Your FREE NHIE Flashcards 2026 – 100+ Cards

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.

A visual, non-invasive inspection of the ten home systems, plus analysis/reporting and business operations. 200 questions, 4 hours.

About 6 inches of fall over the first 10 feet, so surface water drains away from the house instead of toward it.

A shallow drainage channel that redirects surface runoff away from a building or across a property.

Lateral soil and water pressure has exceeded the wall's capacity, often from blocked drainage. Weep holes relieve that pressure.

Exposes the asphalt to UV, so it deteriorates faster — a sign the roof is near the end of its service life.

Broken seal that lets wind-driven rain get underneath and leak; the shingles are also prone to blow-off.

Unsuitable — shingles shed water by overlapping and need slope. Low-slope roofs need membrane or built-up systems.

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.

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.

Flashing at roof eaves and rakes that directs runoff into the gutter and away from the fascia and underlying wood.

Channels the concentrated runoff where two roof slopes meet down to the eave; a durable way to handle heavy water flow.

A permanent foggy/cloudy appearance trapped between the panes of a double-pane window — the insulating gas seal has failed.

Older barrier-type synthetic stucco can trap moisture behind it; inspectors watch terminations and penetrations closely.

Most often indicates a moisture problem in or behind the siding rather than just old paint.

Blocks drainage from the air space behind the brick, trapping moisture — a reportable defect.

Especially with inward bowing, signals lateral soil/water pressure — a structural concern. More serious than a vertical shrinkage crack.

Narrow, near center, no offset — usually a normal concrete shrinkage crack, typically not structural.

Different parts of a foundation move downward by different amounts, distorting the structure and cracking walls.

Cracking that follows the mortar joints of a concrete-block foundation, often a sign of differential settlement.

Connect the wood sill plate to the foundation, resisting lateral and uplift (wind/seismic) forces that would shift the structure off its base.

Checked for earth-to-wood contact and decay; it transfers the structure's load to the foundation, so deterioration is serious.

Indicates undersized, over-spanned, or damaged floor framing that needs further evaluation.

Holes and notches must stay away from the top and bottom edges, where bending stress is highest, to avoid weakening the joist.

A steel column (often concrete-filled) that provides permanent support under a beam or girder in a basement.

Adding a matching member alongside a weakened or damaged joist to reinforce it.

Framing members that resist roof spreading by tying opposing rafters together near the ridge or at the ceiling.

A seasonal gap that appears between interior partition tops and the ceiling as trusses arch from moisture differences.

The structural member above a window or door opening in a masonry wall that carries the load over the opening.

Replacing deteriorated mortar joints in a brick or block wall; needed when joints crumble or erode, which weakens the wall.

White powdery mineral deposit left when water moves through masonry and evaporates. A symptom of moisture, not the problem itself.

Surface flaking and chipping that exposes aggregate, often from freeze-thaw cycles or moisture in the concrete.

Supports the structure on piers and beams over a crawl space, rather than on a continuous slab or full basement wall.

Soil expansion from freezing moisture that lifts shallow foundations and slabs; footings below the frost line avoid it.

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.

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.

About 5 milliamperes of current leaking to ground — the level chosen to protect a person from a dangerous shock.

GFCI guards Ground faults (shock to people); AFCI guards Arc faults (fire in the home). Different hazards.

A modern single-family home usually has at least a 100-amp electrical service.

Ties the electrical system to earth (ground rod or Ufer electrode) to stabilize voltage and dissipate surges. Not a normal current-carrying path.

Connects the neutral (grounded) conductor to the equipment ground at the service, establishing the system's ground reference.

In a detached or remote subpanel, the neutral and ground bus must be kept separate (isolated), unlike at the main service.

Flagged as an overcurrent-protection reliability concern — breakers that may fail to trip on overload or short circuit.

A defect: the breaker can let the undersized wire overheat before it trips. Protection must match the smallest conductor.

The conductor size typically used for a standard 15-amp lighting/receptacle branch circuit. 20-amp circuits use 12 AWG.

