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 Health Hazards and Costly Mistakes in Your Home
Could the air in your home be making you sick? Join us on the Standing Out in Ohio podcast as we promise to unveil the hidden dangers lurking in your home that you might not even know about. Imagine being the eighth company called to solve a mysterious odor forcing a family to abandon their home, only to discover the culprit was a neglected buried oil tank leaking toxic compounds. This episode is your guide to understanding why a thorough home inspection is more than just a formality—it’s a necessity for your health and safety. We underscore the importance of choosing the right inspection company that can identify potentially serious environmental hazards before they wreak havoc on your life.
But health isn't the only thing at risk; your wallet is on the line too. We share insightful anecdotes about homeowners who faced exorbitant costs for water problems that could have been prevented with simple solutions like proper gutter installation. Don’t let companies sell you on temporary fixes—learn how to address the root causes of issues like moisture intrusion that leads to mold growth. Plus, we outline the benefits of regular inspections every two to three years, introduce valuable services like Habitation Investigation and Environmental Consultants of Ohio, and discuss why third-party inspections are crucial for commercial spaces. Stay on top of your home’s health with actionable advice and resources from homeinspectionsinohio.com to keep your property in tip-top shape.
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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If you would like to be a guest on the podcast contact us and let us know. You can visit Home (jimtroth.com) and go to the podcast page or message Habitation Investigation.
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 in the House podcast. This is Jim and Laura and we have Nessie on the floor guarding our feet. Nessie's one of the dogs.
Speaker 3:Nessie's not feeling good today.
Speaker 2:I don't think yeah, poor baby.
Speaker 3:Poor baby. Yeah, she's getting old's gonna be 13 this year. Yeah, she's gonna be 13 and lady's gonna be 14.
Speaker 2:Wow, yeah, they've been around. They've been around, which kind of a little segue, though. People get more and more concerned with their health, yes, as they get older yes, and we're all getting older every day. Well, that's how time works, that's what happens. So we recently there was a family that was feeling sick was it they had? To move out of their house. They had to move out of the house.
Speaker 3:And we were the seventh or eighth company. No, we were the eighth company out there, seventh or eighth company.
Speaker 2:No, we were the eighth company out there, so we'll give this whole story. But you really need to choose your inspection companies wisely. I mean, not every inspection company is the same, Not every real estate agent is the same, nor is every real estate agency the same. I'm certain we are like. Some agents hate us. One of them doesn't like us because we didn't give the house confidence because of the cosmetics of the house, which is crazy to me. That's just an ignorant agent that doesn't know what the standards are. We're not there to sell the house for him. We're there to educate the client. Educate like hey, here's what's working, here's what's not working, here's what we need to keep an eye on, here's your maintenance list.
Speaker 2:I don't care how pretty the floor looks. Or that has refinished wooden floor. It looks nice, sure, doesn't?
Speaker 3:mean that it's going to be in the report we're looking for functions.
Speaker 4:We're looking for functions, anyway, we'll talk about that, but first let's listen to this. 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 homeinspectionsinohiocom.
Speaker 2:Okay, laura. So family they had to move out. So what is this story?
Speaker 3:So this family contacted us and wanted us to come out and I believe we were doing a VOC test.
Speaker 2:Okay, which is the vaulter organic compounds? Which is looking for chemicals in the air?
Speaker 3:Right, so we go out so wait, wait.
Speaker 2:So they had to move out.
Speaker 3:They were staying elsewhere because the smell was so bad.
Speaker 2:The smell Gotcha.
Speaker 3:Okay so.
Speaker 2:But it feel bad, or just the odors bother them.
Speaker 3:This was smell gotcha, okay so, but feel bad, or just the odor just bothered them.
Speaker 2:Um, this was more amy and drew, that did this one. Okay, I'm imagining somebody wasn't feeling good I'm.
Speaker 3:I'm imagining that it's a combination of that and the smell okay, so.
Speaker 2:So no hospitalization for anybody not, not that I know.
