Get ready to dive into the second hour of our best-of episodes from 2023, where we’re tackling the oh-so-glamorous topic of indoor air quality. Spoiler alert: it’s not just about keeping your house smelling like a summer breeze; it’s about not suffocating in your own home! We’ll be dishing out some seriously practical tips on how to test your air quality and what in the world to do about those pesky VOCs that are probably lurking in your cleaning supplies. And while Eric G and John are off giving the show a facelift, you can kick back with our favorite moments from December 2023. So grab your coffee (or whatever fuels your DIY spirit) and let’s get that air right before we welcome back the dynamic duo next week!

Gather around, folks, because we're diving headfirst into the chaos of indoor air quality in this second hour of our best of 2023 episode! Eric G and John are taking a little breather, probably somewhere cozy with a cold drink while they plan their glorious return next week, but don’t you worry your pretty little head! We’ve got a fantastic compilation of the best tips and tricks from December, and trust me, you won’t want to miss this! We’re talking about keeping your air fresh during those long winter months when you’re basically living inside like a hermit. Yes, I know, it’s a real treat to learn that your air might be worse than that smelly gym sock you’ve been avoiding. Spoiler alert: testing your indoor air quality is a must, whether your castle is old and charming or just recently built to be airtight like a can of sardines. Eric breaks it down for you, explaining how to test for VOCs, mold, and even that sneaky carbon monoxide that could be lurking around! Who knew air could be so complicated?

But hang on, we’re not done yet! Eric dives deeper into solutions, sharing how to manage humidity levels and the importance of having good ventilation in your home. Because who wants to turn their lovely abode into a moldy swamp? Not us, thank you very much! He gives some handy DIY tips, like creating a budget air cleaner with a box fan and a filter. Easy peasy, right? Let’s just say if you’ve got dust bunnies the size of small dogs, it’s time to take action. From upgrading bathroom fans to ensuring your kitchen range hood actually works (yes, it’s supposed to suck air out, not just look pretty), this episode is packed with golden nuggets of wisdom. And hey, if you think you’re safe from mold in your pristine new home, think again! Eric’s seen it all, and he’s here to make sure you don’t end up with a moldy mess.

So grab your favorite cup of something warm, kick back, and get ready to learn how to breathe easier this winter. And remember, next week, Eric and John will be back with fresh episodes that are guaranteed to be even more entertaining than this one! Stay tuned, my home improvement warriors!

Takeaways:

• This episode dives deep into indoor air quality, which is crucial when we're all stuck inside during the winter months.
• Eric and John share hilarious mishaps and expert tips, making home improvement feel less like a chore and more like a comedy routine.
• They highlight the importance of regular air quality testing, whether you're in a brand new McMansion or an ancient fixer-upper.
• The duo discusses the ins and outs of ventilation systems, making it clear that proper air exchange is key to a healthy home environment.
• You won't want to miss the advice on avoiding common indoor air quality pitfalls, especially if you're planning a DIY project in your basement.
• With Eric's 30 years of experience, listeners get a front-row seat to the wild world of home renovations, complete with laughs and valuable insights.

Links referenced in this episode:

• aroundthehouseonline.com

To get your questions answered by Eric G give us a call in the studio at 833-239-4144 24/7 and Eric G will get back to you and answer your question and you might end up in a future episode of Around the House.

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We love comments and we would love reviews on how this information has helped you on your house! Thanks for listening! For more information about the show head to https://aroundthehouseonline.com/

Information given on the Around the House Show should not be considered construction or design advice for your specific project, nor is it intended to replace consulting at your home or jobsite by a building professional. The views and opinions expressed by those interviewed on the podcast are those of the guests and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the Around the House Show.

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Foreign welcome to around the House with Eric G. Your trusted source for all things home improvement.

Whether you're tackling a DIY project, hiring it out, or just trying to keep your home running smoothly, you're in the right place.

With over 30 years of remodeling experience, certified kitchen designer Eric G takes you behind the scenes with expert advice, industry trends, and the latest innovations for your home.

Home.

It's everything you need to know without the fluff.

