Inspection day.
Not always, but often enough that it is worthwhile to
psychologically prepare for the ups and downs that emanate from inspection day.
Here’s the backstory.
After weeks, months or years of discussion, you’ve decided you want to
buy a new home. Then, after weeks,
months or (sometimes in the current Denver market) years of looking at homes
and writing offers, you found “the one”.
And then even managed to get your offer accepted.
There’s joy. There’s
excitement. And there might even by that
nervous niggle known as buyer’s remorse.
Should you really have outbid (insert number here) other buyers to get
this home under contract? It’s one
bedroom short of what you wanted. It’s
on a busy corner. It’s too far from
work. There could have been a past water
leak which might have resulted in a deadly mold colony forming on the backside
of the basement walls which will trigger respiratory issues in your pets and
eventual death for your children.
Deep breath.
We get it. There’s a
lot that goes into buying a home. And
part of this process, like life itself, requires that you eventually master
your own emotions.
So inspection day arrives.
You show up at the home and meet the inspector. Perhaps you’re testing for radon as
well. Or getting the sewer line
scoped. Or checking to see if there’s
asbestos in the popcorn ceiling.
There’s a lot riding on the inspection, and it is
important.
But know this… in 23 years and more than 500 inspections,
I’ve never had a home without at least a few inspection issues. In fact, the most “perfect” home I ever
sold came with three correctable items. (Back in the foreclosure era, for comparison, I’ve had homes with as many as
70 items called out on an inspection report - gulp.)
Every home is different.
Some have a history of being extremely well cared for. Some, unfortunately, have a history of being
neglected. But in all this history of
building homes, the “perfect” home has yet to be built.
There are some common, basic items that come up on almost
every resale home. Here’s a quick
summary of what to expect when you're inspecting:
HVAC – It’s never
a bad idea to have the furnace and AC units cleaned, serviced and certified,
especially if they are more than five years old.
ROOF – If a roof
is more than 10 years old, it’s common to have a few torn shingles or other
minor maintenance items. If the roof is
older, ask for a certification. If it’s
more than 20 years old, it needs to be replaced.
SEWER LINE –
Prior to the late 1980s, sewer lines were almost always clay pipe laid in 3 to 5
foot segments, sleeved together with rubber joints. These lines were designed to shift and move
with routine ground settlement. Root
intrusion is not uncommon, nor is it the end of the world if your line has a hairline crack (or two). But if the line
has a significant break or bellies where it is supposed to be flowing, you’ve got a legitimate concern.
FOUNDATION –
Basement slabs are usually independent from a foundation. The foundation is the square that the home rests upon. The slab that makes up the
basement floor is simply concrete poured over dirt. Cracks in the basement slab are usually not a
big deal, as long as they are less than one-quarter inch and there’s no
evidence of water penetration. Cracks in
the foundation wall can be a bigger concern, and evidence of water coming in through the walls can be a significant warning sign.
Again, most home inspectors will consider cracks of less than
one-quarter inch to be normal. Cracks
larger than this warrant further investigation and evaluation.
ELECTRICAL – For
newer homes, the questions around electrical usually center around whether or
not the builder (or original owner) installed an electric panel sized
sufficiently for the home. In older
homes, there can be a host of electrical concerns, including whether the panel
is sufficiently sized, whether outlets are grounded and whether or not the
original manufacturer is still in business.
Federal Pacific, Zinsco and Stab-Lok are all manufacturers who were sued
out of existence for faulty panels. If
your breakers don’t trip when they are overloaded, you have a problem.
DRAINAGE – As my
primary home inspector has me saying in my sleep, “water is the enemy of houses”. You don’t want water running toward the
foundation, or pooling against it.
Grading is usually an easy fix, as long as there is not existing damage
that has already occurred.
PLUMBING – Polybutylene
plumbing was manufactured for a short period of time by the Shell Oil company
in the late 1980s. Branded as “the
pluming of the future”, it was significantly cheaper than copper and used by
builders all over the country… until it was discovered that this plumbing
material reacts badly with the mineral content in tap water and literally
corrodes from the inside out. There are
only a small handful of subdivisions in Denver where polybutylene is known to exist
(Powderhorn, we’re calling you out), but homeowners need to think twice about
buying a home with plumbing that is pretty much guaranteed to fail at some
point.
SMOKE/CO DETECTORS –
These should be on every level of your home, and they should work. Having said that, about half of the homes I
have inspected have faulty or failing smoke detectors or lack CO detectors
altogether. Easy to fix, but commonly
ignored.
BROKEN WINDOW SEALS –
For windows manufactured more than 10 years ago, and especially those that are
south or west facing, clouding and broken seals are extremely common. In simplest terms, these windows have two
panes of glass, separated by a thin rubber seal around the perimeter. Over time, and especially when exposed to
intense sun, these rubber seals can deteriorate. At that point, moisture gets in, the glass
fogs, and the window has effectively “lost its seal”. This is generally a cosmetic issue. Sometimes we simply tolerate it, but other
times you may have to have one or both panes of glass replaced to fix the
issue.
CRACKED CONCRETE –
Again, wisdom from my longtime home inspector. “There are only two kinds of
concrete in Colorado. Cracked concrete,
and concrete that is going to crack.”
Cold weather, moisture and 100 “freeze-thaw” cycles per year pretty much
guarantee that a crack or two is inevitable.
Again, is the concrete cracking (relatively easy to repair by caulking
and monitoring) or heaving? Heaving is
the more serious issue, and when you find heaving, often there is an underlying
water issue that must be addressed.
RADON – Radon is
a colorless, odorless gas that is caused by the breakdown of uranium in the
soil. Unfortunately for us, in Colorado,
radon is a common occurrence. Radon is
almost always concentrated in “below grade” areas like basements, in part
because it is heavier than air and sinks to the lowest point in a home. As uranium breaks down in the soil around the
foundation, the gas that is released works its way through cracks, windows and
other openings where it accumulates and sinks.
When testing for radon, inspectors will leave monitoring equipment in
the basement (or lowest living area of a home) and results will be calibrated
over 48 – 72 hours. If the reading comes
back at 4.0 pCi/L, the EPA recommends that the radon be mitigated. Fortunately, if your home does test high for
radon, mitigation is fairly easy. A
certified radon mitigation company can either modify the sump or drill a
separate collection chamber underneath the floor, which is then sealed off with
a vent pipe extending from the collection pit to the exterior of the home. There is a fan inside the pipe that pulls air
and gas from underneath the floor 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and these
systems have proven to be about 98% effective in reducing radon levels down
below the EPA threshold of 4.0 pCi/L.
This is not a comprehensive list of all inspection items you
may run across. But it touches on most
of the common ones. The important thing
to keep in mind is that some issues are cosmetic, some can be corrected with
proactive measures, and some are flashing red warning lights that should not be
ignored.
The job of your home inspector is not to tell you whether or
not to buy a home. That decision is
yours. The home inspector’s job is to
find and identify every potential concern that could affect the health, safety,
livability or resale value of your home.
We then work together to make sure you have enough information to make
an informed decision.
As I said at the start of this post, inspection day can be a
day of emotional swings. If you know
this before your inspection begins, you’ll be better prepared to think
logically and rationally through the process.
The good news is… inspections are done for your benefit, not
your detriment. Hiring a qualified,
competent home inspector is a good use of time and resources.
And who knows? Maybe,
just maybe, you’ll be that first client who finds and buys a truly flawless
home!
