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 notice a new crack above a basement window after a long, dry Missouri summer. A door that worked in spring now sticks, the floor seems slightly uneven, and a thin line has appeared in the brick mortar. The natural question is whether you're looking at ordinary seasonal movement or
A spring storm rolls through Columbia, and the next morning you notice a damp mark near a basement window. The gutters are full of leaves, the sump pump hasn't been tested since last year, and the furnace filter is overdue for replacement. None of those observations proves a major defect,
During inspections, there’s a moment that comes up again and again. We’re standing in a mechanical room, crawl space, or attic, and a client asks something like: “So is this broken… or just old?” That question matters more than most people realize, because deferred maintenance and active failure are not
Buyers are often surprised by how much time an inspection spends talking about water. Not just plumbing leaks—but grading, gutters, soil, crawl spaces, flashing, ventilation, humidity, and drainage patterns that don’t seem urgent at first glance. A common reaction is:“But there’s no water in the house.” That’s true in the
Every inspector has had this moment: the walkthrough is wrapping up, and a buyer asks, “So… everything looks good, right?” What they usually mean is that nothing obvious jumped out—no leaks pouring from ceilings, no sparking wires, no collapsing floors. And often, that’s true. The house looks fine. It’s standing.
During an inspection, buyers sometimes notice the inspector lingering over things that seem insignificant. A slight slope in the floor. A hairline crack near a window. Rust beginning to form on a fastener. A door that doesn’t quite close the way it should. It’s common to hear, “Is that really
You step onto the front walk on a cool morning, coffee in hand, and notice a stair-step crack climbing through the brick veneer from the foundation line. It may be narrow enough to miss most days, but once you see it, the wall looks different. The first question is usually
One of the most common assumptions buyers make is that newer homes are somehow exempt from inspection concerns. If the house was built recently—especially within the last five to ten years—it’s easy to believe the big risks are behind you. After all, everything looks clean. Systems feel modern. Materials haven’t
Some buyers expect a home inspection to feel intense. Serious tone. Urgent language. A long list of warnings. When that doesn’t happen, they sometimes wonder whether the inspection was thorough enough. In reality, the calmest inspections are often the most experienced ones. At Upchurch Inspection, our goal isn’t to impress
One of the most misunderstood parts of home inspections is timing. Buyers often assume that if a problem exists, it should be obvious on inspection day. If it’s not visible, it must not be real. In the regions we serve—Memphis and Jackson in West Tennessee, Nashville and Middle Tennessee, Little
One loose outlet cover doesn’t mean much.One small crack doesn’t tell a story.One stained board could be nothing. But when those things start repeating—when they show up in related places, under similar conditions, or alongside other subtle clues—that’s when experienced inspectors start paying close attention. At Upchurch Inspection, we don’t
One of the biggest mistakes buyers make is assuming that a home’s age tells the whole story. “How old is the house?”“What year was it built?” Those questions come up constantly—but they’re rarely the most important ones. A forty-year-old home in one region can behave better than a ten-year-old home