Now, here's your host, Eric G. Hey.

There, around the house fans.

Eric G. Here, and I'm thrilled to bring you a special treat this week.

John Dudley and I are out taking a quick break to work on some exciting updates to make this show even better.

Trust me, you're gonna love Revis gems.

So grab a coffee, settle in, and let's dive into the best of around the House.

And don't worry, next week we'll be back with a fresh new version of around the House.

We'll see you next week with a brand new episode.

This is a good one.

Sold on tight.

Welcome to the Round the House show.

This is where we help you get the most out of your home through information and education.

Thanks for joining us today.

If you want to find out more about us here, head to aroundthehouse online.com and you can message me over there or you can find us on social media, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, all of the above right there.

Today, I wanted to talk about making your air quality better in the winter months.

Inside air quality.

When we're stuck inside, the weather's bad is a really important thing.

So let's talk about this a little bit today.

Now, one of the things first that I want to talk about is indoor air quality testing.

And it doesn't matter if you've got a new house or an old house, that's really where you start.

And there's a lot of different ways you can do that.

There's companies that, that you can hire to come in.

You can get ahold of my friend Carolyn Blazowski's company and she can of course, send out an air testing kit to you.

And these are all things that you can do.

And I'll put down in the notes down there where you can find her website to get that air quality test.

And this is really where you want to start trying to figure out what's with your air.

Is it Good?

Is it bad?

How is it now?

They do make a lot of different sensors you could put in that'll give you real time, that'll give you some information.

And that's key, is to figure out what you've got going on.

Because there's a lot of things that can be going on in your air now in your home if you've got an older house.

Those houses were designed to breathe and you didn't have as active ventilation systems.

Nowadays, when we build a brand new house that is airtight, we've gotta have different things like ERV systems, which are energy recovery ventilators, where you're bringing in outside unconditioned air conditioning it and putting inside so you have fresh air.

So that's key.

And so one of the things, when you do an air test that I like to see is free to run the test inside and outside.

So sometimes your air quality can be worse outside.

If you're next to a freeway or next to something that has lower air quality, or you've just got a swamp or something like that, where you've got lots of mold and mildew and things like that, sometimes the air quality can be worse outside than you have inside.

So then maybe ventilating and bringing in air from outside isn't great without some kind of filtration system.

But really the things that you're looking for are like VOCs.

And VOCs are volatile organic compounds.

Those can be found in anything from paints to your.

Those little handy wipes that you buy in the round tubs that we use so much for cleaning up around the house.

Those things there typically give off a ton of VOCs.

And when we were talking to Caroline a few years ago, she was saying that she could just about count how many are in a house by the air quality test of what's given off.

There's.

But really you can have dirt, dust floating around, you can have pet hair and dander, you can have carbon dioxide or worse, carbon monoxide.

You can have other toxins like mold.

You can have other things coming off that are off, gassing, formaldehydes, those kind of things.

And so these are things not alone.

You also got cooking too.

So you could have all the chemicals that are coming off of the food you're cooking.

And yes, when you cook, that does give off chemicals, carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide, if you're not careful.

So these are things that we want to really pay attention to when we're cooking.

Now these are all different things that you can do and manage.

And so that's what I really wanted to talk about today.

For instance, here, when we're talking VOCs.

And this is something I have to give Caroline a lot of credit for.

I learned a lot from her on this subject.

But here's the thing.

When you have VOCs that can be from a lot of different things, that can be maybe the air freshener that you have plugged in, and I'm not a fan of the indoor plug in air fresheners that give off the oils and stuff you think about that's almost like vaping.

You're putting out this colored oil out there for you to breathe, not a fan.

You're better to get the house clean and use something more natural.

But really, VOCs are going to come from could be that, it could be the chemicals, it could be the cleaners, it could be a lot of different things.

It could be the paints that you're using.

It could be a remodeling project.

And one of the things that I learned from her as well is that this is a key right here.

If you're storing in your basement or your garage that's attached to the house, if you're storing all your chemicals, like your lawn and garden chemicals, all your paints, all your stains, all that stuff, when that stuff off gases it is putting it up into the air.

