Home Inspector in Chesterfield Township, MI

Chesterfield Township is shaped by water. Anchor Bay and Lake St. Clair define the eastern edge of the township, canal and waterfront properties are a significant part of the market, and the water table across much of the community is high. That single fact changes what I look for more than anything else about the housing stock itself.

In a high-water-table area, the basement is the main event. Sump pumps here are not optional equipment — they are life support for the lower level, and I test each accessible pump, verify the discharge terminates properly and won't freeze, and specifically look for whether there's a battery backup. A pump failure during a spring storm in this township is not an inconvenience, it's a flooded basement. I also look hard for evidence of past water: efflorescence, staining at the cove joint, rust lines on stored items, and freshly painted foundation walls that are covering history.

Waterfront and canal properties add a second layer: seawall condition, dock structure, and how the property drains toward the water. A failing seawall is a serious expense. Seawalls and docks sit outside the scope of a standard home inspection, so I note visible deterioration in the report and refer you to a marine contractor for anything that needs a real evaluation. The general housing stock runs from 1970s and '80s homes through significant 1990s and 2000s subdivision growth, with the roof, furnace, and window replacement cycles you'd expect from those eras.

Canal and bay-front homes on Anchor Bay, every era

Anchor Bay Harbor, Anchor Bay Shores, Chesterfield Shores, Lottivue, and Point Lakeview sit on the water, and the houses along those canals are not one age. Age matters less here than elevation and the seawall. When Lake St. Clair hit record highs in 2019 and 2020, water came over private seawalls and into canal homes; one Chesterfield homeowner was evacuated in June 2019 after 1,500 sandbags and seven pumps could not keep up. So I look at the seawall cap and the ground behind it, the boat well and hoist wiring, how high the finished floor sits above the canal, and every sign of past water in the lowest level. The seawall itself is a marine contractor’s call; I tell you when it needs one.

1970s–1980s ranches, split-levels, and the first inland subdivisions

Sebille Manor, Milton, and the streets off Sugarbush and 21 Mile hold the township’s first big push away from the water. Homes from this era commonly carry original single-pane aluminum windows, Federal Pacific or Zinsco panels, first-generation central air, and, from the late 1970s on, gray polybutylene supply piping. I identify the supply material at the water heater, under the sinks, and where the line enters the house, pull the panel cover, and date the furnace and condenser off the serial numbers. Flat lake-plain lots from this period often never drained well to begin with, so the swale between houses and where the sump line ends get the same attention as the mechanicals.

1990s–2000s subdivisions, the bulk of the market

Listing data puts Chesterfield’s median year built around 1995, and this is the cohort most buyers here are shopping: colonials, ranches, and two-stories on lots near 9,500 square feet, averaging about 1,900 square feet, in subdivisions like Autumn Lake Estates and Carriage Way. A 1990s roof is at or past replacement age, builder-grade vinyl windows are fogging between the panes, and the second furnace is often older than the buyer expects. I fly the roof, check every window for failed seals, run the thermal camera under valleys and around skylights, and look hard at the deck ledger, because decks here were being built before bolting and flashing were routine. On the attached townhouses, I also check shared-wall firestopping where the attic lets me see it.

New construction and manufactured homes

Creekside Park by M/I Homes and other builder communities are still adding houses, and I treat a new house as work awaiting acceptance rather than a finished product: lots graded toward the foundation, missing kick-out flashing where a roof meets a wall, condensate and vent mistakes on high-efficiency furnaces, insulation gaps around can lights. Get me in before drywall, while the framing and rough-ins are visible, and again around month eleven before the builder warranty closes. Chesterfield also has manufactured-home communities, and those inspections are their own discipline: piers and tie-downs, skirting ventilation, the marriage line on a double-wide, the crossover duct, and the feed from the pedestal. I do them, and I quote them separately.

Macomb County is in EPA Radon Zone 3, the lowest-potential category. The county health department estimates 5 to 10 percent of homes here test above the EPA action level of 4.0 pCi/L, and EGLE’s test-result map puts Macomb at about 11 percent. A high water table does not keep radon out. The gas moves with soil air, and the sump pit that keeps a Chesterfield basement dry is also an open path from the soil into the house. A 48-hour continuous-monitor test in the lowest livable level costs $175, runs alongside the inspection, and gives you a number for the house instead of the county.