Not just a home inspection, but a Cutting Edge Home Inspection.  Your home is a very valuable asset and you want to be sure it will meet all your expectations. Included is an infrared scan with each home inspection (for a limited time) because infrared technology gives us a better idea of what is there compared to natural vision. I follow and adhere to the best Standards of Practice and Code of Ethics in the nation. NACHI (The National Association of Certified Home Inspectors) at www.NACHI.org or get the Standards of Practice or the Code of Ethics .

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                               A special rate for Rural Development is available

                              Special rates for Condo/Duplex inspections

Visit my Energy Audit page here !

Click herefor more information.

 Common areas of home energy loss. Sec.1:8                                                        

This cutting edge service is a scan of your home with an infrared camera to revealing unseen insulation voids, air loss, growing mold, moisture infiltration, potential electrical  problems or hazards, live pest infestations and numerous other potential problems hiding behind walls where most problems start, but cannot be seen yet. This service is included with each home inspection for a limited time, but can also be purchased by itself.

As a stand alone service, Cutting Edge Inspections Inc. will perform a non-invasive infrared thermal imaging scan of the subject property to measure the temperature and temperature differences or variations of the visible, safely accessible, and readily accessible portions of the roof, interior and exterior walls, and interior ceilings of the primary structure at the subject property. This survey includes evaluation for areas where temperatures are consistent with missing, non-uniformly distributed, marginal, or wet thermal insulation as well as an evaluation of the overall building envelope including air infiltration and heating and cooling losses from HVAC systems. The results of these evaluations will be documented in the Thermal Imaging Report and will be accompanied by both natural digital photographs and infrared photographs where applicable. Only the visible, safely accessible, and readily accessible portions of the components specified in this scope of this scan shall be examined and evaluated. No other systems, components, or items are included in this Thermal Imaging Report . The Cutting Edge Inspections Inc. Thermal Imaging Report is not a warranty, guarantee, or insurance of any kind. It is not a substitute for a seller’s disclosure statement or a pre-closing walk through. If you are looking for insurance please contact your real estate professional, insurance agent, or lender for information about types of insurance available.

sample infrared images.

Our inspectors are certified  Level 1 thermographer.

For a limited time this service is included with each full inspection 

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 Not sure if you are covering the bases as you view a possible purchase?  Would  you like a professional consultant along? Cutting Edge Inspections Inc. will go with you on a walk through  pre-inspection (as consultant only). There will be no physical report generated at this time and all considerations will be based on general observations without in-depth analysis. With this walk through pre inspection you will be able to make a better informed decision as to whether or not to continue with this property or move on to the next one.

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A Preventive Home Maintenance Inspection Doesn't Cost It Pays!

Housing experts recommend setting aside 1 to 3 percent of the market value of your house each year to pay for maintenance and repair costs. While all of these funds may not be needed if your home is new, the accumulated amounts will help you pay for large future expenses, such as re-roofing or replacing a heating or air conditioning unit.

Home maintenance helps provide a healthy, safe environment in which you and your family and live. It also is an important part of protecting your financial investment and helping to insure that the investment grows. It is much easier to prevent the development of unsafe, unhealthy conditions and structural damage than to pay medical or repair bills or both.

Regular home maintenance minimized unexpected repair work and the associated expense. Regular maintenance and repair help keep costs down by fixing small problems before them become larger problems.

There are a variety of actions involved in home maintenance. Home maintenance includes routine care of the home, such as cleaning roof and gutters cleaning or painting outside wall surfaces, cleaning floors and walls, vacuuming carpet, keeping sinks and shower drains running freely, and other similar activities.

Home repair involves fixing things that have broken or are worn out in the home. Home repair actions include replacing broken glass in windows or doors, replacing warped or worn shingles, repairing a cracked sidewalk or driveway, replacing worn out faucets, repairing a broken stair rail, etc.

The beginning of home maintenance is the inspection of the home. You should have your home inspected by a professional regularly. Its best if you can set up a schedule to inspect your home at least once a year. Your home is kind of like your body. Without proper maintenance it will deteriorate. The less maintenance the more deterioration.

Maintenance should be be done before any big problems appear and repairs should be done as soon as the problem appears. This sooner-the-better practice helps prevent further damage and keeps repair costs down.

In general, there are 8 areas of the home that require routine inspection for home maintenance and repair. These include and are covered in a home maintenance inspection :

• Foundations, basements and yards

• Exterior walls, windows and doors

• Roofing, Attic

• Interior surfaces

• Electrical systems

• Heating and cooling systems

• Plumbing systems

• Safety systems

 One important fact to keep in mind is that only you can maintain your home, your home cannot and will not maintain itself.

