Jack Gilleland Home Inspection Services

Here is one of the photos of an inspection I did 2 days ago.  As you can see this roof has a problem.  It also has 3 layers of shingles.  As if the snow in Ohio wasn't heavy enough, this homeowner decided he'd add the weight of several layers of asphalt shingles.  The problem here is an old hous...

Electrical Outlets and their abuse. Are you abusing your receptacles? I have in the past, we take so much for granted. Everyone has done this without even thinking. Home Inspectors (most of them) check a random sampling of outlets throughout the home for a few things like polarity (is the hot on ...

What is that noise? Sounds like something is broken in the wall. That’s “Water Hammer” and you need to fix the problem. Why? First let me explain what “Water Hammer” is. Have you ever turned off a faucet and heard a loud bang or thud? This is water rushing through the pipes and suddenly there is...

The Plumbing Vent That pipe rising above the roofs surface is an eyesore. Does that have to be there.  Well the truth is it does.  There is a possibility that it doesn't have to be right there, but in many cases yes it has to be there. Why? The easiest explanation for the existence of plumbing ve...

  Roof Drainage and the Foundation. This is not a blog about how to do something.  As I said in my last blog about "reasons" this is a blog about why.  When submitting a report or discussing an issue with a client it is important to know why it is an issue.  You can tell the client that the house...

In reading many of the Home Inspectors blogs I have noticed that there is a lot of information (good information) that is conveyed, but little of the why.  Okay, here's what I mean, I tell you that the roof leaks or the pipe leaks or this is a shock hazard and you just take it for granted that I'...

In a recent inspection I got to the home I was to do armed with my lockbox code, tool pouch, clipboard, and camera to find a typical 40 - 50 year old house.  It was cold, so I wasted no time getting started before the warmth from my ride over wore off.  When finished I moved inside to start on th...

At times inspections can be like following a trail, only in reverse. We normally see the end of the trail and have to follow it to the origin. Most of the time it doesn't matter what we're tracking. It could be insects, leak in the plumbing system, or water intrusion from the outside, they all le...

I took 9,450 individual photos for inspections this year (just backed them up to CD's).  That's an average of 75 pictures per inspection (for those that are counting).  Granted some of my commercial and multi-family inspections have been quite large this year. We have 2 cameras in the office and ...

This is short, sweet and very important.  This can add years to your tank style water heaters life.  Most people don't give any thought to their water heater - they just turn on the faucet and expect hot water to come out. Keep your water heater in peak operating condition by performing some simp...