And that will make it inside the house, especially if it's in a basement or things like.

So these are things you want, really want to be careful with because that can really hurt your indoor air quality.

Something to think about.

But really, when it comes down to it, you've got a couple things.

One, if you want to get particles out of the air, you really need to have some kind of filtration.

Now, this can be tough if you've got heat that's a radiator or you've got baseboard heat, coming up with a way to filter air can be hard.

And there's ways you can do this that's fairly inexpensive.

I have gotten a box fan and a 1 inch pleated like a MERV 8 10.

Filter that good air filter in the 1 inch and you can install it to the side of the fan.

Turn the fan on low or medium and put it in a room.

And you can get a lot of particulate matter out of the air that way.

On a budget, all you have to do is buy a box fan and put a filter up on the side of it.

Make sure, of course, that you buy a decent fan.

You don't want to overheat it because you've got a filter medium there.

And don't always run it on a high.

Put it on a medium so you get that thing not at its full capacity, but really moving the air through that is going to help.

That's a great way to get some of the dust out of there without having to put in any kind of an air scrubber.

Now, I don't like the Sharper Image used to make these units you could put in.

And they were a hydrostatic thing, not a fan of those.

They never worked.

I threw mine away that I had sitting around.

I think they were given to me, if I remember right.

But we got rid of those things.

But.

But those are things you can do now.

Carbon dioxide and other toxins and mold.

First off, I want to make sure that you're doing a couple things.

One, with mold, I want to make sure that you are watching your indoor air quality in that you're checking to see what your humidity is.

And we've talked about this in the past, controlling humidity.

But I really want to make sure that you're not over 60% anywhere in the house.

Take a humidity sensor, go around, do your stuff, measure the basement, measure the crawl space, measure the bathroom, measure the kitchen, measure the bedrooms.

Take a look and see what you've got going on.

If you're over 60%, then you need to figure out a way to dehumidify that.

I'm not a fan of the portable ones that you come around have to empty.

I'm a very big fan of putting ones in a place that it needs to be, or making sure that you've got ventilation enough to get that humidity out.

One of the biggest places that you're going to see that is your bathroom, and that's where that vent fan needs to come in.

But that vent fan is going to be key because a lot of times, if you've got that older builder basic vent fan that's putting out 40 CFM, for instance, and that's cubic feet per minute, that's really got to run a long time to get that out of there.

I like putting in higher quality ones that have maybe 100, 120 CFM.

So that way you're moving a lot more air and you're getting it out there faster.

So in a bathroom upgrade that fan, make sure it vents all the way to the outside.

If you're venting into the attic space, that's gonna grow mold, and that's gonna be a expensive cleanup process there, so don't do that.

But really make sure that's running at least 20 minutes after you take a shower or a bath, anything like that, to get that humidity out of the room.

And that's why building code generally requires you have a timer there so you can do that.

So making sure you have that.

If you're cooking on the stove, make sure that range hood is if the stove is on, the range hood should be on and then let it run for a minute or two afterwards.

If you see particulates, if you're cooking meat or something like that, where you've got a lot of smoke, again, these are things that you want to do.

Now when we come back, we're going to talk a little bit more about ventilation and some of the tricks with this because you can get this right or you can get this wrong and it can be expensive and I don't want you to have to waste money.

We'll talk about that just as soon as around the House returns.

What's up?

This is Sticks it in ya and Satchel from Steel Panther and you are.

Listening to around the House with Eric G. Yeah, we love Eric G. And you should, too.

1987 welcome back to the around the House show.

Eric and John are taking a quick break to remodel and refresh the don't worry, they're keeping everything you love about around the house and we will all be back next week with a refreshingly new show.

Welcome back to the around the House show.

This is where we help you get the most out of your home through information and education.

Thanks for joining us today.

We've been talking everything about indoor air quality today and I hopefully this will help you manage things around your house and keep it nice and clean and breathing easier.

So we've been talking about in the last segment, we were talking about what causes low indoor air quality and we were talking about all the different things you can do.

Now ventilation is one of the things that are good because you can take that air and send it outside.

