El Mirage Home Inspection Uncovers Termite Trails and Hidden Leaks
Termite tubes around the front door, a leak behind a toilet and no CO detectors in a gas home. What this El Mirage inspection turned up.
From the field
Real inspections from real Arizona homes, plus practical advice for buyers, sellers and agents. Many posts include the full inspection video, and every one comes from what Dan sees in the field.
Termite tubes around the front door, a leak behind a toilet and no CO detectors in a gas home. What this El Mirage inspection turned up.
A fun party garage with a vaulted ceiling, no permits and termites in the beam over the door. Here is what else this 1966 Phoenix home was hiding.
Termite damage in the middle of an attic, and no tubes outside. Here is what brought them in, and the clues inside the house that pointed to termites.
A Glendale home in great shape overall, with a leaking irrigation pipe, a clogged drainage swale, minor termite tubes and a buried sewer cleanout.
Weep screeds let moisture escape from stucco walls. When they’re buried or sealed over, they trap water and invite mold and termites. How to spot one.
A three-year-old home with a water softener drain routed into a roof plumbing vent, a split truss and unsealed fire walls. Even newer homes have hidden problems.
Plumbing vents sealed with caulk instead of flashing, a heaving garage slab and signs of structural movement in a Tempe townhome community.
A typical-looking home with a pool fence gap, a hot bedroom, a loose kitchen island, a vent hood that vents nowhere and a sewer line that needs attention.
A beautiful new Mesa home with a killer view, plus a walkway sloping toward the house, a misplaced kick-out flashing and appliance install issues for the builder to fix.
A complete home inspection walkthrough: roof, attic, heat pump, bathrooms, kitchen, laundry and garage, and the maintenance items that save headaches later.
No backflow preventer, leaking sprinkler heads, a disconnected PVC line and foundation cracks. How a neglected irrigation system damages a home.
A sewer camera found the pipe underwater from 78 to 106 feet. What a pipe belly is, what causes standing water in a sewer line and what to do next.
Rusty stem wall nails, rusted form ties, foam-sealed garage edges and 15% moisture readings. The warning signs of long-term moisture on a well-kept Arizona home.
Our 1997 R-22 AC unit, two warranty claims and a $2,580 bill for a coil. What buyers should know before counting on a home warranty for an old HVAC system.
A rooftop HVAC unit sitting on soft, rotting sheathing, messy ductwork below, plus flip-style plumbing shortcuts. What a bad install can cost.
A homeowner paid for 450 new concrete tiles. Many were painted instead of replaced. What a second-opinion roof inspection found, plus problems in the attic.
Colten from Firehouse Pest Control explains drill-and-fill, trenching and foam treatments on a termite-damaged Tempe flip, and what conditions invite termites.
A brand-new Eloy home with defective roof tiles, skipped weep screeds, 85 PSI water pressure and a condensate line set to leak into the ceiling.
What started as a sewer scan in Tempe turned into a full termite investigation, with active tubes in the walls and damaged trusses in the attic.
After seven years in our home, we pulled up the bedroom wood floor and found old termite damage. Here’s what it looked like and how to prevent it.