. It needs a food source, which is dust. It needs water and time.

Remember, mold is not the cause. Mold's a symptom. You have to also identify the probable cause. And the probable causes can be leaks in the duct work, elevated moisture from a water event. It could be improper filtration at your AC handler. The duct work is the number one spot I find mold because the conditions are always perfect there. Pat Vall asks, "How bad is mold really?" Well, it comes down to the occupant. elderly, children, or anyone with an immune deficiency are most susceptible to mold. In addition to allergies and irritation, you can experience brain fog, inflammatory lung condition, short-term memory loss, increased anxiety, and depression are

also linked to mold. So, the most well-known mold would be black mold that is stacky. And that's usually never discovered in AC duct work. I always find clatosis and penicyium aspiggillis in the duct work. Those are the most common. black mold or stackibbotus is usually found on backs of drywall that have been soaking for a good time and it's identified very easily by the black mold. They all have been known to cause issues even penicellium aspiggillis. Some people have lost some of their lungs from that mold and that's a common one that I find in duct work. No blood 1055 asks, "How do you tell the difference between house settling and structural failure?" House settling is

where the weight of the house is pressing on the whole entire footprint and some areas might be weaker than others and that's where you get a differential and that's usually when a crack will occur. The rule of thumb is if you can fit a dime into the crack that could suggest there's a structural issue. When we're talking about structural failure, the location of the crack is key, especially on load paths. Load path should carry straight down to the foundation and then into the ground. If the cracks originate in those areas, that's when red flags go up. If the crack is offset, that's also a red flag.

Other areas that are more benign would be underneath a window. The load is carried by the lintil and then the columns on each side. So underneath the window, there is no load occurring. If you have a crack there, it's probably just a shrinkage crack. It could be patched and there should be no issue. I am big time asks, "Found this during a home inspection. What is it?" Well, it looks to me to be a hornness nest. I would definitely proceed with caution. You want to not only remove it, but block its entry point. Good Noodle 72 asks, "Is radon testing necessary when buying a home?" According to the EPA, radon gas is the second leading cause of lung cancer. One in 15 homes have

elevated levels of radon gas in them. The only way to know is to order the test, and they're not that expensive. They sort of run a couple hundred. Radon is a radioactive gas that comes from the Earth. It's coming out all around us. What we don't want to do is trap it in our living environment. That's where it becomes dangerous. Often time people think that radon because it's coming from the ground that it's usually affecting buildings or homes that are

built on the ground. However, it can also leech from building materials. So radon can be remediated. It usually costs about $2,500. So it's pretty reasonable for the average size home. They create negative pressure under the house. So they take the gases before it can get into your home and accumulate. Okay. Purchase 1592. What's the dumbest home maintenance DIY you've ever made or have seen? There are many that comes to mind, but one in particular, a homeowner actually took a Florida license plate and repaired their recess light with it.

That's right. In the attic side, I actually saw the state of Florida seal from an open can light. While that might qualify technically as licensed electrical work, it's unsafe. Another one I've seen is a 2x4 jacking up breakers inside of an electrical panel. naive ad 7343 asks, "How do carbon monoxide leaks occur in homes?" Well, they can occur in several different ways. From leaking gas pipes, damaged appliances, or incomplete combustion. Another often overlooked source of carbon poisoning is actually a garage mounted AC handler. These handlers typically draw in garage air. And as you drive in and out of your garage, over time, you can build up carbon monoxide

in your house. And that's why it's important for all homes to have carbon monoxide detectors. So, if you have an a garage mounted AC handler, it's very important that you get a smoke test done by an AC company and have them seal off all ports to help prevent any ingestion into your home of carbon monoxide. Ironies for suckers asks, "How do you figure out where rodents are coming into the house? Look for smudge marks. Rodents typically leave traces behind them. You can walk around the perimeter of your home. They can squeeze into really tight areas. They'll get in under behind siding. They'll get into rooftop vents. You'll see cages on vents. That's

one sign that you had a rodent problem. Another raceway for rodents to get into your home is your AC handler line set chase. The pipes, the gases that are coming from your condenser unit on the outside going into your home. They typically go through a chase. You need to block that up because that's an access point for rodents. Rodents carry diseases such as hentivirus and they can also chew up your wiring, duct work, and plumbing. Nobody's business. 11. Is water testing for public water supply during a home inspection recommended? While water testing is probably the least ordered inspection, I would recommend doing it cuz it's the only way you're going to find out if you have

heavy metals or bacteria in your water. A common cause for bacteria getting into your water supply is a water main break. Typically, your municipality will inform you that there might be a water boil in effect. Having filtration on your home will also help protect you against such cases in the event that you're unaware of any water main break. Personally, we have a whole home water filtration system and a reverse osmosis at the sink that ensures that no matter what the quality of water is coming to our home that we are drinking clean water. So, those are all the questions for today.

Thanks for watching.