Solid aluminum wiring (1960s–1970s) that can overheat at connections; flagged for compatible CO/ALR devices or correction.

Obsolete wiring with separate hot and neutral on ceramic knobs/tubes. Often flagged; covering it with attic insulation traps its heat.

Trip the GFCI device and check which downstream receptacles lose power — voltage or color tells you nothing about load-side protection.

Wires twisted and taped outside a covered junction box are a defect; splices must be made inside an accessible, covered box.

Two conductors under one breaker terminal not rated for it — a common panel defect that can loosen and overheat.

A panel with no labeling of which breaker serves what; reported because it hinders safe operation and emergency shutoff.

Indicates moisture intrusion, which can corrode connections and create a shock or fire hazard.

During a ground fault it provides a low-resistance path back to the source so the breaker trips quickly.

Corrugated stainless steel tubing gas piping is often required to be bonded to the electrical grounding system to reduce lightning-arc risk.

Receptacles with internal shutters that block foreign objects, intended to protect children from shock.

Overhead service conductors must maintain required clearance above roofs, decks, and the ground for safety.

2 to 4 inches. The standing water blocks sewer gas from entering the home; a vent keeps the seal from being siphoned dry.

Runs downward, ends near the floor or an approved drain, left open and unthreaded, full size. Never capped, reduced, or routed uphill.

Gray plastic supply pipe (~1978–1995) that becomes brittle and fails at fittings. Insurers often flag or decline to cover it.

Corrodes internally over time, restricting flow and producing rusty water until the tap clears.

A physical vertical separation between a faucet outlet and the flood-level rim — the simplest, most reliable backflow protection.

An anti-siphon device on an exterior faucet that admits air to break siphonage, preventing contaminated water backflow.

Stresses pipes, fittings, and appliance valves, causing leaks and premature failure. A pressure-reducing valve is the remedy.

Located so occupants can stop the water supply quickly in a plumbing emergency, limiting damage from a leak or burst pipe.

About 1/4 inch of fall per foot — enough to carry solids and liquids without water outrunning the solids.

A loud banging in pipes when fast-moving water is stopped abruptly. Arrestors or air chambers absorb the shock.

Points to a venting or main-drain problem rather than a single fixture clog.

A rod inside a storage water heater that corrodes in place of the steel tank, extending the tank's life.

Sediment at the tank bottom insulates it from the burner, lowering efficiency, causing rumbling, and accelerating corrosion.

Absorbs the pressure increase as water heats in a closed plumbing system, protecting the heater and piping.

A defect: making the discharge pipe smaller than the valve outlet restricts relief flow and can prevent safe pressure relief.

On-demand heaters need periodic flushing in hard-water areas because mineral scale builds up on the heat exchanger.

A connection that could let contaminated water be drawn back into the potable supply. Prevented by air gaps and backflow preventers.

An inspector evaluates a fixture's drainage by running water and confirming it drains adequately without backing up.

An improvised pierce-the-pipe connection prone to leaking; often noted as a low-quality, failure-prone fitting.

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.

Compressor → condenser → metering device → evaporator. The refrigerant moves heat from inside to outside; AC doesn't make cold.

The expansion valve or capillary tube that drops refrigerant pressure and temperature sharply just before the indoor coil.

Sensible heat changes air temperature; latent heat is moisture energy. An AC removes both, which is why it also dehumidifies.

The indoor coil where cold refrigerant absorbs heat and moisture from the air before returning to the compressor.

The outdoor coil where hot, high-pressure refrigerant releases heat to the outside air and condenses to a liquid.

Mainly carbon dioxide and water vapor. Carbon monoxide and soot signal incomplete, unsafe combustion.

Indicates incomplete combustion and possible flue-gas spillage into the room — a serious safety condition.

A crack in the furnace component separating combustion gases from house air can leak carbon monoxide indoors — a serious defect.

A colorless, odorless gas from incomplete combustion that binds to blood far more readily than oxygen, poisoning occupants without warning.

A high-efficiency (90%+ AFUE) furnace with a secondary heat exchanger that extracts extra heat and produces acidic condensate.

