Empowering Homeowners through Education

The goal of HOUSETIPS is to help homeowners better understand the various systems of their house and provide insight to common and unusual issues that may occur. With decades of experience as forensic engineers, plan designers, home inspectors, and contractors, our team has unique experience in diagnosing failure patterns in houses. Our team has witnessed needless, costly repairs without repair of the actual cause of the damage. We want you better informed to save time and money so we tailored our content to help homeowners identify issues, possibly solve problems, and consider practical repairs. We hope you enjoy and benefit from the content presented by HOUSETIPS.

Structural Problems

What Do Floor Tile Cracks Mean?

What Causes Floor Tiles to Crack? Unfortunately, floor tile cracks are common in houses. The floor tile crack may actually grow in length or width.    When you look around the room, absolutely no other signs of cracks or distress exist.   Your house may be less than a...

Garage Slab Cracks

Garage Slab Cracks Garage slab cracks are caused by various conditions and show up in the slab in different ways.  Two common conditions include (1) “spider cracks” generally located in the center or open area of the garage and (2) a long crack near the common wall of...

Foundation Corner Crack

Foundation corner cracks are extremely common in residential concrete foundation slabs. These cracks are also commonly referred to as slab cracks. They occur, as the name suggests, at the corner of the foundation where brick veneer is installed on the house. That’s...

Types of Basements

Why do some houses have basements, and what are the different kinds of basements? In the simplest of terms, a basement is part of the foundation that supports the house and the “need” for a basement is usually the result of where the house is located. In coastal...

How Can I Tell If I Have Structural Problems In My House?

What are the signs of structural problems in a house? - This type of question is usually the result of suspicions that come from noticing cracks in concrete, bricks, drywall, or doors or windows that do not operate correctly. In other words when you see something...

Common Wood Destroying Insects

Wood destroying insects are always a concern for homeowners, with the most egregious of the insects being termites. Common wood destroying insects in houses include termites, powderpost beetles, and carpenter bees. Potential damage caused by each of these insects...

What Does A Sag in My Roof Mean?

Houston, we have a problem! How much of a problem depends largely on how large is the roof sag? And we are going to differentiate between a sag and a hole, as this may have been caused by a tree or branch falling on the roof. What Does a Sagging Roof Mean? Generally,...

How Can I Tell If A Wall Is A Load Bearing Wall?

How can I identify a load bearing wall? - This question is easy to answer, although getting the needed information can sometimes be difficult. It typically means getting up in the attic and possibly moving some insulation to expose the ceiling joists. What is a Load...

How Do I Repair Foundation Failure?

Foremost, foundation repair is beyond the ability of most homeowners, due to the equipment and knowledge required. The foundation of a home supports the entire house, so the weights involved are extreme. The nature of the question presumes the foundation is no longer...

Moisture Problems

Why are my wood floors buckled?

Frustrated?  Did you recently replace the floors in your house and find your new wood floors are buckled or “cupped”?  Do you have an older home where the wood floors have been installed for years only to recognize the wooden floors began the buckle? What possibly has...

What causes ceiling stains in my house?

Common Causes of Water Stains on the Ceiling What causes water stains on the ceiling of your home? There are many reasons for why these stains may occur, here are a few common causes and tips for locating the problem.  Often, water sources such as condensation...

Where do I look for roof leaks?

Quite often roof leaks first show up as damp spots on the drywall ceiling somewhere in the house. And since most of our houses have pitched (sloped) roofs and water runs downhill, the location of a roof leak is very often somewhere “uphill” on the roof. Here are some...

Roof

What are the pieces of framing in my attic called?

The average house has hundreds of boards in the attic which make up the roof framing, but most of them can be categorized into a few basic types. We list below the various framing members, in order of their location within the attic (lowest to highest). Roof Framing...

What is the difference between a hip roof and a gable roof?

Hip roofs and gable roofs are two of the most common roof types to be found across the country. Because they are so common, initial construction, maintenance and roof replacement of both types are industry standards and competent tradesmen and contractors will be easy...

3 Common Signs of Hail Damage

Hail damage to your roof can be a concern after significant storm events, especially during the spring and summer months. These balls or chunks of ice form from specific climatic conditions and fall from the sky, commonly called hailstones. Hailstones vary in size...

Is the flashing installed properly on my house?

This can be a tricky question and difficult to answer easily and concisely, due to the fact that flashing can literally be a game of inches, where flashing that is installed but is a couple of inches out of place or too short can lead to catastrophic failure. How to...

How Long Does My Roof Covering Last?

How long does the roof of my home last? - The answer to that question depends on the type of roof covering, how well it was installed, and certain environmental factors specific to the location of your house. For purposes of this question we will not discuss any...

Ventilation

What Are The Different Types Of Roof Vents And How Do They Work?

Attic vents come in a wide variety of styles to accommodate the ventilation and aesthetic requirements of the wide range of roof designs and configurations. A curious person may ask why we ventilate our roofs, or more accurately why we ventilate our attics. Generally,...

What Are Common Problems With Crawl Spaces?

Basically, they are typically dark, dirty, damp, cramped, and littered with bugs, critters, plumbing and gas pipes, trash, debris and maybe insulation that has fallen or been pulled down by the afore-mentioned critters looking for a warm spot to nest. And all that fun...

Should I Have More Than One Type of Attic Vent?

Absolutely, yes! Your attic ventilation works on the simple property of physics in which hot air rises. For that principle to apply to your attic, you must have vents at the top of your attic to exhaust the hot air. But that means you also need vents down low to...

What Is Attic Ventilation?

It’s summer time in the deep south and that means heat. Not the “dry heat” that some say you don’t feel as much. Down here we’re talking sweltering, humid, liquid-crab-boil heat that taxes your air-conditioner to keep the inside of your home comfortable when it’s 99...
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