Home Inspector in St. Clair Shores, MI

St. Clair Shores is a 1950s brick ranch city with a waterfront problem set layered on top of it, and the two need to be inspected differently. West of Jefferson you have consistent postwar housing on clay. East of Jefferson you have canal and lakefront homes where the water table is high, the foundations were built in a different set of conditions, and there's infrastructure on the property — seawalls, boat wells, docks — that most inspectors won't touch.

Groundwater drives more findings here than anything else. The water table on the lakeshore side is shallow, sump pumps run more or less continuously in wet months, and this city has real history with sanitary backups during heavy rain events. I want to see the pump, the backup pump if there is one, the discharge routing, and the evidence on the walls and floor. A basement that has flooded almost always tells you, if you know what you're looking at.

On canal-front properties I document the seawall condition visually — tipping, undermining, cap separation, and the ground behind it settling — and I tell you plainly that a marine contractor evaluation is a separate discipline from a home inspection. Seawall replacement is a five-figure project. You should know its condition before you close, and you should know it from someone who isn't guessing.

Pre-1940 lake cottages and the early plats like Eagle Pointe

About 6 percent of the city predates 1940, mostly along the lake and the oldest canals, in plats like Eagle Pointe, which was laid out in 1916 when this was still a summer destination. Many of these started as cottages and were winterized in stages, so homes from this era commonly have a crawlspace or shallow foundation that was never meant for a year-round house, balloon framing, knob-and-tube or cloth wiring, galvanized supply, an Orangeburg or clay lateral, and two or three generations of additions. I spend the most time where the additions meet the original, in the crawlspace with the moisture meter, and on the roof, because a cottage that grew sideways usually has a dead-flat section that collects water.

1950s brick ranches and bungalows: half the city

Fifty percent of St. Clair Shores went up in a single decade, when it was the fastest-growing suburb of Detroit: brick ranches and bungalows on compact lots averaging about 6,100 square feet, rarely more than a tenth of an acre. West of Jefferson most have basements; nearer the lake many sit on slabs or crawlspaces because the water table would not allow a basement. Homes from this era commonly carry 60- to 100-amp fuse or early breaker panels, galvanized supply lines, cast-iron and clay drains, block foundations, and original wood or steel windows. On a slab ranch I look for the heat-duct-in-slab systems that rust and flood, check the crawlspace vents and vapor barrier, and run the thermal camera over the floors for cold, wet spots.

1960s–1970s colonials and the later canal streets

The 1960s added 17 percent of the city and the 1970s another 11 percent, including colonials that broke the ranch pattern. Homes built from about 1965 to 1973 commonly have aluminum branch-circuit wiring, and Federal Pacific Stab-Lok and Zinsco panels turn up from this period; I identify the branch conductors at the panel and check a sample of outlets for loose or heat-discolored terminations. First-generation central air and single-pane aluminum sliders date from these years too. On canal lots of any age, boat hoist and dock circuits without GFCI protection are one of the more dangerous things I find in this city. Roofs on lake-facing slopes take more wind and ice than the inland side, so I fly them when conditions allow and look at the flashing on the windward chimney.

Teardown rebuilds on the water, and the Shore Club condos

Almost nothing here was built after 2010 as subdivision work; what new construction exists is teardowns and rebuilds on lakefront and canal lots. A new house on an old canal lot inherits the old seawall, the old lateral to the street unless it was replaced, and a water table that has not changed, so I look at finished-floor elevation, whether the new foundation is a slab or a waterproofed basement, and how the builder handled the sump discharge on a lot with nowhere for it to go. A pre-drywall inspection is worth more on a canal rebuild than anywhere else I work. The city also has a condo and apartment segment, including the 28-story Shore Club tower on 9 Mile; a high-rise condo inspection covers the unit and what serves it, plus a read of the association documents.

Macomb County sits in EPA Radon Zone 3, the lowest category, with the county health department estimating 5 to 10 percent of homes over the 4.0 pCi/L action level and EGLE’s map showing about 11 percent of tests high. In St. Clair Shores the placement question is the interesting one. A slab or crawlspace ranch near the lake has no basement, so the monitor goes on the first floor; a basement ranch west of Jefferson is tested downstairs. Either way it is a 48-hour continuous-monitor test for $175, done during the inspection window, and it tells you about this house rather than the county.