I thought it would be nice to briefly explain a few home inspection tools. I use these on every inspection in New Orleans, Metairie and in Kenner where it is a must.
Zip Level – This takes a relative elevation differential of the foundation. It is like a water level and it is very accurate, I think to 1/16 of an inch. I use it in most inspections but is not required to be used by the State Board of Home Inspectors, so it is something extra and beyond our Standards of Practice to even use. It’s a pretty good tool but I can get bad foundations and an acceptable level and vice versa. Not so good to use on additions but sometimes I do. I commonly see slab foundations with a differential around 1 to 3 inches and raised homes at about 2 to 4 inches and have no problem with numbers like that. Home size or foot print matters. Big foot prints can have larger numbers. The most I ever measured was about 9 inches on a slab in Kenner and 17 inches on a 150 year old raised property near Treme.
