Ask The Tennessee Home Inspector

  I have had a continuing problem with Flying Squirrels over the last several years.   It seems that they like my home because it is a Log Home in a wooded setting near a large body of water.   I have posted about this problem before and recommended trapping them and relocating them.   However; in my case at least, either there are new squirrels showing up, or, I am not able to trap them all.   The problem was keeping me up at night, as I could hear chewing outside my home. For those of you who can't sleep due to Chewing at night, I want to share my newest all natural solution to this problem.   It also works for other nocturnal flying mammals.     I was visiting my niece and nephews home, when my nephew showed me this video he used to entertain his kids.   It was a YouTube video of owls and crickets.   While I was listening to this, I thought to myself, I wander if this could be used to attract Owls to my property and help me with m...

  We have seen first time home buyers make some critical errors in regard to the home inspection process that can cost them money and aggravation. We offer the following advice as a guide to help you avoid those mistakes.   1- Not Having a Home Inspection: Some people do this to keep from spending 100s of dollars, but end up potentially costing themselves 1000s   It makes no sense.   2-Allowing the Seller to do repairs on Home Inspection findings.   The Seller has an incentive to use the lowest bidder to do repairs; or worse, do the repairs themselves.   In this case, the warranty on the work may not transfer to the new owner after the closing happens, then you are stuck with inferior work and little recourse.   Sometimes Real Estate Agents will ask Us to inspect after the repairs are completed by a Seller.   We don't recommend this as most of the time, we end up having to throw off on the repair, costing the buyer additional money; and ma...