Beyond the Inspection: Essential Home Safety Services You Need to Know
This week on Thoughts from the Crawlspace, Jamie goes beyond the standard home inspection to uncover the critical ancillary services every homeowner, buyer, and real estate professional should know. From radon testing (a top concern as the second leading cause of lung cancer in the U.S.) to wood-destroying insect inspections, sewer line scans, water quality checks, and more, he breaks down what each service is, why it matters, and when to use it.
Whether you’re maintaining your current home or preparing for a purchase, this episode will help you make smarter, safer decisions.
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Episode Highlights
- More than just inspections: extra services home inspectors provide
- Why radon testing is important for your health
- How pest inspections protect your home from damage
- The importance of testing your water quality
Timestamps
00:00 - Intro
01:05 - Understanding Radon Testing
04:31 - Water Quality and Testing Recommendations
10:01 - Asbestos Awareness and Safety
14:45 - Home Maintenance Tips for Summer
Transcript
Welcome to Thoughts from the Crawl Space, a podcast where our goal as home inspection experts is to support and serve our community.
Speaker A:Whether you're a homeowner, home buyer, real estate agent or investor, we believe everyone deserves solutions to their homeownership challenges and inspiration along the way.
Speaker A:Your path to success starts here.
Speaker A:Whether you're a seller, a buyer, you've owned your home forever.
Speaker A:I wanted to talk today briefly about some of the services you can get besides the home inspection.
Speaker A:And and these are things that we add on.
Speaker A:We've added them over the years just as extra protection.
Speaker A:You might have lived in your home for 20 years, but you have a concern about one area.
Speaker A:You don't have to go get a whole house inspection all the time in order to have one of these extra services.
Speaker A:So I just thought I'd breeze through a few of things that we offer and then just some tips to think about as we head into summer and deal with the heat and all that goes with that.
Speaker A:Won't talk about mosquitoes though.
Speaker A:Mosquitoes are bad.
Speaker A:We don't have anything to do with that.
Speaker A:So obviously you do the whole house inspection.
Speaker A:But one environmental service that we offer is radon testing.
Speaker A:Radon gas is a colorless, odorless gas that is in the rocks and soil.
Speaker A:It seeps into your house.
Speaker A:It's the second leading cause of lung cancer in the country next to smoking.
Speaker A:If you smoke and have elevated radon, it exponentially increases your risk of getting lung cancer.
Speaker A:We highly recommend a radon test in every home.
Speaker A:The EPA recommends having it tested every two years even if you had a low level to begin with.
Speaker A:And so something we can certainly do a radon test a couple of ways.
Speaker A:You can do it.
Speaker A:If you live in your home and you're not selling it, you can get a long term test.
Speaker A:You can order these yourself.
Speaker A:You don't even have to call us.
Speaker A:So a long term test is 60 or 90 days.
Speaker A:You order the kit, you follow the directions, you set it where you want to set it.
Speaker A:You live normally.
Speaker A:You don't have to keep your windows and doors closed like you do on a real estate training transaction radon test and then you send it into a lab which will evaluate it and tell you what your average radon level is in the house.
Speaker A:Highly recommend a radon test to give you peace of mind.
Speaker A:It's lower in basements than it is on the main floor.
Speaker A:It's lower on the main floor than it is upstairs.
Speaker A:By lower I mean it's a higher number and more radon concentration.
Speaker A:So I should say higher.
Speaker A:I guess it's higher in the basement.
Speaker A:And as you go up it drops by about a third roughly.
Speaker A:But definitely something to consider, especially if you have children that live in the basement.
Speaker A:Maybe you homeschool down there, you hang out down there a lot, your man caves down there, whatever.
Speaker A:If you're in the basement, highly recommend getting a radon test even if you're on the main level.
Speaker A:But if you have a slab.
Speaker A:A slab, same thing, a slab.
Speaker A:Basically you're always at ground level, right?
Speaker A:And so since it comes from rocks and soil, it doesn't really matter what level you're at, so to speak.
Speaker A:If there's cracks in the concrete, the radon can get in and cause a problem.
