What To Expect From Your Home Inspection
The process of buying or selling a house can be lengthy, stressful, and downright difficult at times but it can also inspire feelings of new adventures, satisfaction, and personal achievement. But one of the major things to remember when making such a big decision in life is to do your due diligence!
So, what is a home inspection? A home inspection in the state of Texas where I am from is the roof to the foundation and everything in between as I like to say. That includes the HVAC, plumbing, electrical system, and appliances and with Seberg Property Inspections it also means that if you have an irrigation system installed or a pool that needs to be checked over, you can get that done too!
When it comes to the inspection my process doesn’t really vary from house to house which makes it nearly impossible for me to look over anything.
I start by coming in through the front door and I make my way to the kitchen where I will set the dishwasher sprayer arms perpendicular to the door and start an hour-long cycle. I’ll turn the oven on to 350 degrees and place in a thermometer to make sure that it gets to the proper temperature.
After this I make my way around the house starting from the front door and do a quick look around in each room for anything immediately wrong while I put all the shades up and turn on every single light.
As I hit the bathrooms initially, I make sure all the faucets have hot water and set the stoppers in the sinks and tubs to make sure everything holds water and I leave the water in the sink until I make my second pass into the room.
After all the lights are on and the doors are unlocked, I go outside to start my inspection of the exterior of the home. I start by doing a full wide view circle of the home on the exterior looking for defects in the walls, foundation, grading and drainage. This wide view helps to see the big picture of the general condition of the exterior of the home.
Then once I’ve made a full lap of the home taking in the big picture, I move closer and make a second lap around. This lap is for the finer details of the exterior and includes stopping at the AC condenser and electrical panel. One thing I also do as I inspect around the exterior is look for broken or defective sprinkler heads before the system has been activated.
Once I make my second pass around the home, I grab my ladder or drone depending on the roof height, material or pitch and I go to look at the roof. This look is once again a two-lap pass looking first at the condition of the roofing material and then at the flashing details and gutters. After I have finished these items, I get down and I take a moment to go back through the exterior sections of the report (I do the vast majority of my report with my phone using Home Inspector Pro) and make sure that I have placed the proper comments within the proper sections.
Then it’s back inside to start looking at the interior of the structure. My first stop is the attic. I find the attic access and get up there to crawl around looking at any appliances that are installed up there (water heater, AC, etc.) as well as the overall condition of the attic all the while maintaining my reporting using my phone. This can take a while, so you may not see my back down in the main house for a bit but don’t worry, I’ll be back soon.
As I exit the attic, I look for the thermostat to change from cool to heat or vice versa so that I can see and hear the units running in the attic before I close up the access.
Once I am back to the floor I make my way back to the kitchen where I will check to make sure the oven properly heated and I will turn it off.
Then starts the interior inspection. I make my way back to the front door and heading to the right I move into each room looking at the floors, walls, and ceilings for any defects as well as checking the windows for operation, broken components, presence and/or damage of screens, checking electrical receptacles and switches for operation and looking for the presence of smoke and CO detectors. As a fireman this is something that I am extremely cognizant of as these items I have seen personally save countless lives.
As I make my way into the bathrooms I see if the stoppers held water and start to run hot water on all faucets and check the temperature at a representative number of faucets in each bathroom. Then I switch it over to cold water and leave the water running for 15-20 minutes to mimic the load of water present while utilizing these items. If there is a hydromassage therapy tub, then I will run water to above the jets and check over the function of the jets as well as hopefully (you wouldn’t believe how many of these don’t have access ports) checking the general condition of the pump and plumbing using the access panel.
As I make my way all the way around the home, you’ll hear me opening and closing doors, flushing toilets, running water, and opening and closing windows.
I finish my general inspection in the kitchen looking over all of the appliances and checking for function.
If there is an irrigation system installed, I will move to the control box for this and test the system in manual mode for function. If there are any outbuilidings or a pool that are to be inspected, this is the time that I will go to those items.
After all of that I do another lap through the home looking with my infrared camera for thermal anomalies that can indicate insulation problems or water intrusion problems as well as overheating receptacles and the electrical panel. I will also get back into the attic and use the infrared to check for leakage in the duct system of the home.
Then when all of that is complete, I will walk you through the significant findings and answer any questions that have popped up in your head while I am working. I will make a final loop around the home making sure everything is back the way I found it and with Seberg Property Inspections, you will have the report in your inbox that day guaranteed.
So that’s the process! Call today to schedule your inspection whether it’s a buyer’s inspection, pre-listing inspection, 11th month warranty inspection, or an annual maintenance inspection!