When inspecting a house, you are looking for clues to help understand the condition of the house and identify items of concern. Sometimes things are obvious and even the untrained eye can spot an issue. Hopefully, this is one of the obvious ones.
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The inner portion of the brick foundation has fallen down on this house. The seller didn’t think the crawl space was deep enough to crawl and didn’t know how I would be able to fit. The buyer was very glad that I could get in and crawl the entire crawl space. I think everyone was surprised, even me.
Some people take road signs and street signs, but have you ever wondered what happens to road barricades? Someone used them for floor joists!
Infrared thermography, IR, allows you to see inside your PVC drain lines. IR cameras see light which has a longer wavelength and a lower frequency than visible light so you can see temperature differences not visible to the naked eye. By doing an infrared scan on the drain line you can find the anomalies which can help solve a problem. The drain line has a clog about 12 feet from the sink and the plumber “snaked” the pipe for 10 feet and said that it was fixed. The drain still did not work and another plumber was called to correct the clogged drain. Do you need your drain lines scanned?
Most prospective buyers of new construction homes feel that since the house is new, they will have a builder’s warranty, so there is no need to do a home inspection. If the warranty covers anything that goes wrong for a year, why worry?
The average homeowner will catch:
What about the larger issues and the inconvenience they may cause once you move into the house?
These items will probably be noticed and dealt with, along with the inconvenience of getting them fixed, but what other unknowns are not detected through a visual walk-through by the buyers? For instance, a flue on a gas appliance not venting properly causing carbon monoxide levels of 35ppm.
This is a hazardous environment especially if an elderly person, baby, or someone with health issues will be living in the house.
These are just a few of the many items Pristine Home Inspections have found on new construction houses. New or old, all houses should be inspected by a qualified ASHI inspector to reduce surprises and for peace of mind.
