Side Yard Home Inspection

Looking at the side yard of this house gives me a couple of clues to some problems that a home inspector or future homeowner might need to be aware of.

First thing I notice is a soil erosion problem from the wood fence into the yard itself. Now some of this erosion can be repaired by bringing more dirt in and creating a slope that is not real steep or building a small retaining wall.

The second thing I noticed and seems to be a problem that most homeowners don't even realize until the house is purchased an they actually start living in it. There doesn't seem to be an area for garbage cans to be stored.

Storing the garbage cans on the sidewalk will limit your sidewalk access on the side of the house especially if you have large trash cans. Something to think about when purchasing a home you're planning to live in. As a home inspector it would be nice to mention this to your client.

Trash can storage in a situation like this as well as the soil erosion are not really big problems but they can be so please be aware. This of course is one of the reasons why I wrote my book. I'm the one that gets to listen to the complaints because someone didn't point a potential problem out to the new homeowner.