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Pool & Spa Inspection

Many East Texas homes come with pools — and most home inspectors only glance at them. I spent 30+ years in the pool and spa industry before I ever became a licensed home inspector. I've installed this equipment, repaired it, and replaced it, so when I inspect your pool, I'm looking at what actually fails and what actually costs money.

A residential pool at night with a covered pavilion, rain curtain water feature, sunken seating area and lit water — a Florida property Jeff Stalnaker worked on during his years in the pool equipment industry.
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Do I need a separate pool inspection when buying a home?

Yes, and this one's personal for me. I spent 30+ years in the pool and spa industry before I ever picked up an inspection clipboard — installing this equipment, repairing it, replacing it. A standard home inspection gives a pool a glance. I check the shell and finish, the pumps, filters and heaters, the electrical bonding and GFCI protection at the pad, and the barriers and gates. Clear water tells you nothing. The equipment pad tells you everything.

My pool experience
30+ years
Bundles with
Full home inspection
Report delivered
Within 12 hours
Common findings
Equipment, bonding, leaks
Scope

What This Inspection Covers

  • Pool and spa visible surfaces and coping
  • Pumps, filters, and circulation equipment
  • Heater operation
  • Electrical bonding and safety features
  • Decking, barriers, and gates
  • Visible leaks and equipment-pad condition

Who it's for

Buyers purchasing a home with a pool or spa, sellers wanting to document condition, and owners who suspect equipment issues.

Learn more about this

Why Cardinal

What You Get

✓ 30+ years of hands-on pool industry experience

✓ Bundle with a full home inspection and save

✓ Plain-English explanation of repair vs. replace decisions

Ready to book?

Schedule online in about two minutes, or call or text for a fast quote — bundle pricing available.

📅 Book Your Inspection  📞 (903) 808-3898
A Real East Texas Pool

The Water Looked Fine

This is an ordinary backyard pool in East Texas — the kind most of my clients are buying. Walk it in the order I did and you'll see why I don't spend much time looking at the water.

A rectangular vinyl-liner in-ground swimming pool in an East Texas backyard with clear blue water, handrails and a diving board
Here's the pool. Clear water, clean liner, handrails, diving board. Nothing here tells you anything about what it costs to own.
A pool equipment pad with a sand filter tank, pump, salt chlorine generator and electrical disconnects mounted on a brick wall
The equipment pad, twenty feet away. Sand filter, pump, salt cell, heater, and the electrical serving all of it. This is the part I came to look at.
Close view of a pool pump motor showing significant corrosion on the housing and end bell
The pump motor. Corrosion through the end bell and the housing — this motor is telling you how much life it has left, and it isn't much.
A pool pump motor from the opposite side showing heavy corrosion and pitting
The other side of the same motor. Nothing about the pool told you this was here.
A pool filter multiport valve with PUMP and RETURN ports, showing water leaking at the pipe union
At the filter's multiport valve: water tracking down the union where it shouldn't be. Small drips are how big repairs introduce themselves.
Water running down the side of a pool sand filter tank from a leaking connection above
And there's where it's ending up — a wet track down the filter tank. On a pool that, from the deck, looked perfect.

Why I Look at the Equipment First

The pool at the top of this page is a Florida property I worked on. I want to be straight about what that means: I didn't build it. I worked on what runs it — pumps, filters, heaters, chemical feed and control systems.

I'm a named inventor on U.S. Patent 10,967,307 — an automated, self-cleaning filter, granted April 6, 2021 — and from 2019 to 2023 I owned RSW Filter Solutions, the company built around it. Before that, from 2017 to 2023, I ran my own pool service company in Florida.

I mention it for exactly one reason: when I'm standing at your equipment pad, I'm not reading the label to work out what something does. I've installed it, serviced it, taken it apart, and in one case spent four years designing a better version of it.

A pool can look perfect and still be hiding a failing heater, a leaking pump seal, or bonding problems at the pad. The water tells you nothing. The equipment tells you everything.

From the Florida Years

Why I Know What to Look For

I owned a pool service company in Florida from 2017 to 2023. This is the equipment side of that business.

Multiple pool pumps and filter tanks with a PVC valve manifold in an equipment room
Pumps, filters and the valve manifold on one residential system.
A residential pool shell under construction beside a lake, with the spa formed and plumbing stubbed
A shell before the finish goes on. Seeing pools at this stage is why I know what's behind the tile when I'm looking at a finished one.

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200% Satisfaction Guarantee — Cardinal Home Inspections

200% Satisfaction Guarantee

Your peace of mind matters. If you're not completely satisfied at the time of the inspection, I refund your inspection fee and pay for another licensed inspector of your choice, up to the original inspection fee. I can offer that because I stand behind every single report I write. Simple as that.

Ready to Schedule Your Inspection?

Book online in about two minutes — or just call or text me and I'll get you a straight answer on price and a confirmed time. Same-week appointments are usually no problem.

📅 Book Your Inspection   📞 (903) 808-3898