- GFCI
- Ground-fault circuit interrupter. Protects people from shock by tripping at about 5 mA of leakage to ground. Required near water: bathrooms, kitchens, garages, exterior, basements.
- AFCI
- Arc-fault circuit interrupter. Protects the home from fire by detecting dangerous arcing in branch-circuit wiring. Common on living-area circuits in newer homes.
- GFCI trip threshold
- About 5 milliamperes of current leaking to ground — the level chosen to protect a person from a dangerous shock.
- GFCI vs AFCI memory hook
- GFCI guards Ground faults (shock to people); AFCI guards Arc faults (fire in the home). Different hazards.
- Material defect
- A condition that significantly affects a home's value, safety, or habitability — judged by its effect, not by the cost to repair it.
- AFUE
- Annual fuel utilization efficiency — the % of a furnace's fuel energy converted to usable heat over a season. 80% AFUE loses ~20% up the flue.
- P-trap water seal depth
- 2 to 4 inches. The standing water blocks sewer gas from entering the home; a vent keeps the seal from being siphoned dry.
- TPR valve discharge pipe
- Runs downward, ends near the floor or an approved drain, left open and unthreaded, full size. Never capped, reduced, or routed uphill.
- Horizontal foundation crack
- Especially with inward bowing, signals lateral soil/water pressure — a structural concern. More serious than a vertical shrinkage crack.
- Weep holes (brick veneer)
- Openings at the base of brick veneer that let water in the air space behind the brick drain out. Must stay open; blocking them is a defect.
- NHIE exam scope
- A visual, non-invasive inspection of the ten home systems, plus analysis/reporting and business operations. 200 questions, 4 hours.
- Grade slope away from foundation
- About 6 inches of fall over the first 10 feet, so surface water drains away from the house instead of toward it.
- Swale
- A shallow drainage channel that redirects surface runoff away from a building or across a property.
- Retaining wall leaning/bulging
- Lateral soil and water pressure has exceeded the wall's capacity, often from blocked drainage. Weep holes relieve that pressure.
- Granule loss on asphalt shingles
- Exposes the asphalt to UV, so it deteriorates faster — a sign the roof is near the end of its service life.
- Curling/lifting shingles
- Broken seal that lets wind-driven rain get underneath and leak; the shingles are also prone to blow-off.
- Asphalt shingles on a low slope
- Unsuitable — shingles shed water by overlapping and need slope. Low-slope roofs need membrane or built-up systems.
- Flashing
- Metal/membrane at roof and wall transitions (valleys, eaves, sidewalls, chimneys) that directs water away from joints. A top leak source when missing or damaged.
- Chimney cricket (saddle)
- A small peaked structure on the high (up-slope) side of a chimney that diverts water and debris around it to prevent pooling and leaks.
- Drip edge flashing
- Flashing at roof eaves and rakes that directs runoff into the gutter and away from the fascia and underlying wood.
- Open metal valley
- Channels the concentrated runoff where two roof slopes meet down to the eave; a durable way to handle heavy water flow.
- Failed thermal seal (window)
- A permanent foggy/cloudy appearance trapped between the panes of a double-pane window — the insulating gas seal has failed.
- Barrier EIFS concern
- Older barrier-type synthetic stucco can trap moisture behind it; inspectors watch terminations and penetrations closely.
- Peeling paint on wood siding
- Most often indicates a moisture problem in or behind the siding rather than just old paint.
- Soil above brick-veneer weep holes
- Blocks drainage from the air space behind the brick, trapping moisture — a reportable defect.
- Vertical hairline foundation crack
- Narrow, near center, no offset — usually a normal concrete shrinkage crack, typically not structural.
- Differential settlement
- Different parts of a foundation move downward by different amounts, distorting the structure and cracking walls.
- Stair-step crack in block wall
- Cracking that follows the mortar joints of a concrete-block foundation, often a sign of differential settlement.
- Anchor bolts
- Connect the wood sill plate to the foundation, resisting lateral and uplift (wind/seismic) forces that would shift the structure off its base.
- Sill plate inspection concern
- Checked for earth-to-wood contact and decay; it transfers the structure's load to the foundation, so deterioration is serious.
- Sagging or springy floor
- Indicates undersized, over-spanned, or damaged floor framing that needs further evaluation.