Speaker 3:So we go out and while the VOC test is going, drew's a good guy, he's looking around.
Speaker 2:Was he there for inspection or he just?
Speaker 3:he was just doing the VOC.
Speaker 2:Just doing VOC, okay, so you got to look around. He's got two hours.
Speaker 3:So as he's looking around, he notices some weird pipes, so he starts asking questions. Come to find out that he is the first company eighth company that they've had come out, and I don't know if all of them were home inspection contractors, whatever, couldn't tell you. He was the first one that noticed that they probably had a buried oil tank right beside the house. Okay, so when we get the voc test back, 90 of the volatile organic compounds come from petroleum products and confirm the oil tank issue which matches perfectly with fuel oil, with what he had found.
Speaker 3:Yes, so at this point we gave them information on the fact that it probably was not decommissioned correctly, if at all. They may just have cut off those pipes and just stopped using it and that smell was still coming in, or the tank may have leaked and now that they need to to pull all that dirt up around it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, cause oil, fuel oil tanks, they can be buried. I've seen them in basements. This one was buried.
Speaker 3:Buried outside the house, beside the basement.
Speaker 2:So if they got, if they got the smell inside the house it's leaking.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:Somehow there's been a spill, a sizable spill, or it's still full of oil.
Speaker 3:The tank is compromised.
Speaker 2:Yes, so here's some of the stuff that a few oil can cause. Short-term exposure. You got your skin irritation. Eyes, ears, nose, throat. You got a headache. You can feel nauseous, lose your appetite Forward coordination this is short-term exposure and then difficulty concentrating. Definitely not good for anybody who's in school. No, any students.
Speaker 3:Or professionals yeah.
Speaker 2:Long-term exposure Damage to the kidneys. Increased blood pressure, reduced ability of the blood to clot oh, that's crazy. Damage to the liver, because your liver has to purify the toxins. Yeah.
Speaker 3:So that would be.
Speaker 2:Damage to the nervous system. And then there's other issues if you actually drink the nervous system. And then there's other issues if you actually drink the fuel oil. But this is just exposure to it, it's just smelling it. Yes, environmental hazards are a real thing that people need to be aware of, but I'm amazed that it took us being the eighth company to go hey, you have this. Have you ever thought it could be this? And then we were able to confirm with the VOC test.
Speaker 3:Yeah, nobody caught it until Drew.
Speaker 2:Here's how we do the inspections and you and I do this definitely when we do VOC testing and mold testing and same thing with the home inspections, because our my favorite example is we had a this guy bought a campground. Okay, years ago he bought a campground, never had the house he's gonna live in inspected. He just the guy, the seller talked him out of it, or maybe the agent talked him out of it I don't know they're like well, you're not buying it for your house, you're buying it for the campground and like, all right.
Speaker 2:So anyway, I get there doing the inspection and he's like, yeah, I had a mold, I'm not sorry. Water mitigation company of or the basement drying company, whatever, gave him a quote of thirty thousand dollars. I I think it was $25,000 to $30,000 to guarantee the basement?
Speaker 3:Oh, I can't remember.
Speaker 2:Which 30 is kind of like a common number. These companies charge, you know, think of it, and it's at $30,000 and they'll guarantee I wouldn't get any more water coming to the basement. And I'm like and I'd already been there and inspected I'm like, well, how about you put gutters on your base, on your roof, and then fix the grating so actually your water gets routed away from the basement?
Speaker 3:That'll probably take care of the majority of it and be a lot cheaper than 30,000.
Speaker 2:Oh, you think I'm like, yeah, yeah, so there's these, there's these companies that will only solve the symptom but not take care of the freaking cause of it. So, like this company, this guy here with fuel oil in his basement all right, yeah, you probably could put filters up and maybe keep collecting it through this activated charcoal filter. Maybe you can do that, I don't know. Maybe get rid of it that way or air the house out.