It doesn't matter if it's a bathroom fan, if it's a kitchen range hood or even a whole house fan, which you don't see as much of anymore.

But really that's where that comes from.

And if you have a heating and cooling system like a H vac system where you've got central air and heat and or a heat pump, it's a lot easier to manage this because you've got ducting to every room in the house.

And generally you've got a way to easily filter it.

Now, one of the things that I want to bring up, because it's very important, is that I want to make sure that when you have ventilation and things that are moving air outside the house.

Now, keep in mind, your dryer, if it's just a regular dryer, is putting hundreds of cfm out the house when it's running.

And CFM is cubic feet per minute.

And so you envision one of those as like a basketball.

That's always my thing to use.

But if you're taking, let's say you got somebody who's took a shower and somebody's cooking breakfast, so you got a shower going, maybe that's 75 CFM or a great fan, but still that's rated at the fan.

So it still has to go out.

So let's say it's a really good fan.

At 75, you've got 1,000 CFM and a range hood and then a dryer going.

So what do you do on the inside?

You've created a vacuum.

Now, if you've got a really tight house that was built recently, the problem now is that you're creating a vacuum, and it's going to find the path of least resistance.

That can be where your gas water heater is venting outside.

And all of a sudden you're pulling the carbon monoxide in backwards or from your.

You're pulling it back in from your.

Maybe your gas furnace.

So if you've got gas appliances, really be careful with that, or you're just pulling in air.

So the answer to that, you don't want to be pulling around windows and doors and air leaks in the house.

So really the answer to that is having makeup air.

And that is meant for.

If you have a H vac system.

So you've got that ducted system where you hook in a sensor that either senses that vacuum or triggers when the vent fans turn on.

So what that does is that basically says, hey, we need to bring in fresh air.

So it'll turn the fan on the system, and then it opens up and brings in air to be conditioned into your system.

So it'll go through.

Run it through your furnace, basically, or your air conditioner, and then out to the rest of the house, replacing that air.

So it's something to really think about is you don't want to create that vacuum, and that can be a problem.

But you really want to have ventilation, because that ventilation is key.

Now, I also recommend ventilation in the garage.

If you have a insulated attached garage with an insulated door, make sure you have it in there, because if that's all sealed up and you park a wet car in there, you can have mold issues.

So make sure that you've got fresh air or at least something exhausting that moisture out of there.

Now, depending on your location, you might need a humidifier or dehumidifier in the house, depending on what it's like.

Many times if you're in the very cold, you need a humidifier because the air is so dry.

Because it's so cold inside the house, you'll get down into that 20% humidity, and it's uncomfortable.

You'll have static electricity.

You'll have dry hands.

You'll have.

It's hard on the fixtures and stuff inside.

Anything wood dries out, it's just not great.

Or if you've got humidity, where it's wet, it's moist, you could have high humidity issues, which then will create mold.

And that's over 60% relative humidity.

So these are things that we need to manage in this indoor air quality, because mold is something that I think should be very commonly tested around our house, and that's something that I think we should talk about here, because you want to make sure that you're testing for that mold will show up in air quality testing.

It could be that you've got a shower leaking.

It could be that you have a roof leak that's coming to a place that you haven't caught yet.

It could be in an attic or crawl space.

It could be anywhere.

So that is where you need to bring in the professionals to figure out where that mold is coming from.

And that's why you want to start with this baseline.

Now, sometimes if you've got an air leak and you've got mold outside because you're next to a marshy, swampy water area, then you could be testing mold and go, oh, my gosh, I've got mold spores here.

It's coming from someplace, and it's just coming from air leaks because it's coming from outside.

So you want to make sure and test that.

But really trying to dive this in and figure out what's in your air is key.

And that way you've got it under control.

Because I tell you what, mold can show up from a shower leak to a. I've seen vent fans that had uninsulated duct and that was condensing and causing mold in the roof of the bathroom.

So it doesn't take much.

You could have a steam shower where it's condensing in the shower and you're not running the fan long enough.

And of course, you've got lots of issues there.