A system that heats water in a boiler and circulates it through pipes to radiators or baseboard convectors.

A measure of insulation's resistance to heat flow. Higher R-values insulate better. Compression and thermal bridging reduce it.

Heat conducted around insulation through framing (studs), lowering a wall's overall insulating performance.

A material that slows moisture movement through an assembly. Its placement depends on climate; two barriers can trap moisture.

Roughly equal low (soffit) intake and high (ridge) exhaust so air flows up the underside of the roof, carrying moisture out.

Bathroom and kitchen exhaust fans must vent to the outside, never into the attic, to avoid dumping moisture there.

The presence of excess moisture. Controlling the moisture source — not just cleaning the surface — is what solves it.

Heat always flows naturally from hot to cold. Heating and cooling systems work by moving or adding heat against comfort needs.

A condition that significantly affects a home's value, safety, or habitability — judged by its effect, not by the cost to repair it.

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.

An emergency escape and rescue opening required in sleeping rooms and finished basements — a second way out independent of the stairs.

Risers and treads must be uniform across a flight; inconsistent steps cause trips and falls.

Tempered or laminated glass required near stairs, doors, and tubs where a fall against ordinary glass could cause serious lacerations.

Place an object in the door's path and confirm it reverses on contact, and that the photo-eye sensors stop the door.

When one alarm senses smoke, all sound, warning occupants throughout the home — safer than standalone units.

About 10 years, because the alarm's sensing element degrades over time and becomes less reliable.

Near sleeping areas, and not directly above or beside a fuel-burning appliance, so it isn't tripped by normal startup.

Contains combustion gases and protects the masonry; required for a masonry chimney serving a wood-burning appliance.

A screen at the chimney termination that keeps burning embers from escaping and igniting nearby materials.

The concrete top of a masonry chimney; when cracked it lets water into the masonry, causing freeze-thaw damage.

Draws combustion air from outside and exhausts to outside through a sealed system, isolating combustion from room air.

A stove installed too close to a combustible wall without proper clearance or shielding is a fire hazard.

Prevents drain water from backing up into the dishwasher; a drain line without one is a contamination concern.

Ties metal parts around a pool together so they're at the same electrical potential, preventing shock hazards.

Chaining multiple strips/adapters overloads circuits and is a fire hazard; usually signals too few receptacles.

Filters and returns kitchen air to the room rather than venting outside; less effective at removing moisture and odors.

The written rules defining the minimum scope of an inspection — which systems are inspected and which tasks fall outside it.

A visual inspection of accessible components that doesn't require dismantling or destructive probing.

Advising that a qualified specialist assess a condition; a good one names the appropriate professional (e.g., a licensed electrician).

States the condition, its location, and the system — e.g., 'active leak at the supply connection under the primary bathroom sink.'

Sorting findings into immediate safety hazard, repair, or maintenance/monitor — judged by effect on the home, not cost.

The report states what was and wasn't inspected and why — a visual inspection of accessible components at one point in time.

Highlight it prominently and state its safety significance and recommended prompt action — never bury it among cosmetic notes.

The contract signed before the inspection defining the services, scope, limitations, and terms between inspector and client.

The negligence benchmark: the conduct of a reasonably competent home inspector under similar circumstances.

Errors and omissions coverage that protects against claims of professional mistakes or missed defects — failures in the service itself.

E&O covers professional errors/missed defects; general liability covers bodily injury or property damage the inspector causes.

Covers a claim only if both the inspection and the claim fall within the policy period; tail/prior-acts coverage preserves protection.

A competing interest that could compromise impartial judgment — e.g., also owning the company hired to repair the defects found.

Disclosure, not concealment, is the ethical response; it lets the client judge the inspector's objectivity.

Taking a hidden fee for steering clients to a contractor creates a biasing incentive — a conflict of interest to avoid.

Determining remaining useful life with certainty, code enforcement, repair cost estimates, and warranties are generally outside scope.

The inspector identifies and reports defects but does not repair them on the spot or step outside the agreed scope.

Anchors the findings to the day the conditions were observed, since a home's condition can change over time.