Mike's Home Inspector Blog
Helpful articles from an experienced Home Inspector based in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
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No matter how many inspections I add to my tally, one thing never changes: I see something new in almost every home I inspect. The last inspection I performed had an ETS heating system, something I had only seen in textbooks previously. What the Heck is an ETS? An Electric Thermal Storage (ETS) system is a type of electric heating that stores heat during off-peak hours: typically at night when electricity demand (and cost) is lower and releases that heat gradually throughout the day. Instead of generating heat on demand like traditional electric heaters, ETS systems “charge up” in advance and distribute warmth when it’s needed. At the core of an ETS system are high-density ceramic bricks. During off-peak hours, electricity heats these bricks to very high temperatures. The stored heat is then released in a controlled manner using fans or natural convection, keeping indoor spaces comfortable without drawing large amounts of electricity during peak times. Like any heating systems, there are benefits and drawbacks to this type of heater.  A wall mounted ETS unit.... and an inspector's foot.
Compared to traditional baseboard heaters, ETS systems are clearly more cost-effective over time once the initial cost is paid off. How do they stand up against ductless mini-split heat pumps? It depends. ETS may be less efficient in mild climates but can outperform in extremely cold conditions where heat pump efficiency drops. In other words, it depends on where in Nova Scotia you live and how cold that specific winter is.
Electric Thermal Storage heating systems represent a thoughtful approach to energy use: shifting consumption to more efficient times while maintaining comfort throughout the day. While they require a higher initial investment, the long-term savings and environmental benefits make them a compelling option for many households. If you’re considering upgrading your heating system, ETS technology is worth a closer look, especially if you’re aiming to balance cost, comfort, and sustainability but they are not a panacea!
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To my knowledge, there are no building code regulations in either Halifax or Nova Scotia that require homeowners to install rain gutters, or eavestroughs if you prefer. This is consistent with my observations: a significant number of homes I inspect do not have gutters, whether it be missing on just on one side, over a portico, other small areas, or completely absent. Of course, just because I see nothing in my research doesn’t mean that I don’t consider them an essential part of a house. As I have said many times before: moisture is the #1 enemy of homes! We here in Nova Scotia live in one of Canada’s wettest areas (Halifax is the third wettest major population centre behind Prince Rupert BC and St. John's NL) and that water needs to be kept away from homes: not only will this help minimize the chance of a flooded basement but will help to protect against paint being damaged and reduce the opportunity for mold and mildew to grow and wood rot to occur. As a systematic home inspector in Halifax, I know that it is useless to just install gutters and call it a day as they require proper downspouts to be effective. Otherwise, the water will eventually just spill out over the side, and we are back at square one. Furthermore, just pouring a bunch of water in one area near the foundation can do more harm than good: it needs to be extended as far as reasonably possible: 4 feet is a good minimum but that can vary depending on topography. Rain gutters, contrary to popular belief, are not supposed to be installed level. While they may look straight from the ground, it is required to have a gentle slope towards the downspout to prevent water from pooling. They also need to be regularly cleaned, especially in areas with taller trees. I have performed plenty of inspections in rural areas where the gutter was nearly 100% clogged with foliage and was essentially useless: a regular eavestrough cleaning can also alert you to roofing issues, as when asphalt shingles begin to deteriorate granules can start to accumulate in the gutters.  This is an example of a gutter that clearly shows the telltale signs of a distressed roof. Furthermore, one needs to be aware of the slope of the property surrounding the structure. The simple fact is that without a properly graded lot, all the preventative measures in the world won’t do much good: the ground can only absorb so much water and with our rainy Spring season, water will travel towards a foundation and eventually inside a home if the lot is sloped that way. I did one inspection where the force of water coming off the roof compacted the ground and sloped the ground towards the foundation and while no flooding was detected, it is not a matter of if but when the basement ends up with unwanted water. A chain is only as strong as its weakest link and a water control system needs to be properly installed and maintained regularly to be effective. Installing a fancy eavestrough system without considering all the points mentioned in this blog post is nothing but a significant waste of time and money. While this can be a DIY project (yours truly successfully installed a supplementary system at home) it is important to understand the science behind water flow and to follow manufacturer’s instructions.  I strongly suspect this was caused mainly by hydrostatic pressure on the foundation.  