Here we answer questions about getting a home or commercial property inspection, give tips on home maintenance, and share our knowledge about common home and commercial property issues. We are here to help you. If you can’t find an answer to your questions here, you can always contact us via our contact page.
Central Kentucky’s landscape looks calm on the surface, but what’s happening underground is a different story. When I review inspection reports from our Elizabethtown and Hardin County inspector, concerns about subsurface movement and sinkhole potential come up more often than buyers expect. This region sits on limestone, and limestone dissolves.
When people think about structural problems in a house, they usually imagine something dramatic — large foundation cracks, floors that noticeably slope, or walls that appear to be separating. But in reality, most structural movement begins much more quietly. In many homes, the earliest signs appear in places homeowners walk
If I had to pick the most overlooked, underpriced, high-impact fix I see during inspections, this would be it. Downspout extensions. Not waterproofing systems.Not French drains.Not foundation piers. Plastic tubes that cost less than dinner. Why Water Is the Real Enemy Foundations don’t fail because they’re weak. They fail because
Yard drains are supposed to be boring. Water goes in. Water comes out somewhere downhill. End of story. But when they don’t work — and a lot of them don’t — the symptoms show up everywhere except where the problem actually is. That’s why I don’t trust surface appearances. I
Windows don’t fail because glass breaks. They fail because water gets in around them — slowly, quietly, and usually out of sight. By the time someone notices staining or soft drywall, the damage has already been working for years. And almost every time, the real problem isn’t the window itself.
I don’t care how thick the concrete is or how much rebar you buried in it—if a retaining wall can’t drain, it’s on borrowed time. Weepholes look insignificant. Half-inch to two-inch openings near the base of a wall, often ignored, often buried by mulch, soil, or someone’s “landscaping upgrade.” But
The Problem Starts Underground — Long Before the Backup Tree roots don’t break pipes out of aggression. They break them because pipes leak. Older sewer lines—especially clay tile and early cast iron—were never watertight to begin with. Joints shift, gaskets dry out, and hairline cracks form. That moisture plume in
One of the things we spend the most time explaining to clients doesn’t show up as a defect in the report at all. It usually comes up during the walkthrough, when someone asks a perfectly reasonable question: “Why didn’t you move that?”“Couldn’t you just open this?”“Why not take that apart
Homebuyers often look to an inspection report for certainty. They want to know what will break, how long systems will last, and whether the home will be trouble-free. While inspections provide critical insight, they are not forecasts. Understanding what a home inspection cannot predict is just as important as understanding
After a home inspection, buyers often focus on what defects were found. But experienced inspectors and seasoned buyers know that the same defect does not carry the same level of risk in every home. Two houses can have identical issues on paper—yet one may be a reasonable purchase, while the
Daycare centers and school facilities carry a different kind of weight than most commercial properties. These buildings aren’t just workplaces or revenue generators—they’re environments where children are entrusted to the building itself. That reality changes how inspections are approached and how risk is evaluated. At Upchurch Inspection, inspections of daycare
Auto repair and service buildings are some of the most deceptively risky commercial properties in the Mid-South. They often look straightforward—open bays, concrete floors, overhead doors, basic offices—but the way these buildings are used places continuous stress on structure, slabs, drainage, ventilation, and environmental controls. At Upchurch Inspection, inspections of
