Home Inspector in Clinton Township, MI

Clinton Township is one of the largest townships in Michigan by population, and it has the most varied housing stock in my service area. You can inspect a 1950s bungalow near Gratiot in the morning and a 1990s colonial off Romeo Plank in the afternoon, and they will have almost nothing in common. That variety is exactly why a templated inspection doesn't work here.

The older southern and eastern sections near Gratiot, Harper, and Groesbeck carry postwar and 1950s–60s construction with the issues that come with it: original or first-replacement electrical services, galvanized plumbing, cast-iron drains, and roofs on their second or third layer. Layered roofing is a specific concern — I check sheathing condition and count layers, because two and three layers of shingle both hide problems and shorten the life of everything under them.

Move north and west and the stock shifts to 1970s through 1990s subdivisions with a different set of concerns: aging original furnaces, deteriorating builder-grade siding, deck construction that was never properly ledger-flashed or bolted, and finished basements with unpermitted electrical. Throughout the entire township, the same Macomb County clay soil drives the same drainage and sump pump issues I see everywhere in this county.

1940s–1960s bungalows and ranches along Gratiot, Broad Acres, and Cady

About 27 percent of the township was built between 1940 and 1969, concentrated in the southern and eastern end around Gratiot, Broad Acres, and the Cady area near Utica Road and Moravian Drive, the oldest road in the township. Homes from this era commonly have 60-amp or early 100-amp services with decades of added circuits, undersized return-air ducts feeding a modern furnace, block foundations with a bowed wall or two, and asbestos-era materials in the floor tile and pipe wrap. I run the thermal camera along the exterior walls where I suspect insulation was never added, check attic ventilation on the small hip roofs, and put the moisture meter on the lowest course of block.

1970s–1980s colonials, quads, and split-levels

Homes from the 1970s and 1980s commonly carry Federal Pacific Stab-Lok or Zinsco panels, aluminum branch wiring in anything built before about 1973, gray polybutylene supply piping from 1978 on, and original single-pane sliders. Quads and split-levels add their own list: the half-level family room sits partly below grade with a shorter foundation wall and no full sump pit, so moisture shows up at the carpet tack strip before anyone sees it. I identify the panel brand and the supply material at the water heater, check the crawlspace under the raised bedroom wing for vapor barrier and standing water, and look at where the two roof planes of a quad meet, because that valley carries a lot of water into a small gutter.

1990s subdivisions and 2000s infill north of Hall Road

The 1990s subdivisions off Romeo Plank and Garfield, and the attached and detached infill that followed near Partridge Creek after 2000, make up the newest 16 percent of the township. Homes from this era commonly have roofs at the end of their first life, builder-grade windows with failed seals, decks approaching 30 years, and finished basements done by the second or third owner. On the 2000s product I look at high-efficiency furnace venting and condensate drains, PEX manifolds, and grading that was set once by the builder and has settled toward the house ever since. Because so much of this newer stock is attached, I also check the attic firewall between units, the shared roof drainage, and whether the sump discharge is routed to a common line the association controls.

Condos, townhomes, and manufactured homes

Fewer than half of Clinton Township’s housing units are detached single-family homes. Seventeen percent are townhomes or rowhouses, a large share are condos, and about 5 percent are manufactured homes. A condo inspection covers everything inside the unit and the systems that serve it, plus the attic, crawlspace, roof, and exterior where I can reach them, and the report is clear about which findings are the association’s responsibility and which are yours. Ask for the reserve study and the last two years of meeting minutes before I arrive; a roof that is failing on the building next door is your assessment too. Manufactured homes get piers, tie-downs, skirting, the marriage line, and the pedestal feed checked, and are quoted as their own service.

Macomb County is in EPA Radon Zone 3, the lowest-potential category. The county health department estimates 5 to 10 percent of homes test above the EPA action level of 4.0 pCi/L, and EGLE’s test-result map shows about 11 percent of Macomb tests at or above that line. In Clinton Township the practical question is where to put the monitor. In a quad or split-level, the lowest livable level is the half-sunk family room, not a basement, and that is where the 48-hour continuous monitor goes. In a condo on a slab, the ground floor. The test costs $175, runs during your inspection window, and is the only way to know the number for the unit you are buying rather than the county average.