Home Inspector in New Baltimore, MI

New Baltimore is two housing markets sharing one name. There's the historic waterfront core near Anchor Bay, with genuinely old homes on small lots and direct exposure to the water. And there's the large wave of subdivision construction from the 1990s through the 2010s spreading west and north. The inspection concerns are almost opposites.

In the newer subdivisions, buyers assume a twenty-year-old house is a safe house. It usually is, but it's now at the age where the first round of everything comes due at once: builder-grade windows losing their seals throughout the house, first-generation high-efficiency furnaces reaching end of life, original roofs at twenty-plus years, and grading that has settled since the builder walked away. I put that replacement timeline in writing so it doesn't arrive as five separate surprises.

Near the bay, the concerns shift to water. Shallow groundwater, sump pump condition and backup, foundation drainage, and open wind exposure on the roof and siding. Older waterfront homes in the core carry the additional questions any hundred-year-old house does — original wiring behind newer panels, and sewer laterals that have been in the ground a very long time.

The pre-1940 village core along Washington and Main

About one house in ten predates 1940, and most of them sit in the original village blocks near Burke Park and the bay, platted as Ashley in 1845. Homes from this era commonly have balloon framing that runs uninterrupted from sill to attic, fieldstone or brick foundations laid without footings, cloth-insulated wiring spliced into newer circuits, and roof framing that has carried several layers of shingles. On the bay side, wind and spray have worked on the siding and window sills for a century. I check the sill plates and rim joists for rot where I can see them from the basement, look for the fire-stopping that balloon frames never had, and identify the sewer lateral material at the cleanout, because houses this age commonly still drain through clay.

1970s–1990s subdivisions and the Lottivue canals

Roughly 37 percent of the city was built between 1970 and 1999, and 23 percent in the 1990s alone. That decade overlaps the polybutylene window, which closed in 1995, so on a 1990 to 1995 house I go straight to the water heater and the meter to identify the supply piping. Homes from this era commonly have builder-grade double-pane windows now failing their seals, first-generation high-efficiency furnaces at or past end of life, hardboard siding that swells at the bottom edges, and roofs on their second covering. In Lottivue, the custom canal-front colonials add a seawall, a dock, and often a boat hoist circuit that I check for GFCI protection and proper burial depth. Grade toward the canal matters as much as grade toward the foundation.

The 2000s build-out west of Main Street

The 2000s were the peak decade here, with about 31 percent of all housing, most of it in the subdivisions spreading toward 24 Mile and County Line Road. Homes from this era commonly have corrugated stainless steel gas tubing that must be bonded to the electrical system, PEX supply lines with early-generation fittings, OSB sheathing that swells wherever flashing was skipped, complex roofs with dead valleys behind dormers, and high-efficiency furnaces with condensate lines that freeze or drain to nowhere. I fly the roof, run the thermal camera from inside on the walls below every valley and chimney chase, and confirm the CSST bonding jumper at the panel.

New construction: Windridge Estates, Northpointe Village, and ranch condos

Building has not stopped. About 7 percent of the housing here dates from 2010 or later, and Windridge Estates and the ranch-condo communities are still selling in the 500,000 to 700,000 dollar range. New does not mean inspected. Homes from this era commonly show grading that settled toward the foundation, missing kick-out flashing at roof-to-wall intersections, insulation gaps around recessed lights and bath fans, and punch-list items that never got closed. A pre-drywall inspection while the framing, wiring, plumbing, and ductwork are exposed is the single most useful inspection on a new build; an 11-month inspection before the builder warranty expires is the second. On a detached or attached condo at Northpointe Village, I inspect what you own and photograph the shared roof and exterior so you know what the association is carrying.

Macomb County is EPA Radon Zone 3, the lowest-potential category, and the county health department estimates 5 to 10 percent of homes test above the EPA action level of 4.0 pCi/L; EGLE’s map shows about 11 percent of Macomb tests at or above it. Newer poured basements are tighter than old stone ones, which can actually concentrate soil gas rather than dilute it, so a 2005 colonial is not automatically safer than a 1925 village house. A 48-hour continuous-monitor test for $175 during your inspection window settles it, and if you are buying a finished basement you plan to live in, I would not skip it.