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Cold Weather and Frozen Pipes
Cold weather is a big problem for home and property owners- especially if you’ve moved and your home is setting empty. Why? PLUMBING!
If your home gets too cold, the water in your pipes can freeze overnight and then burst in the day when it...
Color, Rollers and a Little Bit of Spackling! Ready to Paint Those Kitchen Cabinets?
Please consider this article for your ezine or website. Permission to reprint if byline stays intact. Courtesy copy required. TITLE: Color, Rollers and a Little Bit of Spackling! Ready to Paint Those Kitchen Cabinets? AUTHOR: Pamela Cole Harris...
Get Your Home Ready To Sell
Have you been considering selling your home in the near future? If you have, then it wouldn't be a bad idea to take a good long look at your home, using an unbiased eye.
After all, a clean, appealing, well maintained home has much better odds...
Selling Your Home - A FSBO's Guide to Keeping It Safe
Home sellers not only need to think like a realtor in finding potential buyers for their homes, they also need to think like a personal security agent.
Sellers need to keep their safety in mind when prospecting potential buyers. The real...
Spring Into Action: Home Maintenance
Spring has sprung! Even more important than buds, birds, and bees, spring brings buyers! When buyers are looking for a place to nest, they would really rather not see problems. As it turns out, nearly every home inspected has problems or...
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WHAT IS A HOME INSPECTION?
A home inspection is defined as an objective visual examination of the physical structure and systems of a home, from the roof to the foundation.
In layman’s terms, having a home inspected is akin to giving it a physical check-up. If problems or symptoms are found, the inspector may recommend further evaluation.
As a home buyer/seller or real estate professional, you have a right to know exactly what a typical real estate inspection is. The following information should give you a better understanding of exactly what your inspector should (and should not) do for you during the course of a home inspection.
First and foremost, an inspection is a visual survey of those easily accessible areas that an inspector can clearly see. No destructive testing or dismantling is done during the course of an inspection, hence an inspector can only tell a client exactly what was clearly in evidence at the time and date of the inspection. The inspectors eyes are not any better than the buyers, except that the inspector is trained to look for specific tell-tale signs and clues that may lead to the discovery of actual or potential defects or deficiencies.
Inspectors base their inspections on the current industry standards provided to them by their professional societies. These Standards tell what the inspector will and can do, as well as what the inspector will not do. Many inspectors give a copy of the standards to their clients. If your inspector has not given you a copy, ask for one, or Click Here and look for your home inspectors
association.
The Industry Standards clearly spell out specific areas in which the inspector must identify various defects and deficiencies, as well as identifying the specific systems, components and items that are being inspected. There are many excluded areas noted in the standards that the inspector does not have to report on, for example; private water and sewer systems, solar systems, security systems, etc.
The inspector is not limited by the standards and if the inspector wishes to include additional inspection services (typically for an extra fee) then he/she may perform as many specific inspection procedures as the client may request. Some of these additional services may include wood-boring insect inspection, radon testing, or a variety of environmental testing, etc.
Most inspectors will not give definitive cost estimates for repairs and replacements since the costs can vary greatly from one contractor to another. Inspectors typically will tell clients to secure three reliable quotes from those contractors performing the type of repairs in question.
Life expectancies are another area that most inspectors try not
to get involved in. Every system and component in a building will have a typical life expectancy. Some items and units may well exceed those expected life spans, while others may fail much sooner than anticipated. An inspector may indicate to a client, general life expectancies, but should never give exact time spans for the above noted reasons.
The average time for an inspection on a typical 3-bedroom home usually takes 2 to 4 hours, depending upon the number of bathrooms, kitchens, fireplaces, attics, etc., that have to be inspected. Inspections that take less than two hours typically are considered strictly cursory, "walk-through" inspections and provide the client with less information than a full inspection.
Many inspectors belong to national inspection organizations such as ISHI, ASHI, and NAHI. These national organizations provide guidelines for inspectors to perform their inspections.
All inspectors provide clients with reports. The least desirable type of report would be an oral report, as they do not protect the client, and leave the inspector open for misinterpretation and liability. Written reports are far more desirable, and come in a variety of styles and formats.
The following are some of the more common types of written reports:
1. Checklist with comments
2. Rating System with comments
3. Narrative report with either a checklist or rating system
4. Pure Narrative report
Four key areas of most home/building inspections cover the exterior, the basement or crawlspace areas, the attic or crawlspace areas and the living areas. Inspectors typically will spend sufficient time in all of these areas to visually look for a host of red flags, telltale clues and signs or defects and deficiencies. As the inspector completes a system, major component or area, he/she will then discuss the findings with the clients, noting both the positive and negative features.
The inspected areas of a home/building will consist of all of the major visible and accessible electro-mechanical systems as well as the major visible and accessible structural systems and components of a building as they appeared and functioned at the time and date of the inspection.
To locate a home inspector near you go to the American Home Inspector Directory a national database of home inspectors. Their directory list home inspection companies by state or zip code. Search for you home inspector is free. They have members from ASHI, NAHI. ISHA and independent inspection organizations.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Article submitted by the American Home Inspector Directory
http://www.americanhomeinspectordirectory.com/
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