Discover Home Inspections

12/29/2025

Polybutylene can be bad. Plastic fittings are WORSE.

​Most people know to look out for grey Polybutylene (PB) pipes. These systems used either copper or plastic fittings.
​The plastic fittings (like the one I'm pointing to here) are notorious for cracking and failing from the inside out. They are so prone to failure that I almost never see them anymore, even though I see PB piping with metal fittings on many 80s and 90s homes.
​I found two of these rare plastic fittings at this inspection in a very difficult-to-access area of the crawlspace. Unsurprisingly, both were leaking.
​This is why experience matters, to find what others miss.

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12/26/2025

I Discovered A Really Crappy Situation

This 11 month warranty inspection, 2024 build, had a critical plumbing failure. The main waste line from the house was installed to discharge directly into the pump tank, completely bypassing the septic tank which is why the photos of the tank are so clean and practically empty. For the entire first year of occupancy, raw solids and unprocessed effluent were pumped directly into the drain field.
​Drain fields are not designed to handle solids. This has likely damaged the pump but the real issue is the failure inducing damage done to the drain field.

​Never assume a new home was built correctly!

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12/17/2025

How to rot a new house in one easy step:
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Crawlspace encapsulation is great for a home, but only if you finish the system.
​I found this in a new construction home listed at $1.3 million. The crawlspace was fully sealed with spray foam, but the builder failed to install a dehumidifier or a supply air register. Without a way to remove moisture, the trapped humidity had nowhere to go.

The result?

​Widespread fungal growth and ​active wood decay with sky-high moisture meter readings. ​Building a sealed envelope without moisture management is just building an organic growth incubator.

Please don't let a builder tell you that getting an inspection on your new home is a waste of money!
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05/20/2024

This is why a thermal camera is used at EVERY Home Inspection. The area above this primary bedroom was not accessible in the attic so this would not have been found otherwise. Also, it was only 79° outside at the time so it would have been a much larger temperature differential in the middle of the summer or winter.

02/06/2024

This destroyed air duct was under a nice, fairly well maintained home. This one Discovery likely covered the cost of the inspection, not to mention all the other Discoveries made.

01/27/2024

Triggered!

01/14/2024

Does anything in this photo STICK out to you

01/06/2024

Get your free Radon test from NC during the month of January! (Radon Action Month) Seriously, it's free! To the Real Estate Agents out there, if you haven't heard anything from your favorite Home Inspector about this, maybe it's time to shop around...
Link to the NC site below.

North Carolina Radon Program NC Governor Roy Cooper Proclamation Governor Roy Cooper proclaims January 2024 as Radon Action Month to raise the public’s awareness of radon, promote testing and mitigation for radon, and reduce the risk of lung cancer from radon. Read the Press Release by clicking he...

10/18/2023

Had to take a picture of this beauty at our hotel while visiting Wilmington.

09/14/2023

Make sure your Home Inspector is going to do more than look at your roof and chimney from the ground. Could have been a bad day for my client when they used the fireplace for the first time (because of the bricks capping it) if they went with a home inspector that doesn't go beyond the NC standards of practice.

08/11/2023

Today's inspection was originally built in 1830!!!

07/12/2023

Gonna be Licensed to do Septic Inspections soon! No more subbing out.