- Joist notching/boring rule
- Holes and notches must stay away from the top and bottom edges, where bending stress is highest, to avoid weakening the joist.
- Lally column
- A steel column (often concrete-filled) that provides permanent support under a beam or girder in a basement.
- Sistering a joist
- Adding a matching member alongside a weakened or damaged joist to reinforce it.
- Collar / rafter ties
- Framing members that resist roof spreading by tying opposing rafters together near the ridge or at the ceiling.
- Truss uplift
- A seasonal gap that appears between interior partition tops and the ceiling as trusses arch from moisture differences.
- Lintel
- The structural member above a window or door opening in a masonry wall that carries the load over the opening.
- Repointing
- Replacing deteriorated mortar joints in a brick or block wall; needed when joints crumble or erode, which weakens the wall.
- Efflorescence
- White powdery mineral deposit left when water moves through masonry and evaporates. A symptom of moisture, not the problem itself.
- Spalling concrete
- Surface flaking and chipping that exposes aggregate, often from freeze-thaw cycles or moisture in the concrete.
- Pier-and-beam foundation
- Supports the structure on piers and beams over a crawl space, rather than on a continuous slab or full basement wall.
- Frost heave
- Soil expansion from freezing moisture that lifts shallow foundations and slabs; footings below the frost line avoid it.
- Typical minimum service size
- A modern single-family home usually has at least a 100-amp electrical service.
- Grounding electrode system
- Ties the electrical system to earth (ground rod or Ufer electrode) to stabilize voltage and dissipate surges. Not a normal current-carrying path.
- Main bonding jumper
- Connects the neutral (grounded) conductor to the equipment ground at the service, establishing the system's ground reference.
- Subpanel neutral/ground rule
- In a detached or remote subpanel, the neutral and ground bus must be kept separate (isolated), unlike at the main service.
- Federal Pacific Stab-Lok panel
- Flagged as an overcurrent-protection reliability concern — breakers that may fail to trip on overload or short circuit.
- 20-amp breaker on 15-amp wire
- A defect: the breaker can let the undersized wire overheat before it trips. Protection must match the smallest conductor.
- 14 AWG copper
- The conductor size typically used for a standard 15-amp lighting/receptacle branch circuit. 20-amp circuits use 12 AWG.
- Aluminum branch wiring
- Solid aluminum wiring (1960s–1970s) that can overheat at connections; flagged for compatible CO/ALR devices or correction.
- Knob-and-tube wiring
- Obsolete wiring with separate hot and neutral on ceramic knobs/tubes. Often flagged; covering it with attic insulation traps its heat.
- Confirming a GFCI's coverage
- Trip the GFCI device and check which downstream receptacles lose power — voltage or color tells you nothing about load-side protection.
- Open splices
- Wires twisted and taped outside a covered junction box are a defect; splices must be made inside an accessible, covered box.
- Double-tapped breaker
- Two conductors under one breaker terminal not rated for it — a common panel defect that can loosen and overheat.
- Missing circuit directory
- A panel with no labeling of which breaker serves what; reported because it hinders safe operation and emergency shutoff.
- Rust/water staining in a panel
- Indicates moisture intrusion, which can corrode connections and create a shock or fire hazard.
- Equipment grounding conductor
- During a ground fault it provides a low-resistance path back to the source so the breaker trips quickly.
- CSST bonding
- Corrugated stainless steel tubing gas piping is often required to be bonded to the electrical grounding system to reduce lightning-arc risk.
- Tamper-resistant receptacles
- Receptacles with internal shutters that block foreign objects, intended to protect children from shock.
- Service-drop roof clearance
- Overhead service conductors must maintain required clearance above roofs, decks, and the ground for safety.
- Polybutylene piping
- Gray plastic supply pipe (~1978–1995) that becomes brittle and fails at fittings. Insurers often flag or decline to cover it.
- Galvanized steel pipe concern
- Corrodes internally over time, restricting flow and producing rusty water until the tap clears.
- Air gap (backflow)
- A physical vertical separation between a faucet outlet and the flood-level rim — the simplest, most reliable backflow protection.
- Hose-bibb vacuum breaker
- An anti-siphon device on an exterior faucet that admits air to break siphonage, preventing contaminated water backflow.