So these are all things that I want you to take into account, because this mold can be a big deal.

And I have found, and I don't do this every day, and I have found a ton of mold issues, especially in newer homes where they built them tighter, they didn't ventilate well, and people were not monitoring humidity.

And homes with basements are especially troublesome because you can have a bare concrete wall in a basement and water just seeping through that in the water vapor.

And then if you stack up a bunch of cold boxes or totes, all of a sudden you've got mold growing on the wall, you've got a root growing on the.

The.

On the concrete, you've got it growing on the boxes.

These are all things that could happen.

So lots of different places for that to grow, you know.

Now if you've got anything from allergies to asthma to things like that, I think working on trying to get your indoor air quality is a really smart idea for having a healthier air.

Because there are so many pollutants inside our house.

The better, the more you can do with that.

It's shocking.

We got dogs, and I have a robotic lg, robotic vacuum that I run almost every single day in the house.

And it fills it up with pet hair.

Now, it doesn't get all of it, because pet hair ends up getting around everywhere, especially when you have airflow.

So it'll come under the.

Under things.

So things that I want you to do if you have pets, make sure that what's handy if your air intake for your furnace is up high, make sure you've got that cleaned up.

But really monthly moving furniture like couches and beds, if, especially if you've got hardwoods, if you've got carpets are great as being a filter medium of tracking indoor pollutants.

Carpet is just one of those things that it can track so much dirt, it can track so much dust and dander and pet hair and human skin that gets shedded off, that's another one.

And so these are things to having a really good vacuum and having them professionally cleaned every few years or things that are really good with carpets.

I don't recommend ever cleaning with the run up to your home rental store and get something.

Those just don't do a good enough job.

You want something that's truck mounted and have a company come in and do it.

That way you get something quality.

Now when you come back, we're going to talk more about indoor air quality just as soon as around the House returns.

Foreign.

Welcome back to the around the House Show.

Packed with our favorite tips and moments.

Eric and John are taking a quick break to remodel and refresh the show.

Don't worry, they're keeping everything you love about around the House.

And we will all be back next week with a refreshingly new show.

Welcome back to the around the House show.

This is where we help you get the most out of your home through information and education.

We've been talking indoor air quality and the things that you can do to make sure that you've got the healthiest air possible, especially in the wintertime when many of us are spending all that extra time indoors.

Now let's talk a little bit here about some of the things that maybe you don't want to do inside your house.

Now, one of the biggest mistakes that I see people make is and now all of these things can be remedied, but you just have to invest in the money to deal with it.

Basement wood shops or workshops are a really tough situation because you're creating sawdust.

If you're going to be building stuff, you're going to be painting, sanding, you are creating a heck of a mess.

And by doing that, you are putting that particulate matter in the house and that is going to really throw off your indoor air quality.

So if you have no other option than to have a basement workshop, then maybe what you need to do is close that area off so the air is not as best as you can.

Don't keep that air in the basement from going upstairs.

That's where you need to have dust collection.

You're going to have to have an intake air.

You're going to need to have that conditioned space.

I want to keep that as separate as possible so that air is not swapping upstairs.

Because when you're working with wood, some woods are poisonous, some woods can be irritants.

And there's a lot of different issues going on there.

Plus, if you're staining, finishing, gluing, whatever, you can have other issues.

So I want to make sure that air is not going upstairs.

So really I want to make sure that I've got a vapor barrier to keep that air from going upstairs.

I want to make sure that I keep the sawdust downstairs with the workshop that you're building things out of wood, that's really what I want to make sure that you're doing.

Because all of those things are not really great for indoor air quality.

So when in doubt, put it in an outside building.

But if you're doing it downstairs, there are ways of doing it.

But I tell you what, it's a big project, so just make sure you're planning that out correctly.

Now here's another one that I've seen people trying to do now that can be troublesome as well.

And this why this goes bad is the homes that I've had to go in and repair where people are renting out homes to people.

Maybe it's a two story house and all of a sudden the basement turned into some local pot grow operation.

And the problem is the humidity that was given off from that was so bad that we ended up having to basically gut the house to the studs and treat it like it was just a mold house.