Speaker A:Another one that we do is wood destroying insect inspections.
Speaker A:And these are commonly referred to as pest inspections or wdi.
Speaker A:It's a special certification that you get from the state to be able to do this.
Speaker A:Now we don't treat the problem.
Speaker A:Same with radon.
Speaker A:We don't mitigate radon.
Speaker A:High radon issues.
Speaker A:We would refer someone to, to you for that.
Speaker A:But the wood destroying insect is going to look for anything like carpenter ants, carpenter bees, beetle damage, powder, post beetles, and termites.
Speaker A:Those are, those are the primary categories of critters that we're looking at.
Speaker A:They can gnaw away on your wood for years undetected.
Speaker A:And if you think you have a problem with a wood destroying insect, you need to have someone come out and look at it to make sure before it continues.
Speaker A:Termites frequently live in walls and munch away for years and you may not even know it.
Speaker A:Depending on conditions, they love moisture and they can hang out undetected.
Speaker A:So really a yearly termite inspection is a good idea.
Speaker A:Again, they can be there.
Speaker A:A termite inspection can be done very well, very thoroughly.
Speaker A:But if they're hidden, just can't see them.
Speaker A:So that's why you need to do them more often, so that when there is a sign that they're there, we can catch them quickly.
Speaker A:So another thing I would recommend for any homeowner is water testing.
Speaker A:There are a variety of tests that we can do in your water.
Speaker A:Even if you have city water, do you really know what you're drinking?
Speaker A:What's the chlorine level in the water?
Speaker A:Do they add fluoride?
Speaker A:Those are things that most people don't even think about and are not good for your health.
Speaker A:But what if you have a.
Speaker A:Well, you don't know, do you have bacteria problems?
Speaker A:Do you have arsenic, high nitrates, nitrites, we live in farming country.
Speaker A:Nitrates and nitrites come from fertilizer, both manufactured and natural.
Speaker A:Lots of runoff that goes on.
Speaker A:And so I would highly recommend getting your water tested.
Speaker A:And that's a good way to just give you peace of mind of what you're drinking.
Speaker A:You know, it's not unfixable.
Speaker A:There's a filter or a system almost for everything if you have water issues.
Speaker A:So call us.
Speaker A:We'll go through what each one does.
Speaker A:We'll explain how long it will take to get the test back, what you need to do.
Speaker A:If there's metals you need to check for lead, arsenic, you know, old lead pipes, we know about that.
Speaker A:Some cities still have them.
Speaker A:And honestly, a lot of times you don't even get high lead levels in water from that.
Speaker A:Usually the pipes are so corroded and coated by then, you don't hardly get any of the lead in the water.
Speaker A:But if you get faucets and fixtures from China, they use lead in a lot of their manufacturing and that can come off in the water.
Speaker A:We've had high tests on newer houses with lead in the fixtures.
Speaker A:And so that's something you want to consider.
Speaker A:Just get it tested.
Speaker A:It's a few hundred dollars.
Speaker A:It gives you peace of mind.
Speaker A:It helps you know what you're drinking.
Speaker A:Another thing that we offer that I recommend this on almost every home, and that's a sewer line scan.
Speaker A:Your sewer line is highly critical to the function of a house.
Speaker A:And if you've ever had one backup, you understand that and you know how important it can be to working properly.
Speaker A:The only way you're going to know that truly is by having it scanned with a camera.
Speaker A:And so it's an additional charge.
Speaker A:It's roughly $250.
Speaker A:Come out there, put a camera down the line, make sure it's not cracked, it's not broken, it's not offset too bad, it's sloped the right way, it's not blocked.
Speaker A:You don't have roots growing into it and you don't have heavy scale buildup which is narrowing, you know, from 3 inch down to inch and a half.
Speaker A:So all those things matter in a sewer line for the proper function of it.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker A:So I highly recommend it.
Speaker A:We have testimonials from clients repeatedly.
Speaker A:We even have team members that have had problems with their sewer line scan before they even knew anything about them or not with a sewer line scan with their sewer line before they knew that you could get a scan.
Speaker A:And you know, they cost thousands of dollars to fix these problems.
