If you work in real estate long enough, you will hear it. A contractor opens up a wall six months after closing, finds something ugly, and says it to the new homeowner with total confidence: "Your home inspector should have caught this." It sounds authoritative. It feels like an answer. And nine times out of ten, the person saying it has never read a home inspection Standards of Practice, has never performed a home inspection, and could not tell you where a home inspector's job begins or...

By Nicole Brooks, CMI | Fine Line Inspections LLC | Pittsburgh, PA If you have ever toured an older home in Pittsburgh and headed downstairs to take a look at the basement, there is a decent chance you stopped in your tracks at some point and stared. Right there. Out in the open. On a concrete floor. No walls, no door, no curtain, no sink anywhere nearby. Just a toilet. Welcome to the Pittsburgh Potty, one of the most iconic features in western Pennsylvania real estate and one...

Thermal imaging is one of the most powerful tools in a home inspector's kit — and one of the most misunderstood. Nicole Brooks, CMI | Fine Line Inspections LLC | Pittsburgh Region At Fine Line Inspections, thermal imaging is not an upsell. It is not a premium tier. It is part of every inspection we perform in the Pittsburgh region, because in a market full of aging housing stock, finished basements, and seasons that test every building system, leaving it out would mean leaving things...