Speaker 2:a crazy amount, amount that's going to cost a lot and not in winter time but and even doing those things is not going to solve the issue, which is the fuel oil tank right outside your foundation that's leaking, or at least spilled into the soil, and the soil is now leaching the oil into the basement. Either way, you have to look at the cause, and I've done this and it irritates you as a girl, and I go listen. If your problem's not precisely defined, you're not solving it.
Speaker 3:And once again, sometimes women just like to vent, and I know it drives men, I know this, I know it drives men crazy, but women sometimes just need to vent and then we're done and we can think of things or then talk about fixing it. I get it, yeah, but I get a little bit.
Speaker 2:Yeah, like that, I'll let you vent, I'll let you talk about that, like, and then I'm like, I mean, I've gotten to the point where I'm like okay, honey, I just need to vent, just you don't need to say anything, just just just me vent for a minute, and then I'll vent, and then what causes this, what causes that one? Well, this one's set that up. Go take care of that issue. It really is a simple process, really.
Speaker 2:Men are from Mars and women from Venus, but anyway you have to figure out what the cause of the issue is. Don't get rid of the symptom like mold. You have a moldy house and you're feeling sick. You're not feeling sick because, originally, the orientation of you're feeling sick is not because of the mold. Your problem is because you have a moisture issue in your house, right, and that moisture issue is then what's making the mold a good opportunity to grow. Then that's eventually making it sick. But if you back it up, you've got to control the moisture issue, which could be.
Speaker 2:Your downspout's been disconnected and you're too lazy to reconnect it.
Speaker 3:Or you don't know that it should be reconnected. And now, after listening to this, you will know there's a lot of people out there that are brand new just to owning homes that have no clue.
Speaker 2:Which is why everybody should have their contact habitation investigation to do a maintenance inspection on your house like every two to three years. Yep, I know the EPA tells you if you have radon Well, no matter what, they're trying to get your house tested for radon every two years.
Speaker 3:Just do a home inspection at the same time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, every two, three years do the maintenance inspection. We can check it out, catch leaks or little issues super fast before you have a larger problem with that.
Speaker 3:Well, we wanted to start doing inspections for you know, like Starbucks, for example, inspections for you know, like starbucks, for example, because the one starbucks that our daughter worked, for the ceiling collapsed in her whole freaking yeah, so it wasn't all right. Here's probably for that one I think it was a pipe leak when it froze yeah, it probably wants.
Speaker 2:It's not starbucks building, it was whoever ran that space from. But anyway, the same thing for houses or a restaurant factory. You need to have these things periodically inspected to stay up on the maintenance, unless you have a maintenance guy devoted.
Speaker 3:Even then, but even then, because they're there all the time it's, it's going to be old hat to them. They're not going to be able to sit and look at it impartially because it's their job. They need to have that third party come in and that third party go. Okay, this is what we see.
Speaker 2:Looking with a fresh set of eyes.
Speaker 3:Look at it with a fresh set of eyes and then just create the maintenance list off of that. And if you go to homeinspectionsinohiocom, we actually have maintenance lists for homeowners, like I think I've got one for different seasons and then just a general one, so check that out too.
Speaker 2:So if somebody's at their house they're not feeling good, Right, Okay, we Habitation Investigation can help with that. But you have another company called Environmental Consultants of Ohio.
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 2:Which is primarily the one that does the VOC testing, more of the air quality, more of the air quality, yeah, which can include mold testing as well, but if it's strictly environmental health things you're concerned with, environmental.
Speaker 3:Consultants of.
Speaker 2:Ohio would be the one to contact Either way. Habitat for the Best kids can route that and get that taken care of for you.
Speaker 3:And I should have my interview this week, which means that I'm going to be like the it's another podcast. Oh, that's okay, Never mind.
Speaker 2:All right, so anyway, stay tuned for the next one then. So, anyway, I think that's about it for this one right, so call us.
Speaker 3:If you've got weird stuff going on, call us. We have a very good track record of figuring out issues and being able to help people with alternative ideas and solutions yes, it's all about the education and figuring things out, the root cause.
Speaker 2:Yes, all right, all right, thank you, bye-bye, bye.
Speaker 1: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.