- High water pressure (>80 psi)
- Stresses pipes, fittings, and appliance valves, causing leaks and premature failure. A pressure-reducing valve is the remedy.
- Main water shutoff
- Located so occupants can stop the water supply quickly in a plumbing emergency, limiting damage from a leak or burst pipe.
- Drain line slope
- About 1/4 inch of fall per foot — enough to carry solids and liquids without water outrunning the solids.
- Water hammer
- A loud banging in pipes when fast-moving water is stopped abruptly. Arrestors or air chambers absorb the shock.
- Gurgling/slow drainage at many fixtures
- Points to a venting or main-drain problem rather than a single fixture clog.
- Sacrificial anode rod
- A rod inside a storage water heater that corrodes in place of the steel tank, extending the tank's life.
- Water heater sediment
- Sediment at the tank bottom insulates it from the burner, lowering efficiency, causing rumbling, and accelerating corrosion.
- Thermal expansion tank
- Absorbs the pressure increase as water heats in a closed plumbing system, protecting the heater and piping.
- Reduced TPR discharge pipe
- A defect: making the discharge pipe smaller than the valve outlet restricts relief flow and can prevent safe pressure relief.
- Tankless water heater descaling
- On-demand heaters need periodic flushing in hard-water areas because mineral scale builds up on the heat exchanger.
- Cross-connection / backflow
- A connection that could let contaminated water be drawn back into the potable supply. Prevented by air gaps and backflow preventers.
- Functional drainage
- An inspector evaluates a fixture's drainage by running water and confirming it drains adequately without backing up.
- Saddle valve concern
- An improvised pierce-the-pipe connection prone to leaking; often noted as a low-quality, failure-prone fitting.
- Refrigeration cycle order
- Compressor → condenser → metering device → evaporator. The refrigerant moves heat from inside to outside; AC doesn't make cold.
- Metering device (AC)
- The expansion valve or capillary tube that drops refrigerant pressure and temperature sharply just before the indoor coil.
- Sensible vs latent heat
- Sensible heat changes air temperature; latent heat is moisture energy. An AC removes both, which is why it also dehumidifies.
- Evaporator coil
- The indoor coil where cold refrigerant absorbs heat and moisture from the air before returning to the compressor.
- Condenser coil
- The outdoor coil where hot, high-pressure refrigerant releases heat to the outside air and condenses to a liquid.
- Complete gas combustion byproducts
- Mainly carbon dioxide and water vapor. Carbon monoxide and soot signal incomplete, unsafe combustion.
- Soot at a draft hood
- Indicates incomplete combustion and possible flue-gas spillage into the room — a serious safety condition.
- Cracked heat exchanger
- A crack in the furnace component separating combustion gases from house air can leak carbon monoxide indoors — a serious defect.
- Carbon monoxide danger
- A colorless, odorless gas from incomplete combustion that binds to blood far more readily than oxygen, poisoning occupants without warning.
- Condensing furnace
- A high-efficiency (90%+ AFUE) furnace with a secondary heat exchanger that extracts extra heat and produces acidic condensate.
- Hydronic heating
- A system that heats water in a boiler and circulates it through pipes to radiators or baseboard convectors.
- R-value
- A measure of insulation's resistance to heat flow. Higher R-values insulate better. Compression and thermal bridging reduce it.
- Thermal bridging
- Heat conducted around insulation through framing (studs), lowering a wall's overall insulating performance.
- Vapor retarder
- A material that slows moisture movement through an assembly. Its placement depends on climate; two barriers can trap moisture.
- Balanced attic ventilation
- Roughly equal low (soffit) intake and high (ridge) exhaust so air flows up the underside of the roof, carrying moisture out.
- Exhaust fan termination
- Bathroom and kitchen exhaust fans must vent to the outside, never into the attic, to avoid dumping moisture there.
- Visible mold means...
- The presence of excess moisture. Controlling the moisture source — not just cleaning the surface — is what solves it.
- Heat flow direction
- Heat always flows naturally from hot to cold. Heating and cooling systems work by moving or adding heat against comfort needs.
- Guard height
- Required where a walking surface drops more than about 30 inches; commonly 36 inches high, with balusters spaced so a 4-inch sphere can't pass.