So you will have things like particle board swelling up.

If you've got thermofoil cabinets.

Those will swell up.

And I have seen particle board countertops swell up in these homes.

Everything else.

And so do not build a basement greenhouse without a significant dehumidification system.

And then you're just better doing one outside or putting in if you're going to do it in there.

They make inflatable ones, things like that, where the moisture won't get out.

Your job is to keep the moisture in a space that is not just the entire basement because you want to keep that humidity down.

That way you're not getting that mold issue.

And if you're doing sprays and things like that, it just, it's going to go sideways on you.

So please don't do a basement greenhouse.

And for the same reason, hot tubs or pools or things like that, those need to be designed out by an engineer to make sure that you have, if you're putting a hot tub in the basement, that you have adequate ventilation, that you're not creating a mold problem down there, because I guarantee you you will unless you deal with it.

So in that situation, what I'd like for you to do if, hey, I'M gonna put a pool in the basement, I'm gonna put a hot tub in the basement, whatever.

Maybe you're in a climate where that makes sense.

This is where you bring in the engineer to engineer a ventilation system that's going to work, that's going to dehumidify and it's gonna control that so you don't have a mold issue down there.

So those are all keys that I want you to think about in this process.

When in doubt, try not to be doing those things inside the house because that will really do a lot of damage that are hard to recover from.

So please spend a little time on that and you'll be a.

Okay.

Now one of the other things I want to talk about here is that you can jump on Amazon and buy really inexpensive vacuums.

In investing in a good HEPA rated vacuum is key because if you're vacuuming up pet hair or you've got lots of carpets, you want to have something that's going to really work well and pull as much dirt, dander, hair, whatever out of that carpet.

So these are things that I really want you to think about getting a good system.

There's some nice.

If you're building a new house, I've seen people put in the automatic systems where you've got the whole house ventilation system for the vacuum.

So you've got a built in vacuum system where you got the ports in the walls, that kind of system.

Those can be great because it puts the situation out in the garage out there where the bag and stuff is.

But I really like bag systems better.

There's nothing wrong with a good Dyson vacuum, but to me, I really like a good vacuum bag with a HEPA filtration system in it.

It's going to work so much better and it's really going to filter out the dust.

So when you capture the dust in it, it's going to stay in there versus kicking a little bit out.

So those are all things to consider when looking at vacuums.

But vacuums are an important part of this whole entire system and making sure that you've got things clean.

All right, everybody, that's enough about indoor air quality for today.

The rest of this I wanted to talk about building codes, building permits, building inspections, whether remodeling or you're having a new house built.

And especially if you're having a new house built.

Because let's talk about it here in the United States building code and generally it is stricter than what is in Canada.

From what I've seen and Please feel free to send me more information if you think of the contrary, because I'm not operating up in Canada every day.

But usually we have stricter code here in many instances than in Canada.

Of course there's got to be some exceptions, but generally that's the case.

But here's the problem that I have.

Building code is great for your health, safety and welfare.

They make you put in GFCI outlets.

They make you put in many cases in most states here in the US bath fans that go to the outside, ventilation and that load is carried correctly.

But I have seen plenty of homes that met building code, that were horribly constructed.

As far as craftsmanship.

I have been to homes that had massive bows and a wall.

Everything is out of square, nothing is right.

But it perfectly met building code because it was a safe structure.

It just looked absolutely horrible.

And so that's where the issue comes in when you're building a home, if you are having a house built.

And this is what I wanted to talk about a little bit today in this segment and the next is that a building inspector should be involved in this process.

Now I'm not talking about the city, county, state, whoever is is implementing your code, but you should have benchmarks at which your third party inspector comes in and looks at things.

Now here's the issue.

We do not have a general building inspector code across the country.

So some states you have to be very well educated, you have to have taken tests.

Other states, it's a free for all.

Now, in many states, the liability of that building inspector that you're paying to have a house inspection done, their liability in many states is only the cost of what you paid them.

So if you paid them $500 to come out and do a full inspection, their liability is $500.

Unfortunately for you, you don't have much recourse.