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Yearly maintenance:

Maintenance is an important part of preserving a home's condition. Cleaning gutters, drains and observing the foundation of the home periodically after a rain may alert you of a potential problem that needs addressing. Sometimes problems can arise after a weather condition that was not present at the time of my inspection. If you should discover a problem, please feel free to call me for advice. My company is not a warranty provider, but if you call me when a problem is found, I can sometimes help refer you to the best possible contractor, or recommend the direction to take to solve the problem.

An additional offer that some customers enjoy is a yearly inspection by my company. Once a year I can come by and do a major component inspection for a discounted rate. This re-inspection may offer an opportunity to inspect under different weather conditions that were not available at the time of original inspection and reveal areas that are beginning to fail after one year since the last inspection.

My annual inspection for $180.00 includes the following:

1. Roof :  Inspect the roof covering and flashing around chimneys and wall junctions, including vent pipe boots, ventilation hoods or ridge vents, and look for conditions such as cracking, failing caulking, nail heads lifting and debris or tree limbs encroaching on roofline, etc.

2. Attic: Inspect the attic for leaks or leak signs. Note any discoveries of any other components in attic that may be failing or need attention, such as intrusion of rodents, frayed or damaged wiring, drip pan obstructions for air handlers, thermostatically controlled fans (if any), direct daylight, etc.

3. Exterior walk through: A general walk around observing the exterior for signs of a problem occurring. This may involve leak signs, tree limb growth, drainage problem signs, nail lifting and failing caulk.

4. Interior: Observe the walls and floors and ceilings for signs of a problem. Inspect under every sink and around toilets for leaks, including the bath floor covering at seams and along tub. Remove electrical panel and inspect for signs of over heating or loose wiring.

5. Basement or crawlspace: Inspect for leaks from plumbing, condensation or moisture intrusion.

By inspecting major components in your home once a year, you can potentially save hundreds or thousands of dollars by alerting you of problems when they start, affording the opportunity to correct a small problem rather than a large problem.

Please consider putting my name and number on your calendar next year and call me for an annual inspection.

    Mold can hide in many locations in a home and it can cause a variety of health concerns. With this inspection we can determine if there is actually mold growing and if so what would be the best course of action to eliminate this source of health concern. This inspection requires samples be taken and sent to a labratory to be analyzed.

Indoor Air Quality

Signs of indoor air quality problems include:

• Unusual and noticeable odors.

• Stale or stuffy air.

• Noticeable lack of air movement.

• Dirty or faulty central heating or air conditioning equipment.

• Damaged flue pipes or chimneys.

• Unvented combustion air sources for fossil fuel appliances.

• Excessive humidity.

• Presence of molds and mildew.

• Health reaction after remodeling, weatherizing, using new furniture, using household and hobby products, or moving into a new home.

• Feeling noticeably healthier outside.

Radon (Rn)

Odorless, but deadly. Radon is a cancer-causing natural radioactive gas that you can’t see, smell or taste. Its presence in your home can pose a danger to your family's health. Radon is the leading cause of lung cancer among non-smokers. Radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer in America and claims about 20,000 lives annually.  EPA has launched a new series of television, radio and print public service announcements encouraging people to test and fix their homes for radon. This is a good time to focus on testing and on fixing homes with a radon level of 4 pCi/L or more.  Heed the Surgeon General's warning. Take action now to reduce your family's risk of lung cancer from radon! Why take a chance if it exists in your house?  Have peace of mind with this monitor/measuring service.

Lung cancer kills thousands of Americans every year. The untimely deaths of Peter Jennings and Dana Reeve have raised public awareness about lung cancer, especially among people who have never smoked. Smoking, radon, and secondhand smoke are the leading causes of lung cancer. Although lung cancer can be treated, the survival rate is one of the lowest for those with cancer. From the time of diagnosis, between 11 and 15 percent of those afflicted will live beyond five years, depending upon demographic factors. In many cases lung cancer can be prevented; this is especially true for radon.

Radon is a Radioactive Gas
Radon is a radioactive element that is part of the radioactive decay chain of naturally occurring uranium in soil. You can’t see radon.  You can’t smell radon and you can’t taste radon. Unlike carbon monoxide and many other home pollutants, radon's adverse health effect, lung cancer, is usually not produced immediately.  Thus you may be exposed to radon for many years without ever suspecting its presence in your home.
The USEPA action level for radon is 4.0 picocuries per liter of air (pCi/L).  The risk of developing lung cancer at 4.0 pCi/L is estimated at about 7 lung cancer deaths per 1000 persons.  That is why USEPA and IEMA recommends reducing your radon level if the concentration is 4.0 pCi/L or more.  Lung cancer in humans arising from radon exposure is recognized by the following health and environmental organizations:

•     American Medical Association
•     U.S. Surgeon General
•     U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
•     U.S. Public Health Service
•     U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
•     Center for Disease Control
•     National Academy of Science
•     National Cancer Institute
•     World Health Organization

You Should Test for Radon
While scientists can estimate the approximate lung cancer deaths per 1000 people, no single individual's risk can be estimated.  Testing is relatively inexpensive, easy and is the only way to know whether you are at risk.

