Home Inspection Blog

Being a home inspector in the Midwest means Mother Nature is basically your co-worker. And she has a strange sense of humor. One week it's 95 degrees with enough humidity to swim through the air. The next week Canadian wildfire smoke has the sky looking like Mars. Then comes a thunderstorm that dumps an inch of rain in twenty minutes. Fast forward a few months...

As a home inspector with Midwest Inspect, I've seen what happens when a great cookout turns into an expensive insurance claim. So before you light the grill, spark up the smoker, or declare yourself Captain of the Backyard BBQ Brigade, here are a few tips to help keep your celebration safe—and stress-free.

I Appreciate the Effort, But Please Don't Do This to Your House Tales of DIY Disasters: Exploring the Top 10 DIY Home Repairs Gone Wrong. As a home inspector with Midwest Inspect, I want to start by saying something important: I love DIY projects. Some homeowners are incredibly talented. I've seen beautiful decks, impressive renovations, custom woodworking, and repairs that rival professional craftsmanship. And then... I've seen the other stuff. The repairs that make me stop,

House flipping can be a beautiful thing. A neglected property gets a second chance. An outdated home gets modernized. An ugly duckling becomes the nicest house on the block. I've inspected some fantastic flips over the years. But I've also inspected some homes that appeared to be renovated by a group of caffeinated squirrels armed with YouTube tutorials and unlimited confidence. The challenge for buyers is this: Some flips are professionally done. Some are cosmetically done.

People often assume home inspectors spend their days looking at roofs, furnaces, and electrical panels. And they're right. Mostly. But what many people don't realize is that every house tells a story. Sometimes those stories are funny. Sometimes they're bizarre. Sometimes they're downright unbelievable. And occasionally... They're surprisingly emotional. After hundreds of inspections throughout Illinois, I've seen a little bit of everything. Here are ten of the strangest thin

The Questions Homeowners Google at 10:37 PM Every home inspector knows the look. A homeowner points at something in their house and asks: "Is that normal?" Sometimes the answer is: "Absolutely." Other times the answer is: "Well... let's talk about that." As a home inspector with Midwest Inspect, I hear the same questions over and over again. And honestly, they're good questions. Homes make noises. Things crack. Things settle. Things leak. And Google isn't always helpful. So l

Contrary to popular belief, home inspections aren't a game show where the house either wins a new car or gets voted off the island. There is no giant stamp that says: PASS or FAIL In fact, home inspections don't work that way at all. As a home inspector with Midwest Inspect, my job isn't to pass or fail a home. My job is to provide information. Think of me less as a judge and more as a translator. The house is trying to tell you something.