Standing Out in Ohio Podcast
Listen and learn how some stand out from competition and gain market share. Information helpful to agents and buyers. Conversations with professionals and entrepreneurs regarding their stories and what makes their companies and themselves stand out and gain competitive advantages. Listen to stories from Ohio real estate agents and related businesses to help you know how to improve and who to consider using for yourself or friends. Created by the owners of a highly rated home inspection company in Ohio and the Winners of Best Home Inspection Company in the Midwest https://homeinspectionsinohio.com/
Standing Out in Ohio Podcast
Uncovering Hidden Home Hazards: The Importance of Regular Inspections
Ever wondered how a slight mishap in your home could lead to serious health issues? Join Laura, our office goddess, and me as we uncover the surprising connection between a disconnected sump pump pipe and a homeowner's unexplained health problems. This episode promises to enlighten you on the crucial role of thorough home inspections, especially when dealing with recurring symptoms that seem to have no clear source. As we dissect this case, you'll gain insights into how easily hidden issues can persist without detection, often leaving homeowners baffled and frustrated.
But there's more than just uncovering hidden problems; we also stress the importance of regular home maintenance inspections. By drawing parallels with routine car maintenance, we highlight how proactive measures can save you from costly repairs and ensure your home remains a healthy living environment. First-time homebuyers and elderly homeowners, take note: a quarterly moisture maintenance inspection could be your key to peace of mind, particularly during the moisture-laden winter months. Tune in to hear our personal anecdotes and learn how a simple inspection can be the best gift you give to yourself or a loved one.
To learn more about Habitation Investigation, the Two-time Winner of the Best Home Inspection Company in the Midwest Plus the Winner of Consumer Choice Award for Columbus Ohio visit Home Inspection Columbus Ohio - Habitation Investigation (homeinspectionsinohio.com)
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Welcome to the Standing Out in Ohio podcast, where we discuss topics, upcoming events, news and predictions with real estate professionals and entrepreneurs. Listen and learn what makes their companies and themselves stand out and gain advantages over the competition and gain market share. Subscribe for the latest news and discussion on what it takes to stand out from the crowd. Now here's your host, jim.
Speaker 2:Hey everybody, welcome to the Standing Out Loud podcast. This is Jim, and with me is Laura, the office goddess.
Speaker 3:Hello everyone.
Speaker 2:Alright, I learned something today. I learned that I you know where it's going. I'm being made fun of, that's okay. I learned today that a mango is not a citrus fruit, and I don't know why that's so funny. It's a tropical fruit, so I never mind, it doesn't matter, but anyway, I'm wrong. A mango is not a citrus fruit.
Speaker 3:But earlier today. That was so well worth it.
Speaker 2:And I don't get why it's so funny other than it's me being wrong but anyway, today we went to go wait. You know you're going to go do something and you end up doing something else, it ends up being totally something different that you're doing, and this started out going to be indoor air quality testing, voc testing.
Speaker 3:Mold and VOC.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so anyway, it ended up a very good lesson for homeowners.
Speaker 3:Yes, it did.
Speaker 2:But first let's listen to this.
Speaker 4:Habitation investigation is the way to go for a home inspection in Ohio. Trusted licensed home inspectors for your needs. From radon to mold to warranties For a great home inspection, you really can't go wrong. Visit homeinspections in Ohiocom, ohiocom.
Speaker 2:Alright, Laura. So, doing this scenario. The wife was feeling sick or not feeling well for a long time.
Speaker 3:It's about eight months. She's been complaining about this for eight months, april, since April, okay.
Speaker 2:It's now December. Yes, so she whined enough that we finally got a call from the husband.
Speaker 3:The husband who said can you do this?
Speaker 2:and of course I said well, yes we can yeah, and there's so many things that could be. If somebody, if somebody has a weird smell in the house and not feeling good, I mean there's tons of chemical. Is that lifestyle stuff Like those wipes, plug-in type air fresheners, spray air fresheners Is the cleaners they're doing? Do they get new carpet, new furniture? Do they change the detergent for laundry, the softener that they use for the clothes? There's all kinds of things. So you kind of go through a little mini search and rescue, almost to figure out what, to rescue the information out, to find what's going on.
Speaker 3:So we went.
Speaker 2:We went to the house Like, all right, let's bring things out, we bring it. It had nothing to do with upstairs, it was the basement and the first floor, because those were the ones that shared the HVAC system.
Speaker 3:The upstairs was on its own HVAC. Yes, so we go to the basement.
Speaker 2:All right, well, let's go see what's going on there. I brought the thermal imaging. I'm going to see if they've got moisture issues coming in somewhere. And we're looking around. No, no, no new furniture, they're reporting. I hear a weird sound. Laura hears a weird sound. Which. Can you duplicate the sound?
Speaker 3:No, It'd be your best sound. No, because it was like gushing water. I'd have to take a bucket and dump it and it would be what it sounded like I want to hear you try this Anyway.
Speaker 2:So what was it that you?
Speaker 3:found was that their sump pump pipe that comes up and discharges the water in the sump pump was disconnected and it was not discharging outside. It was discharging in their finished basement In the little mechanical room that they had going on there, yeah, the room off the side.
