by Ensure Home Inspection San Antonio | Jul 20, 2023 | Home Inspection
What You Need to Know About Copper-Clad Aluminum Wiring What is Copper-Clad Aluminum Wiring? Copper-clad aluminum (CCA) wiring is a type of electrical conductor that combines the properties of both copper and aluminum. It is created by bonding a thin layer of...
by Ensure Home Inspection San Antonio | May 6, 2023 | Home Inspection
What is an Air Addmittance Valve (also known as a Studor Vent)? An air admittance valve (AAV) is a mechanical device that is used to allow air to enter the drainage system of a building when other options will not work. It is a one-way valve that allows air to enter...
by Ensure Home Inspection San Antonio | May 5, 2023 | Home Inspection
What is an Electrical Disconnect? An electrical disconnect is a device that is used to disconnect power from an electrical circuit. It is also referred to as a disconnect switch, isolator switch, or simply a disconnect. The purpose of an electrical disconnect is to...
by Ensure Home Inspection San Antonio | May 4, 2023 | Home Inspection
What Is Wiremolding? Wiremolding is a type of cable management system that is used to conceal and protect electrical wires and cables. The technical / code name for this product is a “surface metal raceway” and raceway is a more technical term used...
by Ensure Home Inspection San Antonio | Apr 30, 2023 | Home Inspection
San Antonio Home Inspector Explains R-22 Refrigerant What is R-22 Refrigerant? R22 is a hydrochlorofluorocarbon (HCFC) refrigerant used in air conditioning and refrigeration systems. It has been widely used since the 1950s due to its good thermal...
by Ensure Home Inspection San Antonio | Apr 30, 2023 | Home Inspection
(Almost) Everything You Need to Know About Asbestos: What is Asbestos? Asbestos is a naturally occurring mineral that is found in rock formations all around the world. It is typically mined from underground deposits, and the largest deposits are found in...
by Ensure Home Inspection San Antonio | Apr 25, 2023 | Home Inspection
What are Insulation-Contact-Rated Recessed Light Fixtures? When installing recessed lighting in your home’s ceiling during a remodel, it’s important to identify what kind of light fixtures you need to have installed and to be able to make sure the...
by Ensure Home Inspection San Antonio | Aug 23, 2022 | Home Inspection
Operating a Combustible Gas Detector to Check for Natural Gas / Propane Leaks During a Home Inspection Natural gas is piped to probably only 50% or fewer of the homes in the San Antonio, Texas area, but I will commonly hear of concerns about gas leaks...
by Ensure Home Inspection San Antonio | Aug 10, 2022 | Home Inspection
Arc-Fault Circuit Interrupters: Protecting Property and Reducing Fire Risk Are you reading a home inspection report and finding out your home does not have AFCI protection? How big of a deal is this and how much is it going to cost to repair? Read on for more...
by Ensure Home Inspection San Antonio | Mar 18, 2022 | Home Inspection
Dishwasher High Drain Loops / Air-Gaps Dishwashers, if present, are a permanent fixture that will get inspected and tested in a standard Texas home inspection. What I’ve found to be the most prevalent defciency with dishwashers doesn’t actually have...
by Ensure Home Inspection San Antonio | Mar 18, 2022 | Home Inspection
What is a Sediment Trap? Why is a Sediment Trap Required? Sediment traps, commonly referred to as “drip legs” by tradespeople, are manually constructed fittings installed in a gas line that “trap” debris that may be floating or pushed through...
by Ensure Home Inspection San Antonio | Mar 15, 2022 | Home Inspection
Do your bathroom electrical receptacles no longer work? Did they used to work previously? Then one day, something happened and now you plug in your hair dryer or electric shaver or charge your cordless toothbrush and NOTHING! I may have a solution! If your home was...
by Ensure Home Inspection San Antonio | Mar 15, 2022 | Home Inspection
As a Texas Department of Agriculture licensed WDI Inspector, I perform a wood-destroying insect inspection on about every other home I inspect in the San Antonio area. The most common threat to a structure is subterranean termites; small little insects who build...
by Ensure Home Inspection San Antonio | Mar 4, 2022 | Home Inspection
Yes, the flexible accordian-style sink drains / waste pipe are sold at the local hardware stores. That doesn’t mean that they are a good idea to install under your bathroom sink. Why are accordian drain lines bad? The quick answer is that they have a tendency to...
by Ensure Home Inspection San Antonio | Mar 3, 2022 | Home Inspection
Ionization smoke detectors / alarms were first invented in the early 1950’s and became commerically available for low-cost household use in the mid 1970’s. Since their widespread adoption into residential use, they have saved countless lives and provided...
