Commonly Missed Items When Buying a Home

I view home inspections as being two pronged, informational and educational. We as home inspectors are there to inform people about the house they about to call home. On top of that, we are there to educate people on how to make their life in their new home easier and more economic. We want Buyers to enjoy their investment, not spend their time improving unseen issues with their home. There are 3 items that I commonly see in home inspections that the Buyer doesn’t see that can be easily fixed to either prevent expensive issues down the road or can make for an unsafe situation.

Let’s start on the outside, the home’s grading. The pitch of the landscaping around the home is crucial to the health of the foundation and items inside of it. Most homes will cost less than $500 and a Saturday of labor to save what could be thousands of dollars of damage. If a person can maintain a pitch of 1” drop of their landscaping per 1’ away from the home for 4’-6’ away from the foundation, that would be best. We also recommend adding plastic on top of the compacted soil, then stone on top of the plastic. Now, we have created a maintenance free bed that is a water barrier, keeping water out of the home, where it belongs. Any plantings should be kept 6’ away from a home due to the fact that we intentionally pour water there to keep them healthy.

Now, let’s move inside the home to the attic. Inspectors will commonly find organic growth, more commonly known as mold. Unless the inspector has special certification to identify it as mold, we have to call it organic growth or, colored fuzzy stuff. This is caused by the humid air from the living space entering the attic. Again, to fix the cause rather than the result can be much cheaper. A practice call air sealing is common to fix this issue. We want to trap the air in the home. Sometimes this is as involved as removing insulation and spray foaming leak areas. Other times, it is as simple as installing a cheap weatherstrip and eye hooks on the attic access. Either of these practices will keep your home from having organic growth creating possible health issues.

In homes built pre 1965, we commonly find 3 prong outlets having open ground. These can create potential issues if the occupant is in a shock situation. If not properly grounded, the occupant can become the ground and be shocked. An electrician will have economic ways to repair this whether it is a special outlet or breaker in the panel. The home owner wouldn’t know as all of the outlets will operate properly, just not safely.

Not everything found on an inspection means you shouldn’t buy the home. Sometimes, we are just starting your “To Do” list as a home owner. Welcome to never having a weekend without something to do!