Speaker 2:They had the furnace, the sump pump, a little bit of some paintings. There's some stored items down there Some stored items. So this thing right above the check valve which keeps the water from back and coming out back down that pipe and into the sump pump, it keeps it up and out. So anyway, that thing became disconnected, so it's a squirt of water against the wall the block wall.
Speaker 2:and then it's spraying back Every half minute at this point because it's been squirt of water against the wall the block wall and then it's spraying back every half minute at this point because it's been raining all day yes, which, so he goes crap it's a crap. Yeah, so that's, and I'm. I think I have equipment, I'm coming down. I think I found it you're like wait what? What is it so, anyway? So, and this thing was going for a while, it had to have been well, she started having issues in april.
Speaker 2:she started smelling more like musty smell. She don't really describe it, but anyway, which, I'm thinking, the reason it took so long for it to be well, first of all, they didn't research it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, they didn't know they had and he told me, like he, he does stuff in the medical field. He has no clue how to fix a house. And that's what he told me. He doesn't have time, he doesn't have the mechanical inclination.
Speaker 2:Well, he's working long hours. I'm like I'm tired, right. So anyway, and it may be a sporadic thing as well, it's only gonna do that when it's raining and we've had down there and we've had a drought this year, right so well, it was back in its own separate room.
Speaker 3:So if you're not actually going back there and listening for something during a rainstorm, you're not going to hear it.
Speaker 2:Yes, so seeing that, I was like okay, so water is? It looks like it's a water issue. Really, no need to do a voc test.
Speaker 3:You did do some air testing I did do the air testing to see what all was in the air for them so they could swing.
Speaker 2:So, but after this, this is where we don't really you don't know exactly how the day's going. I end up helping the guy. There was a carpet that was all rolled up and just behind that wall where the water was spewing. He didn't know what to do. So I'm like, alright, let's carry this thing out, let's put my sheet rolled up and get out of here and that'll do it, and then we'll dry it up and the sheet and the little tarp carrying, like keeping the water. Was he let go of it, so I was like all right let's just get it out.
Speaker 2:It makes clean water, relatively clean water. It's just from the salt pump, which is just storm water. So I lugged that thing out. I said get sheets, towels, start soaking up your water. He had a little tiny shot back that didn't suck very well, which means it sucks.
Speaker 4:It sucked in the bad direction.
Speaker 2:I was in the car performing. They just didn't know what to do. So we, while you did the testing, I was playing.
Speaker 3:Handyman and helping him Playing handyman.
Speaker 1:Which is ironic there.
Speaker 2:Well first of all I said where's the ledge panel? So we saw the thing spewing and it was spewing on wires so Well, the sump pump would discharge the water into the base, that little corner shut off and then start back up like five minutes later because the water's not going out.
Speaker 3:It's just running right back into the pit. Oh, it wasn't even five minutes then.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so shut off the panel so we could fix it.
Speaker 3:I told him how to fix it.
Speaker 2:I told him how to fix it. It was an easy fix. I just loosened that hose clamp, put it back, shoved it up inside there tight and then tightened it back down. So we got it. That's working now. But our day was going to be VOC testing or mold testing, or both, or both depending on what we found. It ended up being alright, just mold testing. Jim's going to play Handyman, mold remediator and start ripping out not ripping out carpet, but try to get. I did carry some stuff out of the house to get it dried up and tell them how to dry things with the towels, like in a hotel. If I ever shirt I want to rinse off.
Speaker 2:I wrap them in towel. We're putting towels down. I'm walking on the towel Saturate a lot of towels. Yes, yes, we did. We use that.
Speaker 3:So while you were doing that, I was having a discussion with his wife, who did not know that home inspectors could do maintenance inspections which is bizarre to me.
Speaker 2:These are very nice people. I like them.
Speaker 3:They were nice and you know, because, like one of the things he said was well, most everything on your site has to do with real estate transactions and I do know there's maintenance inspections and stuff like that. But apparently I need to make it clear. But he was like I would love to have a maintenance inspection and just have somebody give me a checklist. What do I need to have done? Who do I need to hire?
Speaker 2:We're there, we're there, we're there. 're there, we're there, we're gonna.
Speaker 3:well, we've always, we've always had that, but I I think we need to push it more. I think there are so many people that are just so insanely busy they have no time in their life. Like I was telling him, I'm like, what was the last time you were in your attic? Uh, yeah like. So basically, what I'm hearing is you have no clue if you've got the start of a roof leak up there until it comes down for you, or a squirrel family ready to enjoy christmas ready to enjoy christmas with their own little tree.
Speaker 3:So yeah, so they're all down with maintenance inspection. Come back up.
Speaker 2:That's made infection or down with maintenance inspection. But this is the lesson and how does it come back up? That's maintenance inspection or Because the maintenance inspection would have caught that yeah maintenance inspection would have caught that, because we would have tested the sump pump and we're looking at the pipe anyway.
Speaker 4:We're doing it.
Speaker 2:And that would have been caught. So, yeah, maintenance inspections are very good Because that would prevent all that, because they got I hope those pictures got damaged, but they were, they'd been wet. They'd been wet Since, like I'm going to say, april, march.
