Providing Reliable Home Inspection Services to the Louisville Metro area for more than 30 years
Home Inspections Inc. has been providing comprehensive home inspections to the Louisville, Kentucky area, including Southern Indiana, for more than 30 years. Ken Osborne, owner and certified home inspector, provides thorough, unbiased, honest and professional inspections. His inspections empower the buyer to know exactly what condition the house is in before they buy it. Which often leads to price negotiations.
A home is probably the largest investment you will ever make. You should know exactly what to expect before you purchase the home of your dreams, in terms of repairs, replacements and maintenance. That is why hiring a certified, licensed and unbiased home inspector is so important.
A home inspector is hired to do a thorough visual and physical examination of all the components of a home. This includes the structure, foundation, heating and cooling system, roof, and everything in between.
A home inspectors' job is to represent their client and no one else. A home inspector is there to inform you on the current condition of your prospective home. They examine the entire house and deliver a report to the client containing all the information, good and bad. The report will then empower you to make the best decision on purchasing the home of your dreams and even negotiating the price.
If you're in the process of purchasing a new or existing home, don't be fooled by the cheap, low-price home inspectors around town. Hire Home Inspections Inc. We have been doing it right for more than 30 years. Choose the right home inspector and empower yourself to know all about the house of your dreams before you purchase it.
Contact us at phone # 502-551-8390 to schedule your home inspection or click on the button below.
Home Inspectors & Conflicts Of Interest
(The opinions and views expressed on this page do not represent the views of all home inspectors. These comments are based on personal experience, feedback from clients, conversations with home inspectors, attorneys and real estate agents and written correspondence from a former State Representative.)
What’s Wrong With Real Estate Agents Recommending Home Inspectors To Prospective Home Buyers?
Most real estate agencies work on an average commission of 5% paid by the seller of the property. A house selling for $350,000 has a potential commission of $17,500. (FYI, real estate commissions are negotiable.) Sometimes a selling agent will recommend particular home inspectors to a prospective buyer, sometimes a list of three is given out. How did these inspectors “qualify” to get on the “approved” list? Is the agent recommending a thorough non-bias inspector or is the agent recommending someone who will help protect the potential $17,500 commission?
Do prospective home buyers have the right to use an inspector of their own choosing?
If a real estate agent tells you that you cannot use an inspector of your choosing, or insists that you use one of their “recommended” or “approved” inspectors, you should contact your attorney. A real estate agent who tries to get you to use an inspector of the agent’s choice is trying to control the home inspector selection process. Prospective home buyers must keep in mind that real estate agents who receive a commission from the property seller, are working in the best interest of their client, (the seller.) As the prospective home buyer, you are a customer of the agent, not a client. As the prospective home buyer, the inspector you’re paying for should be working in your best interest.
Indoor Air Quality - Common Pollutants & Tips for Safer Spaces
Indoor air pollutants can cause health problems ranging from allergies to asthma, and many pollutants are hard to detect. Fortunately, you can take several steps to eliminate sources of indoor air pollution or reduce their effects.
When you think about air pollution, you probably think about the air you breathe when you’re outside. But because we spend 90 percent of our time indoors — and indoor contaminants are usually more highly concentrated — it’s actually indoor air quality that more often affects us.
In fact, a growing body of research indicates that the air inside homes and office buildings is often dirtier than the air in some of the largest and most industrialized cities in the world, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. In other words, indoor air quality is an important environmental health issue.
Click here for more information on Air Quality from ConsumerNotice.org
House hunters, be wary: 7 seemingly small flaws may point to a money pit
When Annemarie Kill and her husband, John Duffy, bought their first house in Chicago’s Galewood neighborhood in 2003, the duo knew it needed some cosmetic work — in fact, they were excited to redo the bathrooms and kitchen to make the home their own.
Little did they realize that the back of the house had been sinking for the last 75 years, and they would spend hundreds of thousands on unexpected construction. Their inspector hadn’t uncovered the rotting wood posts supporting the back of the house; the couple had no idea they’d eventually have to pour in new concrete to fix the issue, or that they’d have to replace the posts and jack up the back of the house a bit each week, causing the new windows and tile floors they’d installed to crack.
