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New Jersey Home Inspection
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About the House is a home inspection company serving the Northern New Jersey areas.
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New Jersey Home Inspections, conducted by Darren Miller from About The House, is your assurance of quality, integrity & professionalism. Darren is licensed & certified to conduct New Jersey home inspections, radon testing & wood destroying insect inspections. Serving all of Northern New Jersey, Bergen, Essex, Morris, Somerset, Union, Sussex, Warren & Hunterdon Counties, our goal is to provide you with the best possible home inspection available. Darren, considered to be among the elite of New Jersey licensed home inspectors, will promise you his best effort at conducting your home inspection. Darren gets about 70% of his inspections from past clients; he knows a satisfied client is the best sales force for future business.
Darren understands that purchasing a home is one of the most important decisions & investments you will make. Our typical client is someone who doesn't mind paying more for a high quality service, as long as they get what they pay for. They want to know their home inside and out, and we have built our reputation on living up to this expectation for nearly 14 years. Hiring Darren, an experienced, qualified New Jersey Home Inspector to carefully review the house and it’s components is essential to convey the conditions of the house. He strongly recommends the buyer attend the home inspection, he will then be able to ‘show & tell’ about the homes components.
Darren Miller, New Jersey Home Inspectors License #24GI00019700, is also a member of ASHI (American Society of Home Inspectors) #204319, is a certified NJ UCC Building Inspector ICS (NJ DCA) # 009387, is an certified ICC Residential & Commercial Building Inspector (ICC) # 5261943-B1;B2;M-1;M-2 and is a certified Credentialed Wood Destroying Insect inspector #214. A home inspection conducted by About The House, using the New Jersey State Home Inspection & ASHI standards of practice will give you a clear cut, un-biased view of the house. This information will allow you to make a decision based on information rather than guess work.
Darren’s report tells it like it is, if it’s broke, the report says so; if it’s a safety issue, the report says so. While other home inspection companies claim they are “fair” to the house or are “non-alarmist”, what they’re really saying is their report may not really reflect the conditions they see. They are ensuring their next referral from your agent. My feelings are simple, I didn’t build it, I didn’t fix it, I’m just reporting what I see.
When choosing a New Jersey licensed & certified home inspector….”About the House” is the only information you need.
Here is the latest (newsletter) from the NJDEP radon division.
Federal Pacific Electric "Stab-Loc" Panels
Federal Pacific Electric was a Newark New Jersey based manufacture of electrical panels. Their panels (commonly known as FPE ‘Stab-Loc’) were installed in many area homes between early 1970 & mid 1980. Some entire developments, including apartments & townhouses were built with these panels.
There are numerous problems associated with the ‘Stab-Loc’ panel, the most prevalent being the breakers are not reliable (they do not trip) when overloaded. A breaker is designed to turn the power off in case an overload occurs; this is the main safety feature of the ‘breaker’. If a breaker fails to trip in an overloaded situation, the most likely result is a fire.
Other problems include the fact that breakers have on occasion fallen out when the front cover was removed (due to it’s design, it is difficult to remove the cover without tripping several breakers).
Several models have a spring mounted bus bar; this design has since been prohibited.
The breakers can be in the “down” position and still be on; this has been prohibited since 1984.
A class action lawsuit in New Jersey determined the following… “The Court has already determined that Federal Pacific violated the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act. The violation occurred because FPE cheated during its testing of circuit breakers in order to obtain Underwriters Laboratories (UL) approval.”
The bottom line is simple; if your home currently has A FPE "Stab-Loc", replace it for the safety of you & your family!
CPSC Summary
Douglas Hansen Article
Dr. Aronstein's article on FPE breakers and panels
Dan Friedman’s web side
NJ Class Action
We specialize in new construction; from phase inspections to just a final inspection, we are there to help you along!
So, your newly constructed house doesn't need a home inspection? Read this New Home Inspection Nightmare or this New home inspection; Waste, Fraud, Abuse first.
For a qualified home inspector in central New Jersey Absolute Home Inspections
For a qualified home inspector in Mercer & surrounding Counties Rich Roshak
For a Professional Engineer in Morris County James Guider & Associates
The following are items that you wouldn't think to check when owning a house but we see incorrect every day:
Inspections of interior & exterior stairs for safety (2006 NJ IRC).
New Jersey standards include the following:
 Maximum riser height shall be 8 ¼ inches and minimum tread depth shall be 9 inches.
The greatest riser height within any flight of stairs shall not exceed the smallest by more than 3/8 inch.
The greatest tread depth within any flight of stairs shall not exceed the smallest by more than 3/8 inch.
There shall be a floor or landing on each side of the required egress (front) exterior door. A landing is also required on all other exterior doors if there are more than 2 risers in the exterior stair system. No landing on this brand new house ------>
Stairway shall not be less than 36 inches in clear width at all points above the permitted handrail height and below the required headroom height. The minimum headroom height in all parts of the stairwell shall not be less than 6 feet 8 inches measured vertically from the sloped plane adjoining the tread nosing or from the floor surface of the landing or platform.
Handrails having a minimum and maximum heights of 30 inches and 38 inches respectively, measured vertically from the nosing of the treads, shall be provided on at least one side of stairways of four or more risers. All handrails shall be continuous the full length of the stairs. Handrails adjacent to a wall shall have a space not less than 1 ½ inches between the wall and the handrail.
Required guards on open sides of stairways, raised floors areas, balconies and porches shall have intermediate rails or ornamental closures that do not allow passage of a sphere 4 inches in diameter.
Let's be honest, you probably don't know about these things. That's where I come in; Hiring me to conduct a home inspection, even if you have lived in your current house for years, is a good idea just so you at least know what needs repairs, replacement or just plain maintenance.
Here are several 'tricks' other home inspectors conduct:
Some have the homeowner mail in the radon canister (against the rules) (I use monitors, if someone touches it, it shows a 'tilt').
Some belong to a 'sham' inspectors organization (one that sells certification for $289.00); I belong to ASHI (where you have to EARN membership).
When inspecting a roof, some state in their report, and I quote "The accepted standard is visual observation with binoculars." My question is, who accepted this standard, Not ME!
Believe me, there are plenty of really good inspectors in NJ, your job is to find us. The Great State of New Jersey has just made it more difficult for you to chose a qualified inspector. Instead of raising the bar, making it tougher, they actually lowered the standards to become licensed. They don't care about protecting the interest of the consumer, all they want is more MONEY! Make sure your home inspector is qualified, ask them how long they have been in business, how much training and education they have. PROTECT YOUR INVESTMENT!
Calling 973-252-1160
insures you of quality results. Remember..."It's all....About The House"
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