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...
by Ensure Home Inspection San Antonio | May 6, 2020 | Home Inspection
Yes, you do need a license to be a home inspector in San Antonio, New Braunfels, or any other part of Texas. In fact, you need a license to be a home inspector in 40 out of 50 states in the US! What Are the Licensing Requirements for Home Inspectors in Texas? First,...
by Ensure Home Inspection San Antonio | Mar 21, 2020 | Home Inspection
What Is Chinese Drywall? What the heck is “Chinese Drywall” though, and why is it special? Well, from about 2001 to 2009, the US imported ultra-cheap drywall from mainland China to be used in home throughout 20 different states. This drywall, in typical...
by Ensure Home Inspection San Antonio | Mar 15, 2020 | Home Inspection
(Inspector’s Note: If you live in San Antonio, New Braunfels, or any other part of Texas, then your home inspector is required to be licensed by the Texas Real Estate Commission and the home inspection they perform is basically a more elaborate version of the...
by Ensure Home Inspection San Antonio | Mar 7, 2020 | Home Inspection
Typically, a home inspection fee is not a deductible expense for the average homebuyer. There are a few instances where a home inspection cost would be deductible though: Your Home Inspection fee may be deductible if you are purchasing the home as a rental property or...
by Ensure Home Inspection San Antonio | Mar 4, 2020 | Home Inspection
“What do you think of this house? Should I buy it? Did it pass?” Inspectors at Ensure Home Inspections don’t answer any of these questions. I want you to read the report. There is no “pass” or “fail” when it comes to a Home...
by Ensure Home Inspection San Antonio | Mar 4, 2020 | Home Inspection
Usually when I arrive to a unoccupied house for a home inspection, especially if I’m in one of the shadier-parts of the San Antonio area, I like to lock the door behind me. That way, I know exactly who is coming in or out of the home, as I feel that it’s...
by Ensure Home Inspection San Antonio | Mar 4, 2020 | Home Inspection
In some parts of the country (not San Antonio), inspectors are allowed to perform a much quicker, simpler inspection known as the “four-point” inspection. The 4-point inspection is known as such because it only focuses on: The Roof The Air-Conditioning...
by Ensure Home Inspection San Antonio | Feb 10, 2020 | Home Inspection
Due to the nature of the home inspector’s work, we tend to crawl and climb through a lot of small, dark, and otherwise uncomfortable places. In the course of this work, it’s not uncommon for us to come across critters, or more commonly the evidence of...
by Ensure Home Inspection San Antonio | Feb 10, 2020 | Home Inspection
Yes, all Inspectors at Ensure Home Inspections are licensed with the Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA) as Termite Technicians and are allowed to perform Wood-Destroying Insect (WDI) inspections, but most home inspectors in San Antonio and Texas at large are not....
by Ensure Home Inspection San Antonio | Feb 9, 2020 | Home Inspection
What is Low-Voltage Wiring? Low-voltage wiring is wiring that is about 50 volts or less and includes systems such as that from audio systems, coaxial cable for television, Cat-V cable for internet and sometimes home security systems. Are Audio Systems and Phone...
by Ensure Home Inspection San Antonio | Feb 9, 2020 | Home Inspection
Water softeners are a pretty common item to run into during the course of a home inspection. In fact, in places with hard water such as the San Antonio and New Braunfels area, most new homes tend to be built with the plumbing for a water softener readily accessible....
by Ensure Home Inspection San Antonio | Feb 9, 2020 | Home Inspection
As more and more homeowners opt into photovoltaic energy generation, or solar panels, its becoming more and more common for home inspectors to run into the panels and the associated electrical equipment during the course of a home inspection. I don’t know...
by Ensure Home Inspection San Antonio | Feb 8, 2020 | Home Inspection
“Mobile” homes, or more accurately “manufactured” homes, are regulated by The Office of Manufactured Housing, a part of the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Standards and regulations for mobile homes are dictated by the National...
by Ensure Home Inspection San Antonio | Feb 8, 2020 | Home Inspection
Because San Antonio has such a vast military presence (Fort Sam Houston, Randolf Airbase, Lackland Airbase, the former Kelly Airbase, etc.), we get a lot of inquiries and bookings from clients purchasing a home with a VA Loan. I would estimate that a 5th of all...
by Ensure Home Inspection San Antonio | Feb 8, 2020 | Home Inspection
When gathering up information required to schedule an inspection, I often ask if the client is working with a realtor, and if so, would they like me to forward a copy of the report to their realtor? Most of the time, the answer is something to the effect of...
by Ensure Home Inspection San Antonio | Feb 8, 2020 | Home Inspection
While uncommon, once in a while we will be asked if the home inspection can be included in the closing costs, or if we can wait to bill for the inspection until closing. We at Ensure Home Inspections don’t do this, although we do understand that some home...
by Ensure Home Inspection San Antonio | Feb 8, 2020 | Home Inspection
Private home inspectors have no power to condemn a house, while municipal building inspectors and especially fire marshals have a lot of power in regards to building authorities, to the point that they can “red-tag” a building to halt all construction...
by Ensure Home Inspection San Antonio | Feb 8, 2020 | Home Inspection
Lead has been used in paint products and coatings as a pigment and drying agent since the 4th century BC. Despite being banned in the US and Canada since the late 70’s, lead is still used in some paints manufactured in other countries because of the qualities it...
by Ensure Home Inspection San Antonio | Feb 8, 2020 | Home Inspection
Home Inspectors in Texas are not required to report on the presence or possible presence of Asbestos. The reason for this is that, much like inspecting, testing, consulting, and/or remediating for lead-based paint or mold, Asbestos-related trades are regulated by the...
by Ensure Home Inspection San Antonio | Feb 8, 2020 | Home Inspection
No, at least not in Texas. “Mold” is a bit of a bad-word in the inspections industry; I specifically forbid myself from using it when advising with clients and instead prefer the much less scary “organic-substances” phrase. In Texas, the Texas...
by Ensure Home Inspection San Antonio | Feb 8, 2020 | Home Inspection
Are Appliances Included in a Home Inspection? Absolutely, however we don’t inspect all appliances. Let me explain: If you were to take a house and flip it upside-down, most of the appliances that would fall out of the house; i.e. non-permanent fixtures,...
by Ensure Home Inspection San Antonio | Nov 1, 2019 | Home Inspection
What Are The Five Most Common Problems or Deficiencies That I Find As A Home Inspector? I like the saying “learn something new every day”, and I try to think of every job as a learning experience. To a home inspector, this often means seeing something you’ve...
