The more I use my infrared camera, the more problems I find and the bigger the benefit for everyone concerned. I have discovered it is not a perfect tool, but it is a great aid in detecting some problems. I currently use it mainly for moisture intrusion problems. Typically any home I suspect has a water problem, I will take my camera out of the car and use it. Between my infrared camera, moisture meter, and experience of inspecting thousands of homes, I get a little more comf

Some people don’t seem to understand the reasoning behind flashing. It’s a must to properly flash or you can / will end up with water inside the home. At a home inspection in Gulf Shores, Al I found a home made kick out flashing installed which is not keeping water out of the home. Improper kick out flashing This home is a victim of tradesman that either don’t know better or just don’t care #Stucco #waterleaks #flashing #homeinspection #responsiblities

A home inspection today revealed bad news for the home. I’m sure most people are familiar with different types of stucco. For a short time in this area some builders used gypsum board (a form of sheetrock) as the exterior sheathing and installed a stucco finish coat over the outside. Typically this gypsum was used in combination with plywood or OSB board as the structural panels. As you can imagine, when it gets wet, problems arise quickly. This 8 year old property has no evi

At an inspection yesterday all flashing and window sealants looked terrible. I expected to find lots of damage. Though I did get some elevated moisture readings, I probed to find no damage under windows or kick out flashings.Here is a picture of how someone added a kick out flashing. #flashing #kickout #Stucco

While doing a stucco moisture inspection in Gulf Shores, AL the other day they had some interesting kick out flashings. (at least they had them)  They are a home made brand that will hold any and all debris and water from completely draining. These flashings will need to be cleaned out more than the gutters will. I can see debris and salt water / air shouldn’t take long to rust through these. #flashing #kickout #Stucco

There have been some good posts about moisture and stucco. Spring time we always do more stucco inspections than the rest of the year. I’m not sure why, I guess it’s the beautiful Pensacola and Gulf Coast weather and people are getting outside. I would like to show you what I put in every report. “The equipment used is to help locate potential problem areas. It should be understood that the test equipment is not an exact science but rather good tools used as indicators of pot