What you don't want to find in your new home...

These are a few of the problems I have found while inspecting homes over the last few years and the scariest part is that many of the problems that I have found were created when the home was built.

This is the reason I carry a flashlight when listing or showing a house!

I'll start with some obvious roofing and attic problems:

The agent swore this was a 40 year roof and had no problems.

Shingle cracked on the same roof. This was only one of many.

This is the inside view in the attic showing the same roof leaking that the agent swore was a good roof.

This is another roof that has obvious problems that couldn't be seen from ground level.

  I never figured out what caused the scraping of the shingle's surfaces. (Santa's sleigh?) These were really deep gouges.

This home was in a great neighborhood and supposedly had a good builder. Not only were the shingles installed incorrectly (the dark part should not be showing) but the shingles were falling off.

This is the same roof with a plumbing vent installed just under an upstairs window. There are no city code enforcers out of the city limits and chances are they may have missed this anyway. Don't open the window for some fresh air.

This is the same house with the bad shingle installation. Could it have been built on several Old Milwaukee Days?

This is from the inside of the attic of the house with the bad shingle installation. The rafters are cut improperly and the roof could actually be shifting making the shingles come loose.

This is a close up picture of one improperly cut rafter. If you can't get the angle right, just add nails!

Whoops, looks like the patch came off of this roof. Tree limb must have fallen.

This is a new house built in Pleasant Grove West. Can you see the daylight from inside the attic? They also kind of missed the framing when nailing down the decking.

Same new house with drip spot showing in fiberglass insulation.

This is a water spot in the sheetrock ceiling in the garage. One of the bedrooms had a large caved in area.

This is a tarp covering the roof while repairs are made. You can also see the gap in the fascia board on the right side of the porch.

This shows the opening on the left side of the porch. Soffit and facia boards both have gaps.

If the flashing around the chimney doesn't go under the shingles like it is supposed to do, just add tar sealant.

Now if you don't have a rain cap and a spark arrestor, just add a piece of metal and some bricks to keep the water out. I hope the new home buyers don't want to start a fire in the fireplace.

Now for some electrical problems. I have found problems like these even in new homes, especially if built outside the city limits. 

Don't worry about the wasp nest, the incoming power lines to this sub-panel is double tapped with copper lines going to a circuit that has no breaker at all. Mixing two metals together at the same terminal is also a hazard. 

This panel has several double tapped breakers and the buss bar is also double tapped mixing ground wires with neutral wires.

The weatherhead shown here is supposed to have a drip loop for all wires. One wire is turned up allowing water to flow through the weatherhead and into the electric service panel.

This breaker box not only has several double tapped breakers, the fourth one from the bottom is tripple tapped.

Besides the inadequate insulation, notice the wires coming out of the junction boxes. Junction boxes are supposed to be covered to protect the wiring. I notice they have lots of rat poison around to do that.

This is another example of what I call spaghetti wire coming out of a junction box. I reported this and the real estate agent that sold the house said they found another inspector that didn't find anything wrong with the house. It also had major drainage problems as well.

The taped extension cord for this ceiling fan went through the wall and into the kitchen to a wall plug.

Just a little frayed wiring underneath a pier and beam home. Oh, and the outdated plumbing trap is leaking near the frayed wires.

Just a few frayed wires in the attic with some taped up splices. All spliced wires should be enclosed in a junction box.

 I hope they don't have any kids that live in this home.

More to come soon!