And so that's something to consider with all this.

But there are a lot of great building inspectors out there that care about their work, that know what they're doing and are trying to hold people accountable for building things correctly.

Now that is the issue here, is that you want to make sure that everything was installed correctly because you can have a shower built to building code and still have a leak.

You can have ventilation systems that don't work that meet code or undersized oversized H vac systems.

You see where I'm going here.

Now when we come back, we'll talk a little bit more about the places and I think the times that you should have those inspections, we'll do that Just as soon as around the House returns.

All right.

Welcome back to the around the house show.

Eric and John are taking a quick break to remodel and refresh the show.

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They're keeping everything you love about around the house.

And we will all be back next week with a refreshingly new show.

Welcome back to the around the house show.

This is where we help you get the the most out of your home through information and education.

Earlier in this hour, we were sure talking about healthy air in your home, and now we're talking about having those inspections done correctly.

And that is an inspector that is really making sure that the home that you're purchasing, building, or whatever has been done correctly.

Now, if you're having a house built or even having things remodeled, I like to have certain stages that makes sense to me.

As a minimum, I would like to see an inspector come by and check out rough framing for you.

And if you really want to be found somebody good, if they want to pop in right before the concrete pour for the foundation or slab on grade, that would be amazing because so many times I have seen concrete pours that the builder got really lazy on.

And there's a lot of great builders, but there's a lot of not so great builders as well.

And maybe the builder is great, but his subcontractor wasn't paying attention.

I have showed up at a job site that I was watching because I had a friend's house getting built popped up in this development, a very large home builder, and they're pouring the driveway and the garage.

And I'm watching this happen.

And it's in the middle of summertime and the ground is so dry that when the concrete is hitting, no, they didn't put gravel down.

They didn't do any base.

They didn't do anything.

They're just pouring it right over the terrain.

It was so dry that it was putting dust clouds up when the concrete was hitting.

And you know something, if there's not an inspector there, nobody knows any different.

But that dry ground is going to suck all the moisture out and that concrete is not going to cure correctly.

And because they didn't do the right base, it's not compacted correctly.

That's gonna flake, crack, crumble, and you've got a hot mess going.

So these are the things that I would really like to see done.

I want to see these things taken a look at by Somebody that is a third party inspector.

And there's a lot of good ones out there.

So framing, they're gonna go through and make sure that corners weren't cut.

Sometimes something I'll meet building code, but there's a massive gap there, or it meets code, or the walls aren't straight.

I'd like to see somebody walk around and put a level on things.

Great example.

I saw a house that had met building code that was here in Oregon.

It was in eastern Oregon that I went down to take a look at, and this house was being built.

Now, it was one of the foam concrete poured houses.

So they put the Lego blocks together, one of the ICF houses, and they were building this.

Now here's what's crazy with this.

They poured it on a windy day.

That foam block wall that was hollow, that had concrete going in, it had a curvature of a sail on the back of the house.

He was at 4 inches in the middle.

Problem is, nobody caught it.

House got built.

Somebody walks out there and goes, what is going on with this wall?

It perfectly met building code.

There was nothing structurally wrong with that wall at all.

Engineer probably could have looked at it, went, yeah, we're good.

But the issues that we had there was that now the entire inside of the house really needed to be framed out because nothing was going to be square.

And then when you looked at the outside of the house, it looked horrible.

You could see that there's a big radius back to the wall.

And so that was causing a ton of problems.

So these are things that I want to see you get caught up with.

And then as you go down the list here, what I'd like to see is you get that framing one done, and then that way they're checking right before drywall.

I'd like to see that.

I wouldn't mind seeing one in insulation because I want to make sure things are sealed up correctly.

But really, the next thing is going to be towards final.

When things are getting wrapped up, right when they're coming in, putting the trim on things, that's where I want to see somebody eyeball that.

And I know this costs money, guys, but this is really.

If you're having a house built, this is really where I want to see these benchmarks placed.

And then when the project is done, is the time that you do this.

Okay, before you go do a walkthrough, send them through and make sure that everything is done.

And they're going to be there for a number of hours.