Speaker 3:April, March, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, march it started. April she started smelling it and then it got dried out, probably this summer, this summer, but now it's starting back up.
Speaker 3:Well, and you Well. And how many first-time homebuyers have we done inspections for? Oh, thousands. And even our daughter, who grew up with us, will still call us with questions or ask us about things, and she's owned a home for what? Five years at this point, something like that. Yeah. Home for what? Five years? At this point? Something like that, yeah, so I, if you have a grandparent, a parent who is older or you know, like kids that have just bought a house and you're looking for a really cool christmas present for them, get them an inspection. Yeah, they don't have to go into their attic, they don't have to crawl through the crawl space. Seasonality doesn't matter, we do them any time of year.
Speaker 2:And here's something and this is well if it's almost an elderly couple, or if they don't know how to change their air filter or don't want to and somehow the furnace is up in the attic space and they can't. If you have the filter for us, we will change that out, Just call us. I mean, just like today, Dude, I played Handyman, I was lugging out rolled up carpet or some other stuff. I did I had a scott vacuum sucking up water.
Speaker 2:I'm like toss them out. Use the hose clamp. There's all kinds of things we get into, but yeah that's a good gift. I think that would be a good gift for somebody's parents, grandparents. A maintenance inspection. A maintenance inspection Just to check it out.
Speaker 3:Just a general maintenance inspection, not different at all from, like a regular home inspection. The only difference is it's not for a real estate transaction and it's a punch list for the owner to kind of teach them about the house things they should pay attention to. Well, they can slip away easily. Yeah, I mean like I mean how many?
Speaker 2:All right, our old house gutter. We had a huge walnut tree in the back. Yes, right. Yes house gutter. We had a huge walnut train in the back yeah, right, yes, if you don't think about it. All of a sudden it's like, oh, that's all these. Yeah, why I put some gutter guards there to protect that back one.
Speaker 3:But man, because we were just so busy.
Speaker 2:We had no choice, like we had the gutter guards so yeah, things can sneak up on you like that and you. There's always things going on the house that you're not aware of. Let me seriously a car. A car has fewer parts than a house does by far and it has regular maintenance checkups yes yes and when you wake up in the morning you got flat tired. Does it start like it was about my time right? It's going to happen.
Speaker 3:Same thing with the house.
Speaker 2:Same thing with the house.
Speaker 3:You've got to get into that mindset. You've got to start looking for things, and if you don't know what you're looking for, call us.
Speaker 2:Typically, though, if a car, though, say, your starter's going and you don't get fixed for I mean the starter stopped working you don't fix it for a couple weeks. It's still the price of the starter. Right A house, though, your sub-pump pipe discharges and you wait a couple weeks to get it fixed, it can do a lot of damage, can you imagine?
Speaker 3:if I hadn't caught that tonight.
Speaker 2:Yeah, or he hadn't called this week what's what I mean?
Speaker 3:like it was just, and, like I told him, I'm like you know what. It was just perfect timing. We were supposed to be here at this night, at this time, to find this for you oh yeah and you've got it. You now know what you need to do to fix it and to keep it clean, and now you know to check that every so often, yeah.
Speaker 2:So winter is a good time to get the house to help maintenance, because, well, some people call me home a lot more than unusual, which is something we can talk about. Another time is indoor air quality. Yes, and this is the time of year because you're stuck in your house you can't keep your windows open as much so anyway, that was our day.
Speaker 3:That's about it for this one Call us Maintenance inspections, or if you've got an elderly grandparent or parent and they need some support, give us a call.
Speaker 2:Yeah, home maintenance inspections. We thought about a service one time where we just come by every six months or maybe once a quarter. I like the idea of once a quarter. Because that way we can just change out the filter, or just once a year, which is a little bit too far apart, but we would come in do a really quick inspection, not thorough, we don't need to test all your appliances.
Speaker 3:I mean, you're living there, you know how they work or not.
Speaker 2:If your dishwasher's not working, you're going to know that. So it's not for that, but mainly it's like a moisture inspection, basically. But we'll also look at your furnace because there's condensate. For that we're looking for moisture issues and during that time we could change out the filters maybe light something up if it needs it. We could do something like that, so that's one thing I was thinking about doing.
Speaker 3:I don't know what do you think about that leave us some comments.
Speaker 2:I was just thinking about that. It's a maintenance inspection just maybe narrow down to looking for moisture. Moisture is the moisture maintenance inspection moisture maintenance inspection. Moisture maintenance inspection yeah, that could work.
Speaker 3:I thought we could do that.
Speaker 2:Anyway, give us some thought, Give us a call. Thank you everybody.
Speaker 3:Have a nice night.
Speaker 1:Bye-bye. You've been listening to the Standing Out in Ohio podcast. Be sure to subscribe on Spotify or Google Podcasts to get new, fresh episodes. For more, please follow us on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, or visit the website of the best Ohio home inspection company at homeinspectionsinohiocom or jimtroffcom. That's J-I-M-T-R-O-T-H. And click on podcast. Until next time, learn and go do stuff.