What Should You Be Most Concerned with During a Home Inspection

Every part of the home inspection is important, and your inspector won't take anything for granted. Still, there are a handful of items that carry heavier consequences than the others. In this article we will look into these "big ticket" items and discuss what your inspector is looking for.

By Zachary Taylor

Everyone wants to have that picturesque family dream home, but a lot goes into making that home and with so many pieces of the puzzle and so many people working on it, there are a lot of ways for things to go horribly wrong. This is where your inspector comes in. Whether the house is fifty years old, ten years old, brand new or even still under construction, you need to hire a home inspector, because there isn't a house out there that is perfect.

For the majority of home buyers the most important part of the home inspection is the roof. This is probably because a reasonable person understands that the roof is continuously exposed to the weather and is likely to need to be repaired or replaced during their ownership of the house. While it is true there are plenty of implications from roof problems that can have serious consequences, the roof is not the most important part of the inspection. Believe it or not, even more serious and dire consequences can stem from other issues.

• Structure

• Gas Lines

• Electrical

• The Roof

Structural

This one carries the most weight.

Seriously though, the home's structure quite literally carries all the weight of the house. Your inspector is going to spend a great deal of time checking all the different aspects of the structural system. If something is overlooked here, a catastrophic failure can be deadly.

Your inspector is going to look at the exterior of the house searching for cracks that might indicate things like ground settlement, footing failure, improper construction - both in materials and workmanship - and mechanical damage.

They will also crawl under the house or walk through the basement. Here, they are looking at the floor structure and the foundation system. Broken beams, moisture, wood destroying organisms, and improper installation or workmanship, are all commonly found during this phase.

In the attic they also look at structural components. Rafters, purlins, collar ties, lateral supports, trusses, and the roof's sheathing are all up there and need to be inspected.

Lastly they will look through the home's interior for signs of structural failure. Drywall cracks, sagging or out-of-level floors, bowing walls, and wall and ceiling separation can all be signs that tip off your inspector to possible structural issues.

Gas Lines

Silent, yet deadly...not that kind of gas.

Most folks love their gas appliances, be they a gas range or a fireplace, water heater, their furnace, or even a gas dryer, gas is nice. As with all things, gas has its advantages and disadvantages.

If you are buying a home with any of these items that gas has to be stored somewhere. Your home inspector is going to look for that storage and make sure it is safe. They will note any corrosion of the storage tank, whether it is properly spaced away from the house, and check for a main shutoff valve.

Next the gas has to be transported somewhere else. They will look for the transportation method and make sure that is also safe. Checking for the proper materials, corroded lines and unions, adequate bracing,

Finally, when gas is consumed it produces exhaust which cant stay in the house. Carbon monoxide, water vapor and unburned gas vapors must be transported to the home's exterior through vents. Your inspector will check those vents for proper installation, function, their egress point, corrosion, any holes or seams, and proper pitch.

Any issues with the gas lines, exhaust, or storage could lead to carbon monoxide buildup in the home, or even an explosion both of which can be deadly.

Electrical

Improper electrical work can have shocking results.

The home's electrical system is one of the most complex systems in the entire house. It can be daunting, even for experts, to go through the entire system. However, your home inspector will be able to walk you through what is normal and what should be addressed.

They will look for the incoming power lines and determine what the system's rating are. They will open the main and subpanels to inspect for things like, overfusing, double tapping, GFCI and AFCI breakers, proper grounding, fused neutrals, proper wire types and sizes, adequate expansion, and bypassing. I'm sure all of this might sound like a different language but its all fairly straightforward, and an expert home inspector will be able to spot these things and explain what it all means.

While your inspector is in the crawlspace or basement and in the attic, they will check for any electrical lines that are drooping, sagging, frayed, or otherwise unsafe. They will also look at any splices they find to make sure they were done properly, and investigate outdated forms of electrical wiring such as knob and tube.

Finally they will determine how any metal pipes in the house are bonded and make sure the entire system is properly grounded.

If any of these items are improper it could lead to blown breakers, malfunctioning electrical devices, a house fire or even electrocution.

The Roof

Pharrell Williams might be Happy in a room without a roof, but you won't be.

A home's roof has three major priorities. Firstly, to provide protection from the elements (notably, rain). Secondly, to provide insulation. And thirdly, to provide security. A home with no roof means you're going to get wet, you're going to get cold, and an intruder could scale your walls. Roofs are highly engineered to be good at providing these protections, but roofing material doesn't last forever, and roofers are human. Time rolls ever onward, and mistakes happen, and its up to your home inspector to spot roofing issues so they can be fixed before you move in.

In most cases, your inspector is going to walk on the roof. There is simply no substitute for this. Seeing it up close and feeling it underfoot is the best way to inspect a roof. However, sometimes this just isn't possible. If the roof is steeply pitched, wet, covered in snow and/or ice, or is otherwise deemed unsafe to walk on, your inspector will have to rely on other means to inspect the roof.

So, what exactly is your inspector looking for? On the exterior inspection they will be looking for the number of layers, signs or aging, discoloration, deformation, missing or damaged shingles, proper nailing, waviness, and proper water routing, especially around roof penetrations. When it comes to water penetration all of these and more can lead to intrusion which is bad news. If water gets under the roofing materials and is left untreated for too long the roof structure can become compromised.

On the interior inspection they are going to look for signs that water has already made it inside. Discolored sheathing, mold, rotting wood members, and proper ventilation and insulation are top priorities when it comes to the roof system.

So, during your next home inspection, try to keep in mind that there can be a lot going on. This list is by no means definitive when it comes to what could be wrong with any given property, but hopefully it helped you gain some perspective about what should stand out as far as the most serious items are concerned. The majority of homes will have a couple of major issues and a laundry list of minor issues. Still, its important to get those minor issues resolved sooner rather than later because something that seems small now could become very big if ignored for too long.

Thanks for stopping in, and as always, if you're in the market for a home inspector in North Carolina, go ahead and use my online scheduler to book your next home inspection!

Until we meet in person,

Zac.