by Ensure Home Inspection San Antonio | Feb 27, 2022 | Home Inspection
Ground-Fault-Circuit-Interrupter (GFCI) devices were first invented in the 1950’s with the first commercially available devices being produced in the 1960’s. By 1972 GFCIs began to be installed at bathroom and garage receptacle circuits, the first places...
by Ensure Home Inspection San Antonio | Jan 20, 2022 | Home Inspection
Recently I was performing a home inspection in the north-eastern part of San Antonio, very near to the area that I grew up in. Homes in this area were typically constructed in the 70’s and 80’s, and as such, I expect to see a wide variety of home...
by Ensure Home Inspection San Antonio | Sep 22, 2021 | Home Inspection
Although a lot of recent development has been taking place in San Antonio, TX, especially outside Loop 1604, much of the urban core is filled with old to very old homes that contain a host of defective materials installed with deficient and out of date techniques. One...
by Ensure Home Inspection San Antonio | Sep 22, 2021 | Home Inspection
What Are Cast-Iron Drains? Before plastic plumbing such as ABS (Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene) and PVC (Polyvinyl chloride) in the 70’s, cast-iron was a commonly used material for waste drain pipes installed in San Antonio, TX homes. Mankind has experimented...
by Ensure Home Inspection San Antonio | Sep 22, 2021 | Home Inspection
When you live in a hot climate like San Antonio or South Texas, air-conditioning is a big deal. I don’t think I’d live here without it! Air-conditioning was first invented in the 1920’s and involves the compression and evaporation of volatile gases...
by Ensure Home Inspection San Antonio | Sep 22, 2021 | Home Inspection
So you’ve just gone under contract on your new home and your realtor correctly advised you to find a home inspector. You give google a search for “home inspection san antonio” and you get about a dozen pages of results. You’re overwhelmed!...
by Ensure Home Inspection San Antonio | Sep 22, 2021 | Home Inspection
Breaking out the different gizmos and gadgets a home inspector in San Antonio would use is always fun for home owners. Considering the amount of money they are paying for the Home Inspection, most home owners want to see us show up with some specialty inspection...
by Ensure Home Inspection San Antonio | Jun 29, 2021 | Home Inspection
Common Concerns with Older Homes Revealed During a Home Inspection When gathering information from a client about the home they would like inspected, one of the first questions is “how large is the home in square feet?” and “how old is it?”...
by Ensure Home Inspection San Antonio | May 3, 2021 | Home Inspection
I’ve seen several inspectors reporting nails popping on asphalt roof system throughout the years. Take a look at the pictures above. You can see just below one shingle a nail that is working it’s way back out. Why does this happen? There are several different...
by Ensure Home Inspection San Antonio | May 3, 2021 | Home Inspection
Requirements for doors between Dwelling and the Attached Garage Section 305.2.1 of the 2018 International Residential Code provides an exception to the one-hour separation requirement between a dwelling and an attached garage. That exception is for the doorway...
by Ensure Home Inspection San Antonio | May 2, 2021 | Home Inspection
Before using your fireplace this year there are a few things you should do in order to ensure it is safe to do so. We will start at the top and work our way through the fireplace system. Step one. Check The Storm Cap and Spark Arrester. Warning, if you are afraid of...
by Ensure Home Inspection San Antonio | May 2, 2021 | Home Inspection
What are Federal Pacific Electric (Stab-Lok) Panels? Federal Pacific Electric Stab-Lok (FPE Stab-Lok®) panels were commonly installed electrical cabinets from 1950’s until the mid-80s. Before Federal Pacific began manufacturing the Stab-Lok, they made...
by Ensure Home Inspection San Antonio | Nov 16, 2020 | Home Inspection
A Quick Run-Down on Your San Antonio Home’s Foundation: Soil, Movement, Indicators, and Performance Foundations Are One of the “Big Three” The three most common concerns home-buyers have when buying a home in the San Antonio area are the roof, the...
by Ensure Home Inspection San Antonio | May 12, 2020 | Home Inspection
We inspect a lot of homes in San Antonio, and it’s not uncommon to find segments of the electrical wiring that are made of aluminum, especially in the older areas closer to the city center. Aluminum wiring isn’t inherently dangerous by just existing, and...
by Ensure Home Inspection San Antonio | May 8, 2020 | Home Inspection
While home inspectors in San Antonio are running into Polybutylene piping less often than they used to, home owners in Texas need to be aware of PB piping. What is Polybutylene Pipe? Polybutylene is a type of plastic that was utilized widely in the plumbing industry...