- Egress opening
- An emergency escape and rescue opening required in sleeping rooms and finished basements — a second way out independent of the stairs.
- Consistent stair dimensions
- Risers and treads must be uniform across a flight; inconsistent steps cause trips and falls.
- Safety glazing
- Tempered or laminated glass required near stairs, doors, and tubs where a fall against ordinary glass could cause serious lacerations.
- Garage auto-reverse test
- Place an object in the door's path and confirm it reverses on contact, and that the photo-eye sensors stop the door.
- Interconnected smoke alarms
- When one alarm senses smoke, all sound, warning occupants throughout the home — safer than standalone units.
- Smoke alarm replacement age
- About 10 years, because the alarm's sensing element degrades over time and becomes less reliable.
- CO alarm placement
- Near sleeping areas, and not directly above or beside a fuel-burning appliance, so it isn't tripped by normal startup.
- Chimney liner
- Contains combustion gases and protects the masonry; required for a masonry chimney serving a wood-burning appliance.
- Spark arrestor
- A screen at the chimney termination that keeps burning embers from escaping and igniting nearby materials.
- Cracked chimney crown
- The concrete top of a masonry chimney; when cracked it lets water into the masonry, causing freeze-thaw damage.
- Direct-vent fireplace
- Draws combustion air from outside and exhausts to outside through a sealed system, isolating combustion from room air.
- Wood stove clearance
- A stove installed too close to a combustible wall without proper clearance or shielding is a fire hazard.
- Dishwasher high loop / air gap
- Prevents drain water from backing up into the dishwasher; a drain line without one is a contamination concern.
- Pool equipotential bonding
- Ties metal parts around a pool together so they're at the same electrical potential, preventing shock hazards.
- Daisy-chained power strips
- Chaining multiple strips/adapters overloads circuits and is a fire hazard; usually signals too few receptacles.
- Recirculating range hood
- Filters and returns kitchen air to the room rather than venting outside; less effective at removing moisture and odors.
- Standards of practice
- The written rules defining the minimum scope of an inspection — which systems are inspected and which tasks fall outside it.
- Non-invasive inspection
- A visual inspection of accessible components that doesn't require dismantling or destructive probing.
- Further evaluation recommendation
- Advising that a qualified specialist assess a condition; a good one names the appropriate professional (e.g., a licensed electrician).
- Precise, actionable finding
- States the condition, its location, and the system — e.g., 'active leak at the supply connection under the primary bathroom sink.'
- Severity classification
- Sorting findings into immediate safety hazard, repair, or maintenance/monitor — judged by effect on the home, not cost.
- Inspection report limitations
- The report states what was and wasn't inspected and why — a visual inspection of accessible components at one point in time.
- Reporting an immediate safety hazard
- Highlight it prominently and state its safety significance and recommended prompt action — never bury it among cosmetic notes.
- Pre-inspection agreement
- The contract signed before the inspection defining the services, scope, limitations, and terms between inspector and client.
- Standard of care
- The negligence benchmark: the conduct of a reasonably competent home inspector under similar circumstances.
- E&O insurance
- Errors and omissions coverage that protects against claims of professional mistakes or missed defects — failures in the service itself.
- E&O vs general liability
- E&O covers professional errors/missed defects; general liability covers bodily injury or property damage the inspector causes.
- Claims-made E&O policy
- Covers a claim only if both the inspection and the claim fall within the policy period; tail/prior-acts coverage preserves protection.
- Conflict of interest
- A competing interest that could compromise impartial judgment — e.g., also owning the company hired to repair the defects found.
- Disclosing a conflict of interest
- Disclosure, not concealment, is the ethical response; it lets the client judge the inspector's objectivity.
- Undisclosed referral fee
- Taking a hidden fee for steering clients to a contractor creates a biasing incentive — a conflict of interest to avoid.
- Outside standard inspection scope
- Determining remaining useful life with certainty, code enforcement, repair cost estimates, and warranties are generally outside scope.
- Inspector reports, not repairs
- The inspector identifies and reports defects but does not repair them on the spot or step outside the agreed scope.
- Inspection date as required content
- Anchors the findings to the day the conditions were observed, since a home's condition can change over time.