I am a big fan of DIY work and empowering homeowners to take care of their own homes but there are some items that are only for professionals and garage doors are at the top of my list. Possibly one of the biggest dangers in a home that most homeowners and tenants are unaware of is located in the garage. There are a number of concerns for home inspectors in this area of the home and the most obvious one is the garage door. This is one of, if not the heaviest item in the house and to make matters worse, it is meant to be raised and be suspended overhead. When it comes to garage doors, I tend to focus on three main issues: Garage Door Springs While safety has improved significantly over the years, the simple fact is that torsion springs are always under a incredible amount of tension. Do not adjust a garage spring or allow an unqualified person to do so! A spring failure can not only cause significant hand and facial injuries but, given how high these springs are off the ground and how sudden and unexpected the forces of a broken spring are, can easily knock someone off a ladder. Garage floors are usually made of hard concrete, and falls can be fatal from even a small height. I used to work in building maintenance and while I tried my hand at whatever I could, I never attempted to repair a garage door.  This might be the most dangerous thing in a home. Defective or Missing Auto-Reverse Sensor
All garage doors need to have an auto-reverse sensor to not only protect children and animals but also against items that are accidently placed under garage doors. Many years ago, I saw the result of someone leaving a heavy object under a garage door without a sensor and the damage to the door was significant and costly. We usually test this by sweeping a small piece of a 1X4 or a similar stick under the door to ensure a closing door immediately reverses. Missing Handle Particularly on manually operated doors, a handle is of the utmost importance. Without a handle, fingers can easily get into a pinch point when closing a garage door and cause significant injury to that area. While obviously not as dangerous as the first two issues it is still something to be aware of. It bears repeating that garage doors are heavy, and their springs are under an incredible amount of tension even when at rest. Unless you are trained and experienced, never attempt to do a DIY repair on a garage door or spring and always leave it to the professionals. While an Indiana Jones style slide looks great, it should stay in the movies where it belongs. Fortunately, garage doors generally don’t need a lot of maintenance: as long as the tracks are kept lubricated and any unusual noises are not ignored, you will enjoy safe travels to and from your home for many years to come. As a home inspector, I don’t have a problem with homeowners being handy. Painting, replacing fixtures, even basic repairs: those can be great DIY projects. Good contractors are booked solid so many homeowners complain about how getting a contractor to commit to a job in Halifax in the year 2026 is like nailing Jell-O to the wall. Electrical work is different. One of the most common and most dangerous mistakes I see (luckily mostly from other home inspectors or electricians) comes from well-intentioned DIY electrical work that throws a home’s electrical system out of balance, particularly when it comes to the two 120-volt “legs” that power your house. Most homeowners don’t even realize those legs exist, that is until something goes very wrong. How Residential Power Actually Works (Quick Version) In a typical North American home, you don’t just have “120 volts.” You have single phase power from two separate legs, which means:
 This is an example of what appears to be an unbalanced system but is perfectly fine. What Happens When the Legs Aren’t Balanced When the two 120-volt legs are not balanced properly, bad things can happen, quietly at first. 1. Overloaded Neutrals Instead of carrying a small difference in current, the neutral can end up carrying more current than it was designed for. I’ve opened panels and found neutrals overheated, discolored, or brittle from years of excess load. That’s a fire risk hiding in plain sight. 2. Voltage Fluctuations Throughout the House An unbalanced system can cause one leg to run high voltage and the other low voltage. That’s when homeowners start reporting:
3. Damage to Appliances and Electronics Modern appliances and electronics expect stable voltage. When one leg spikes because of an imbalance, components can burn out almost instantly. Refrigerators, HVAC controls, and entertainment systems can suddenly fail for reasons that trace back to improper DIY wiring. 4. Breakers That Don’t Trip When They Should An overloaded neutral or improperly shared circuit doesn’t always trip a breaker. That gives homeowners a false sense of safety: everything “works,” until it doesn’t. Why This Is Hard to DIY Safely The biggest problem with DIY electrical work isn’t effort—it’s invisible complexity. You can’t see:
What I Look For During Inspections When I suspect DIY electrical work, I pay close attention to:
The Bottom Line DIY electrical work doesn’t usually fail immediately. It fails later, under load, when conditions are just right. Unbalanced 120-volt legs are a perfect example of how a small, well-meaning change can put stress on your entire electrical system without any obvious warning signs. If you’re planning to add circuits, modify a panel, install a subpanel, or do anything related to electrical, call a licensed electrician. Some mistakes don’t shock you right away and an unbalanced breaker panel is one such example.  