So when Kill and Duffy — along with their two children, now 11 and 14 — were house hunting in Oak Park in 2014, Kill said, they were determined not to land another money pit.
Read More of this article from Chicago Tribune
Home Inspection Focus Areas
For some families, the dream of homeownership can turn into a nightmare when they find out their new home is in serious disrepair. A home inspection by Ken Osborne, an experienced, licensed professional home inspector, can help save you from having to pay thousands of dollars in repairs after buying your home.
Electrical
If we find something off with the home’s electrical system, an electrician can be called in to help. Maybe the electrical box is so old that it does not comply with city code. An electrician can recommend brands to replace the box and tell you how much it will cost.
Seasonal Home Maintenance
Your home is an investment that requires ongoing maintenance to stay in tiptop shape. If you neglect annual and quarterly tasks, you risk overlooking potential issues that could lead to expensive repairs down the road. Stay on top of preventive maintenance tasks with this seasonal checklist.
Winter - To prevent pipes from bursting, drain and insulate exposed outdoor pipes and leave the water dripping inside on cold nights. Also check your boiler's water level every now and again to make sure it doesn't get too low.
Spring - Winter can leave a layer of grit on your home's exterior. Get it ready for spring by cleaning windows, doors and siding with a garden hose or power washer. And while the weather is mild, have your HVAC systems serviced by a professional to keep them running at optimal efficiency.
How Insulation Works in Your Home
To understand how insulation works it helps to understand heat flow, which involves three basic mechanisms -- conduction, convection, and radiation. Conduction is the way heat moves through materials, such as when a spoon placed in a hot cup of coffee conducts heat through its handle to your hand. Convection is the way heat circulates through liquids and gases, and is why lighter, warmer air rises, and cooler, denser air sinks in your home. Radiant heat travels in a straight line and heats anything solid in its path that absorbs its energy.
Most common insulation materials work by slowing conductive heat flow and--to a lesser extent--convective heat flow. Radiant barriers and reflective insulation systems work by reducing radiant heat gain. To be effective, the reflective surface must face an air space.
Top Home Inspector believes Job is Essential
Published by The Columbus Dispatch
As America’s chief home inspector, Tim Buell wants consumers to understand one thing: Inspectors aren’t clairvoyant.
“People think we should find things that are hidden, but that’s not what we do,” said Buell, a 68-year-old retired home inspector in Marysville, Ohio.
As the new president of the 8,000-member American Society of Home Inspectors, Buell’s job is to explain what inspectors do and what they don’t do.
In today’s world, that’s not always easy. As homes and technology have changed, so too has the role of home inspectors.
Much of what home inspectors have traditionally done is right before our eyes — checking framing, foundations and roofs, for example. But many of today’s biggest concerns about homes are less obvious. Radon and mold in particular have become huge worries for homebuyers.
Common Mistakes Buyers Shouldn't Make During a Home Inspection
The home inspection is one of the most crucial steps for buying a home, and it shouldn't be overlooked or rushed. In fact, the inspection process has the potential to be just as nerve-racking for the buyer as it is for the seller. What if you've fallen in love with a beautiful home that has major problems lurking beneath the surface?
That's why it's extremely important to pay attention during this process, and take steps to avoid common pitfalls. How can you possibly screw it up? We're here to tell you.
Stay clear of these mistakes when you get an inspection on your dream home.
Read more: Common Mistakes Buyers Shouldn't Make During a Home Inspection
Frost in Your Attic? What you should know.
With the cold spell this January here in southern Indiana some homeowners may be seeing frost inside their attic. The best way to prevent frost from accumulating in an attic is to seal off attic air leaks. Small air leaks may not seem to be important, these can add up to a lot of frost accumulation in the attic. It's important to seal all attic air leaks; not just the big ones. Once every little air leak has been perfectly sealed, the attic will be frost free. The only problem with doing all of this air sealing is that the air leaks are located underneath the attic insulation, and it can be very difficult to find every air leak without completely removing the attic insulation. For this reason, it's nice to start with the easier stuff first.