Radon reduction techniques are used to stop radon entry and reduce indoor radon concentrations.  IEMA recommends hiring a licensed Mitigation Professional to reduce your indoor radon concentrations, as you would hire a licensed plumber, HVAC or other specialist

Trained mitigators using specialized equipment can discover where radon is entering and advise homeowners on the best way to reduce radon concentrations.  The most common technique used by radon reduction firms is called "subslab depressurization" (SSD) and does not require major renovations. Post-mitigation testing must be performed to determine the effectiveness of the mitigation system. 

The cost of an active mitigation system is typically between $800 to $1200 for installation, and the energy cost for running the fan will average around $100 per year.

For individuals and companies building new homes IEMA recommends installation of Passive Radon Reduction Systems during construction; homeowner testing after taking residence; and mitigation, as indicated by the test results.  The International Code Council outlined radon control methods in their One and Two Family Dwelling Code since 1995.  Some Illinois towns concerned about residential radon concentrations have adopted the International Code, making passive radon resistant new construction mandatory for new single-family dwellings in their areas.

Visit the EPA website for more information on radon gas. Click here

     Illinois State License # RNI2007212               IAC2 Cert. # IAC2-01-2000

Termite Control in the Home

Wood destroying insects and other organisms can cause serious problems in the wood structural components of a house and may go undetected for a long period of time.

Subterranean termites are the most damaging insects of wood. Their presence is hard to notice and damage usually is found before the termites are seen. Prevent infestations because if they occur they will almost always need professional pest control service.

Generally, the first sign of infestation is the presence of swarming termites on the window or near indoor light. If they are found inside the house, it almost always means that they have infested. Other signs that may be found are termite wings on window sills or in cobwebs, and shelter tubes which are tunnels constructed by the termites from soil or wood and debris. Usually, wood damage is not found at first, but when it is found it definitely reveals a termite infestation. Anywhere wood touches soil is a possible entry into a home for termites. Examine wood which sounds dull or hollow when struck by a screwdriver or hammer. Inspect suspected areas with a sharp, pointed tool such as an ice pick to find termite galleries or their damage.

Local or spot treatment with pesticides involves drilling and injecting pesticides into infested timbers, as well as the topical application of toxic chemicals. The electric current method involves delivering electric energy to targeted infestations. For the extreme cold method, liquid nitrogen is pumped into wall voids adjacent to suspected infestation sites, reducing the area to -20°F. The localized heat method involves heating infested structural timbers to 120°F. The microwave method kills termites by directing microwaves into termite-infested wood.

All homes have bugs! A lot of them look alike. Some are beneficial and some are detrimental. Many wood destroying insects by themselves may not look all that harmful, but once a colony is started they become very hungry and active. If all the ingredients are in place they can do major structural damage, much will be unseen until it is too late. This inspection will  find out if those little critters are around the house.

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Manufactured homes are fine homes, but more often than not they were constructed using the lower grade materials available to keep costs down. In the past this choice of using lower grade materials has come back to haunt the home owner. Having lived in and worked on manufactured homes for several years I know what to look for and where to spot potential problems. 

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A 4 Point Inspection is basically for insurance purposes. This inspection is typically performed for a homeowner when requested by their insurance company to obtain a new insurance policy or to renew an existing policy. A 4 Point Inspection is far less in scope than a standard home inspection. This 4 Point Inspection is a limited, visual survey of the heating/air conditioning system, roof system, electrical system, and plumbing system.

Well Sampling      

 Standard test:

           Coliform & Nitrate wo/Pesticide test

          Coliform & Nitrate w/Pesticide test

               Other tests are available upon request... call for a quote     

Wells most at risk of pesticide contamination are shallow or old, located close to areas of pesticide use or storage, and located in geologically sensitive areas, such as sand plains or “karst” bedrock areas. Wells that have elevated levels of nitrate are also more likely to have detectable levels of pesticides. Long-term exposure to some pesticides at levels above health standards may affect the development of the nervous system. If you have an old or shallow well and you live in an agricultural area, or if your well has a an elevated nitrate level, consider testing your well water for one or more of  the pesticides used most frequently in your area.

       Lab screening for pesticides = extra cost