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Look before you jump A professional home inspection by a qualified and registered home inspector can help you separate the NEEDS from the WANTS. If you are considering the prospects of undertaking a renovation project, you may wish to also consider having a professional home inspection conducted. It may seem a little strange or counter intuitive to have your home inspected before you do a renovation,...

Serious structural problems are a considerable undertaking and a substancial expense. Some can’t be fixed at all. Here are a few of the common indicators. Uneven Floors Leaning House Uneven floors are typical, particularly in older homes. Here is a trick to help distinguish between a typical home with character and a structural problem.Floor sags to the middle of the home is fairly common in...

As home inspectors, we need to approximate the age of the homes we inspect.  We have a variety of techniques that can assist us in attempting to make this determination. For example, in newer subdivisions dates from manhole covers are stamped with the year the infrastructure was installed.  Sometimes the year is also stamped onto sidewalks, and curbs. Another method is to look at the windows of the...

CARBON MONOXIDE Every home inspection that is conducted is looking for clues that may indicate possible Carbon Monoxide  (CO) issues.  CO  is a colorless, odorless, tasteless gas that can be derived from multiple sources in a typical Toronto home.  It can have a very serious impact on human health  found in high concentrations in confined spaces. Some of the items that contribute  to CO in home may...

What does Heating Efficiency really mean? When conducting home inspections, we examine a variety of heating systems in the Toronto area.  By far the most common are the forces air gas systems, which vary from conventional, mid efficiency, and high efficiency.  You may have heard the term high efficiency heating systems but what does that really mean and what are the major items that contribute to?  It...