Speaker A:And so this is probably the single most important one you can do in my opinion, just because of the potential cost involved in fixing it.
Speaker A:Another thing that we can check is well functionality.
Speaker A:How do you know how well the well is working?
Speaker A:Do you.
Speaker A:Just because you're getting water, is it pumping right?
Speaker A:Is your tank, is the bladder tank usually in the basement or wherever it might be?
Speaker A:Is it functioning?
Speaker A:Is it waterlogged?
Speaker A:Do you need a new tank?
Speaker A:All those things can matter.
Speaker A:If you have a tank that goes bad, your switch is going to go on, off, on, off all the time.
Speaker A:Well, that's going to wear your pump out much quicker.
Speaker A:And so if you let it go, it's going to lead to a bigger problem.
Speaker A:So have someone check out your well.
Speaker A:The functionality, is it pumping the right amount of gallons per minute and is it.
Speaker A:Is the pressure at the cut in and the cutoffs set like it should be?
Speaker A:Do you need someone to service it?
Speaker A:Again, we don't service anything, but we will point out issues and recommend you to somebody that can do that.
Speaker A:And then we have some environmental testing, lead paint testing and asbestos.
Speaker A:Lead paint is pretty self explanatory.
Speaker A:You get that usually from trim that's painted with old lead paint.
Speaker A: They used that up until: Speaker A:It's more of a problem when it is peeling than anything.
Speaker A:And lead paint will kind of dry out and crack in rectangles.
Speaker A:And that's a good way to kind of tell if you have it or not.
Speaker A:Whereas latex will be more like strips of paint as it dries out and peels.
Speaker A:But lead paint is a little thicker.
Speaker A:It was a good product back in the day, but as it, as it deteriorates, chips can fall on the ground, kids can gnaw on it.
Speaker A:You know kids, little kids like to eat everything.
Speaker A:And so if you have lead paint on the window sills, they can lead to lead poisoning.
Speaker A:It affects brain function, cognitive development and so forth.
Speaker A:So highly recommend lead paint testing as well.
Speaker A:In homes, it's a simple test and can be done pretty quickly.
Speaker A:And asbestos, Asbestos was used a lot in buildings again up until the 70s, even into the 80s with certain things.
Speaker A:So just a few areas that you could have.
Speaker A: s, especially up TO I believe: Speaker A:So popcorn ceilings are not really a thing anymore in new construction.
Speaker A:But you may have remnants of it, it may still be there.
Speaker A:And asbestos mainly becomes a problem when it becomes what's called friable or airborne.
Speaker A:We don't want it to get airborne.
Speaker A:So if you do have asbestos in that popcorn ceiling.
Speaker A:You don't want to just go up there and scrape it off randomly and get rid of it because then it's airborne and that's when you breathe it in, it becomes truly a problem.
Speaker A:So there's different remediation methods for it, but just some areas.
Speaker A:You may have asbestos in your home, especially if it's built before the 70s.
Speaker A:Popcorn ceilings, you could have it in wrap on the boiler lines.
Speaker A:If you have an old boiler and they insulated it with wrap, those almost always have asbestos in them.
Speaker A:If you have ductwork and they have like that white tape either around the whole ductwork or just around the joints, they use that to seal the joints.
Speaker A:But it was also a fire retardant material, but those contain asbestos.
Speaker A:Now the EPA doesn't recommend doing anything with it unless it's deteriorated or it's going to be subject to traffic.
Speaker A:So if you got kids running around and you got that asbestos tape kind of dangling, it's going to get flapped around and tore off and airborne.
Speaker A:Then it's a good idea to get that remediated the right way.
Speaker A:Another area that we see asbestos is in 9 by 9 inch old floor tiles.
Speaker A:And obviously these are not ceramic, they're vinyl.
Speaker A:But the adhesive on the back of them frequently contain asbestos and the actual tile itself.
Speaker A:So if you see the old 9 by 9 tiles, usually they're in a basement.
Speaker A:It's okay to put something over them like carpet, laminate, flooring, whatever.