They're going to check to make sure Every light switch works, every outlet is on that.

The garage door openers where everything is done.

And they're going to go through and take a look at the walls and they're going to go around and hit the blue tape.

Anytime there's damage, they're going to go knock that out.

And what's cool with this is that they're doing this before you even get a chance to walk through it.

That way they can eyeball it, then the builder has a chance to go look at it, they can re inspect it and then you come out and take a look at it that way.

There's some accountability there.

Now just as an important step of this is really as you get this done, what I want to do is make sure that they do an inspection again at, at the right before the end of the warranty period.

So let's say that your state that you're in, the builder offers a one year warranty and that's what code is great.

That's what's cool about that.

So all you do is you go in there and at 11 months to 12, you go ahead and go and have that inspection done.

So if there's anything on the warranty period or you can get that caught.

You would not believe the things that I have seen caught at this final walkthrough.

I have seen where it framing it was great.

But when they loaded too many shingles on the roof, they broke a truss where there was a weak point in a truss and they broke a truss.

I have seen where the H vac system is jam packed full of construction debris.

I have seen crawl spaces with trash and all this other stuff.

These are all those things that I want them to take care of that you don't have to worry about it.

And that's the thing there.

So make sure that and make sure that your inspector doesn't have a relationship with the builder.

I don't want to see any conflicts of interest here.

I don't want your builder to go, oh, the guy that usually inspects our houses is this.

If they're working together, that's the last thing you want.

You want somebody that's going after you, your best interests.

So look for somebody that has building knowledge, like maybe they were a builder themselves and decided to get into this.

Check their certifications, check what their insurance is, check their online reviews.

And I tell you what, online reviews can be tough.

Take a look at them anyway, but keep it with a grain of salt.

Traditionally with online reviews, the people that had a wonderful experience and this guy if they saved them thousands of dollars, most likely they're not jumping on Google or whatever to do to give them praises.

But it's the people that they missed will come on there and make the loudest noise.

So you want to make sure if they've got a couple bad reviews, that happens.

Inspectors are not going to be perfect and nor should you expect them to be perfect, but they should be able to catch obvious stuff out there so the more you can find out about them.

And their qualifications are great.

And it depends on what state you're in.

There are a lot of great states with great programs that are there to protect the homeowner.

For instance, in my state, Oregon, the Oregon Construction Contractor Board regulates home inspections in the state.

So you have to complete the state's qualifying points and documentations form, complete an application, pay 150 bucks for certification and renewals every two years, and then you have to pass the NHIE exam.

And that's what you have to do.

Pennsylvania does not license its home inspectors.

And that's where you start to look at stuff.

So here's where, like South Carolina, they have.

The South Carolina Residential Builders Commission does.

And so these are things here the South Dakota Real Estate Commission oversees.

So you have these different inspectors out there.

And there's a lot of states out there.

Utah does not regulate it, another great example there.

So really take your time, understand what's going on in your state, what's happening.

And different states have different rules.

And this is really interesting.

I want to.

Here's what I like.

Alabama, for instance, good job, guys.

And no program is perfect, but you have to file your license examination.

You go in and do that.

You have to do your examination board, go through all this stuff.

I love this.

Provide proof of insurance and includes a $250,000 for errors and emissions and proof of liability insurance in the amount of $20,000 for injury and damages to property.

Keeps going on.

But I love that these guys.

Alabama, hats off.

Well done.

So there's a lot of states out there that we needed to be doing more to make sure that we're protecting the homeowners out there.

And there's a lot of states that do.

There's a lot of states that don't.

Take your time, understand what's going on in your area because this is a really important part.

Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, all do not have that.

So I would make sure you know that you find people that are good.

Take your time, protect yourself, find the right inspector and save yourself some money in the long run.

All right, guys, that's it.

Thanks for tuning into around the house today.

We'll see you next week.

Thanks for tuning in to around the house.

Thank you to our amazing listeners.

We are excited for next week.

Eric G and John will be back with an all new around the house show.

If you have a special request for something you need help with, send us a message@aroundthehouseonline.com we will see you next week.

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