Home Inspection Courses (Online)

This course focuses on the following structural components of a residential dwelling: foundations, floors, walls, and roof structures. Students learn to apply knowledge of structures to inspections that focus on system performance, safety concerns and compliance with good construction practices.

This course starts with a description of house electricity and develops an understanding of the basics. The course moves on to address getting electricity into the house and distributing it safely to its end use points including switches, lights and receptacles. The course is designed to provide students who do not have an electrical background with the skills necessary to perform the electrical portion of a professional home inspection.

This course focuses on residential heating systems, starting with a description of fuels and then furnaces and boilers. Detailed instructions on operational tests, common failure modes and life expectancies of various systems are included. Each topic starts with a description of how the system works. This course also concentrates on inspection strategies, test procedures and problem identification.

This course focuses on chimneys, wood heating, steam heating, electrical heating systems and space heaters. Each topic starts with a description of how the system works. This course also focusses on inspection strategies, test procedures and problem identification.

The emphasis in this course is on cooling systems and heat pumps. Considerable detail is provided on how these systems fail. Students will also learn to identify typical defects and apply correct inspections techniques.

This course prepares students to inspect, in a residential dwelling, the interior water supply and distribution systems (including fixtures and faucets), as well as water heating equipment and drain/vent/waste systems and their related fixtures.

This course focuses on the inspection of thermal insulation, vapour retarders and ventilation systems, as well as the inspection of interior elements of residential dwellings such as walls, ceilings, floors, basements, doors, windows, interior stairs/railings, installed countertops and cabinets, and garage doors/door operators.

This course covers retaining walls, grounds, window wells, lot grading, driveways, patios, walkways, decks, balconies, stoops and steps, porches, railings, wall cladding, flashing trim, eaves, soffits, fascia, as well as exterior doors and windows. Students learn to describe the exterior wall covering and inspect all aspects of the exterior named above.

This course describes the sloped and flat roof construction. Detailed descriptions and illustrations help to explain flashing details and the intersections that are often problems on roofs. Roof problems causes and implications are identified for all the common roofing materials. Included are sections on how to inspect roofs and what to watch for with various roofing materials.

The professional home inspector is required, both verbally and in writing, to describe the inspection process and communicate inspection findings to the client. It is important that the home inspector is able to communicate clearly and effectively to ensure that clients understand the inspection results and the report. Students develop their oral and written communication skills and learn the reporting requirements and proper conduct for a professional home inspector.