Here we answer questions about getting a home or commercial 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.
You've just come downstairs after a hard storm, flashlight in hand, and found a dark streak running down the basement wall. Maybe there's a shallow puddle where the wall meets the floor. Maybe the concrete has a white, crusty residue, or a hairline crack is slowly wetting the surface. Water
The storm is still working its way across the neighborhood when you hear the sump pump start cycling faster. Then you notice the dark stain spreading where the basement wall meets the floor. A shop vacuum can't keep up, cardboard smells damp, and the dog refuses to go near the
You notice it while walking past the side of the house, perhaps after a dry spell or a stretch of heavy rain. The mortar line beside a window no longer looks straight. It rises and drops in a diagonal staircase, and suddenly a routine maintenance question becomes, “Is this a
New construction has a way of making buyers feel protected. Everything is new. The finishes are clean. The roof is fresh. The HVAC system has not been through a decade of summers. The appliances have not been abused by previous owners. Compared to an older home, a new build can
Missouri homes deal with a rough combination for foundation movement: expansive clay soils, more than 100 annual freeze-thaw cycles in the Kansas City area, and a 36-inch frost depth that can add seasonal stress below footings (Kansas City foundation repair overview). One crack or one sticking door doesn't automatically prove
A lot of Missouri homeowners end up in the same spot. You go downstairs after a storm, catch a musty smell, notice a white chalky line on the wall, or spot a crack near the corner and wonder whether you're looking at normal aging or the start of a bigger
After a Missouri spring thunderstorm, the first sign may be a damp strip along the basement wall, a puddle beside the sump crock, or a musty smell rising through the stairwell. The water may look minor, but the useful question isn't only where did it appear? It's why did it
Field tested steps for Memphis homeowners: a 15 minute checklist to inspect slab foundation cracks, track growth, and know when to call an inspector or…
Discover the true costs of a foundation inspection in 2026. Learn what to expect and when to call a structural engineer.
Protect your home by learning when and how to install a crawl space vapor barrier. Keep moisture and mold at bay for a healthier environment.
Step-Downs Aren’t a Defect — Until They Are A step-down foundation isn’t unusual. Anytime a house is built on a slope, you’re going to see changes in elevation. The foundation follows the grade, stepping down in sections instead of cutting and filling the entire lot flat. On paper, that’s efficient
The first time I really got how brutal East Tennessee humidity is on crawlspaces wasn’t from a textbook or a certification class. It was from reading a report our Knoxville inspector sent over after a summer inspection—one of those reports where every photo tells the same story from a different