This is AI generated and is wrong in almost every way imaginable! In case there’s any doubt, let me say this clearly: I love Christmas. I have countless happy memories from over the years, especially the ones centered around my grandparents’ house in Newfoundland. Even after we moved to Halifax, we flew back every Christmas break for 12 days. Those trips were sacred. The whole extended family gathered, and Christmas morning felt larger than life. Gifts were stacked almost to the ceiling, and all 17 of us (10 adults and 7 kids) crammed into the basement to open presents, laugh, and celebrate. It even felt like an unspoken competition each year to see how big the gift pile could get. My grandparents lived in an early-1980s duplex, built at a time when basements were just starting to be used as living space. Back then, no one thought much about it. The basement was where the fun happened.  This is a silly exaggeration but not far from what it looked like! The Year Everything Moved Upstairs Around 1994, a decision was made to move Christmas celebrations upstairs to the living room. To adolescent me, this made absolutely no sense. The living room was noticeably smaller so why would we abandon a perfectly good basement? Now, as a home inspector, the answer is painfully obvious. Like many homes I inspect today that are more than 40 years old, that basement was never truly designed for people to live in. It was almost entirely underground, had no ventilation, and most importantly no windows or exterior doors. The only way out was the stairway leading up… directly past the kitchen. That same kitchen was home to a massive Christmas dinner in progress, with the stove running only a few feet from the basement door. From a fire safety perspective, it was a nightmare scenario. If a kitchen fire had started, the results could have been catastrophic.  This is the actual house and yes, it has a full basement with 8ft ceilings. A Close Call We Didn’t See at the Time
My grandparents are no longer with us, but I can safely assume that a house fire just a few doors down on December 22nd of that year caused them to stop and think "what if that happened here?" In the event of a kitchen fire, all the smoke detectors in the world would not have mattered. Deadly smoke would have reached the basement stairwell long before alarms sounded, leaving little to no chance for escape. At the time, we didn’t see it. We were kids, surrounded by gifts and excitement. But looking back now, it’s clear how much danger we simply weren’t aware of. We often view the past through rose-colored glasses. While my grandparents didn’t smoke, many relatives did, as was common in the 1980s and early 1990s (and that's another blog post!). In addition to the obvious second hand smoke, unattended cigarettes have long been one of the most common causes of house fires, another risk that barely registered with us back then. Lessons That Stick With Me I want to be clear: I’m not a municipal code inspector, and I would never tell someone to never use their basement. But I do always point out that older homes often lack adequate basement escape routes, and building codes have evolved dramatically over the last 40 to 50 years for very good reasons. Those Christmas mornings remain some of my happiest memories. They weren’t diminished by what we didn’t know, but revisiting them now through the lens of experience, reminds me how much safer our homes have become, and how important it is to understand the risks we live with every day. The magic of Christmas was real. So were the hazards and sometimes, growing up means learning how both can exist at the same time. While this has never been asked of me, at least as of November 2025, an increasing number of inspectors now offer to defer payment for a home inspection until the closing date, often called “pay at closing.” While I understand why this option might seem convenient, especially during the hectic process of buying a home, I’ve chosen not to offer it for several important reasons.
1. The inspection is for YOU, not the “deal” A home inspection is an independent assessment meant to protect your interests, not the transaction’s. When payment is tied to the closing, there’s an implied connection between the inspection and the deal’s success, or between the inspector and real estate agent(s) that can create unnecessary pressure or perceived bias. I prefer to keep the inspection process completely separate from any real estate dealings so you can be confident that my only focus is giving you clear, honest information about the property. 2. Delayed payments create unnecessary complications Closings can take weeks or months, and occasionally they don’t happen at all. If the deal falls through, inspectors are often left waiting indefinitely or chasing down payment. By collecting payment at the time of inspection, I can keep my business simple, efficient, and focused on providing great service rather than managing delayed accounts or paperwork. 3. It helps keep prices fair for everyone Pay-at-closing programs typically involve third-party billing services that charge extra fees to the inspector. Those costs often get passed back to clients through higher inspection fees. By avoiding those programs, I can keep my rates below the industry average for all clients and continue investing in better tools, training, and reporting. 4. It reflects the professional value of the work Home inspections are performed before closing for a reason: they provide essential information you need to make decisions about one of the largest purchases of your life. Payment at the time of service simply reflects the fact that the work is completed and delivered at that point, much like an appraisal, a survey, or any other professional service in the homebuying process. Of course, I am always happy to answer any of my client’s questions with no time limit, but an actual home inspection is completed when the report is delivered. I believe in keeping things simple and transparent. When you hire me, you get an honest, thorough, and unbiased inspection with a clear, straightforward payment process. No extra fees, no delays, no hidden costs and many of our standard inspection fees are listed on our website for all to see. |
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