Your home warranty will be VOID if you don't do this!!! It is exciting when you get to buy your first new home, as it should be. You have saved and worked hard to have just the home you wanted, built with your own preferences and design elements, and you even have a Home Warranty to give you confidence that your new home is a quality product that will last you for decades.  But,what happens when you go to claim a problem with your home, and your claim gets denied because YOU  voided your warranty? Just as with most warranties, such as your car, there are requirements on BOTH sides of the warranty contract. This means there are a multitude of ways in which YOU  could be voiding your warranty without even knowing it. Every builder's warranty has requirements that the homeowner must meet for the home to be covered. In most cases these are common sense maintenance practices that most homeowners do on a regular basis anyway, but these requirements vary from builder ...

People commonly ask what is the best way to ensure my home passes a home inspection. The simple answer is that no home "passes" or "fails" an inspection. The reason is simple - no home is perfect. The best thing you can do to make sure your home inspection goes smoothly, is to address all of the minor issues by doing a walk through and around your home. Many of the most common defects or conditions that we find during a home inspection are relatively minor. It is often much easier and less expensive to fix a few of the small items around your home before the inspection begins. By following these tips, you will not only help your inspection go smoothly, but your home will be in the best condition possible to show to prospective buyers. Lighting One of the first things to do as you prepare your home for inspection or showing is to make sure all the lighting in the home is working properly. Light bulbs are inexpensive and having them all working will bene...

In continuing with our theme of finding ways to save you money, Expert Home inspections is offering this installment of our blog with some tips and maintenance items that will help ensure your appliances are running as efficiently as possible. Despite the fact that we all use our refrigerator multiple times a day, the care and maintenance is often neglected, and yes, there is regular maintenance that needs to be done to keep this important appliance running. The other items listed in this article are more along the lines of “best practices” on how to use the fridge and freezer properly. For more tips and ways to save money, be sure to check out our other blog posts or check out our resources page at  https://expert-home-inspections.com/resources/ Cleaning the Coils Every fridge or freezer has a coil unit which is designed to dissipate the heat the refrigerant is pulling from inside.   You can think of these coils much like the radiator on your car.   The...

In our last post EHI offered you some free ways to save on your utility bills. This time we will step up to the next level of fixes, starting with those you can do for about $5 and with some simple hand tools that most homeowners should have. 1: Add seals to outlets and switches on exterior walls    It is amazing how much air can pass through an outlet our switch located on an exterior wall.  These can be purchased at nearly any hardware store or online, the box pictured below sells on amazon prime for just under $4, and will cover over 2 dozen outlets/switches. These take less than  1 minute to install and require only a simple screwdriver. 2.Caulking windows and doors    Over time weather seals around windows and doors can get old and crack, or simply may be missing.  A tube of clear silicone caulk like pictured below sells for just under $5 at any hardware store and help to seal out large air gaps around window frames and door jams.  ...