Speaker A:It's just the danger if you go to try to scrape those up again, you're getting things airborne.
Speaker A:Just like lead.
Speaker A:You don't want lead paint, you don't want to saw through it and get it airborne and breathe that in.
Speaker A:Same with asbestos.
Speaker A:Another area that we see asbestos frequently is in the insulation in the attic.
Speaker A:Could be in the walls as well.
Speaker A:And that's in a specific type of insulation called vermiculite.
Speaker A:Vermiculite was mined in, well, a mine next to asbestos and they got cross contaminated again.
Speaker A:It was very popular.
Speaker A:In fact, we'll still see bags of vermiculite in attics and that they just never used.
Speaker A:And so it was a product.
Speaker A:Again, you'll have vermiculite in potting soil.
Speaker A:You know, it has some valuable usages, but if it gets contaminated with asbestos, obviously that's not good.
Speaker A:So we send in samples of that.
Speaker A:We'll get a cup of basically a cup full of a few different locations in your attic.
Speaker A:Send it in and find out if it's A problem or not.
Speaker A:So there's six, seven areas that potentially you could have asbestos in your house.
Speaker A:And it's especially important if you're going to do renovations.
Speaker A:Think about if you have vermiculite in the attic and you have the period of house that doesn't have overhead lighting and you want to add some.
Speaker A:So now you're drilling holes into the ceiling that is going to come filtering down as you saw or drill into it.
Speaker A:And that's when it can become problematic.
Speaker A:And you breathe it in and it does cause mesothelioma.
Speaker A:Protect yourself.
Speaker A:Get it tested again.
Speaker A:It's an easy test.
Speaker A:You get results back quickly.
Speaker A:It'll tell you what you got.
Speaker A:And then if you want to get it removed, we give you referrals for that.
Speaker A:One final service that we offer is chimney scopes.
Speaker A:And this is similar to a sewer line scope, only this is going up the chimney.
Speaker A:We could go down the chimney depending on access, but typically you have to go from the inside.
Speaker A:This is considered kind of the next level in chimney inspection.
Speaker A:It's not, you know, when we do a regular home inspection, we're kind of looking up the flue a little bit, but you can't usually see much of it.
Speaker A:You can look down it, depending on how tall the chimney is, you can't see much of it.
Speaker A:This takes a camera up.
Speaker A:It spins 360.
Speaker A:It's going to tell you if we have cracking in the flue liner, the ceramic flue liner, if the ceramic or metal is separated, if there's deterioration.
Speaker A:This is especially important, I believe, if it's in the center of a home, if it's on the outside wall, you know, you still should know what condition it's in.
Speaker A:But safety wise, it's more important on the inside of a house because if you have cracks in that liner, you can get flames spreading through there, through, because when they get superheated, the cracks get bigger, and so then flames can spread through there and create a problem.
Speaker A:So a chimney scope, I'll just tell you.
Speaker A:Chimney repairs are right in line with sewer line repairs as far as price.
Speaker A:And so you want to make sure that you get that scoped out, make sure you know what condition the chimney's in before you buy it, before you go ahead and start a fire in there and potentially have a health hazard.
Speaker A:So just some services to consider.
Speaker A:This is summer.
Speaker A:Check your roof, check your.
Speaker A:We're almost in summer.
Speaker A:Close enough.
Speaker A:It's sunny and warm.
Speaker A:Get a lot of rain.
Speaker A:Check for torn shingles, check to make sure your downspouts are extending water away from the foundation.
Speaker A:Make sure your gutters are sloped properly, and that'll be a good maintenance tip going into summer as you enjoy yourselves, enjoy your home, enjoy your deck and family and whatnot.
Speaker A:So if any of these services are something you're looking for or you have questions, give us a call.
Speaker A:We'd be glad to come help you out.
Speaker A:Have a great day.
Speaker A:We'll talk to you next time.
Speaker A:Thanks.
Speaker A:Thank you for listening.
Speaker A:This week you can catch up on the latest episode of the Thoughts from the Crawl Space podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and YouTube.
Speaker A:For more information about Gold Key Inspection services, go to goldkeyinspect.com.
