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...

Nobody wakes up on a Saturday morning hoping to spend $25,000 on their house. Unfortunately... Houses don't always ask for permission. As a home inspector with Midwest Inspect, I inspect homes every day throughout Illinois. While most inspection reports include maintenance items and smaller repairs, every now and then I come across defects that make everyone standing nearby quietly say: "...Well, that's going to be expensive."

As a home inspector with Midwest Inspect, summer is one of my favorite seasons. Homeowners are finally outside again, tackling projects that have been on the "I'll get to it next weekend" list since April. It's also the season when small maintenance issues can become expensive repairs if they're ignored. And for realtors and homeowners alike, this is the season where proactive maintenance can make or break a deal—or protect thousands of dollars in equity.

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,

As a home inspector with Midwest Inspect, the first 60 seconds often tell me a surprising amount about a property. Now before homeowners panic...This isn't about judging. I'm not grading landscaping choices. I'm not criticizing lawn ornaments. And I'm definitely not reporting your inflatable Christmas decorations still standing in June. But homes leave clues. Lots of clues. And many of them are visible before I ever step foot inside. Let's take a walk from the street to the f

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

Are Houses Actually Being Built Out of Cardboard? If you've walked through a new construction home lately, you've probably heard someone say: "They don't build them like they used to."Usually followed by: "This place feels like it's made out of cardboard." As a home inspector, I hear this all the time. And after crawling through hundreds of attics, squeezing into thousands of crawlspaces, and spending more time staring at framing lumber than any normal person should, I can te

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.