If you live in South Louisiana, chances are your home has a crawlspace. While crawlspaces can be convenient for accessing utilities and storage, they also come with their fair share of problems. One of the most common issues with crawlspaces is humidity, which can lead to mold growth, structural damage, and poor indoor air quality.…

Water management at the exterior of homes is critical.  Most people know this and I probably sound like a blow-hard when I keep repeating the same message… but too bad.  The message bears repeating over and over. My latest beef with home builders is poor water management at the exterior of homes, which is mostly…

Fiberglass batts are a poor choice of insulation for most applications, yet this still seems to be the insulation of choice for most handy homeowners.  I’m been complaining about fiberglass batts for a while now, and for good reason. Fiberglass batts are more expensive.  I stopped by the Maple Grove Home Depot and compared the…

The problem I’m addressing today is double tapped neutral lugs in electric panels.  A ‘double tapped neutral’ is a slang term for saying that one of the screws on the neutral bus bar in the panelboard has more than one neutral wire feeding to it.  This is a no-no, and has been for a long…

One of the most common home inspection concerns for home buyers is ceiling stains. While it’s not always possible to determine exactly what caused a ceiling stain, the location of the stain will often give away what caused the stain.  For example, the photos below show an improperly flashed chimney at a home in Saint…

Your home is built out of a few different materials. Some of the most common components are siding, shingles, and wood. These things work together to keep you safe from the elements and wild creatures that might want to contest your living areas. We are here today to talk about one local pest compromising the…

Dear Home Seller, I’ll be doing a home inspection at your house in the near future. I’ll be going through your house from top-to-bottom for the new home buyer(s) to help make sure that your home is as great as the buyers think it is. I’ll surely have several recommendations for maintenance and safety upgrades,…

If your home has a wood chimney chase with wood lap siding, you need to pay special attention to it.  There are a disproportionate number of wood chimneys with rotted siding and wall sheathing, when compared to other types of siding and other locations.  I regularly inspect houses with wood chimney chases that have major…

When should the ground and neutral wires be separated at a subpanel? It depends. First, what’s a subpanel? In my words, a subpanel is an electrical panel wired downstream from the Service Equipment, which is more commonly known as the main panel. Next, what’ the deal with connecting grounds and neutrals together? In my words,…

Air sealing and adding insulation to an existing house could have negative impacts on both the occupants and the house. Wait…adding insulation is supposed to be a good thing, right? If done properly, yes. Houses are complex systems. There are many interactive components that impact the way a house performs and regulates heat, air, and…