When you hire a home inspector, what do they look for when looking over a house? Typically, inspectors are trying to give you an overview of the entire house, from its foundation to the roof to let you know if they find anything bad or unusual when it comes to safety issues, defects, needed repairs and/or environmental concerns. They’re there to look for “red flags” that could potentially end up costing you (or the current homeowner) time and money.
What Home Inspectors Look For
Buying a house is a big purchase monetarily. Therefore, it’s nice to know someone with a keen eye for detail is looking over it to let you know if he or she finds anything that’s not good and/or needs fixing before you pay hundreds of thousands of dollars and assume the risk of owning the place, challenges and all.
Home inspectors look for things that aren’t working as they’re designed to do– for instance, if you were to have a fire in the fireplace but the chimney had cracks in it, that’s not a good deal. The inspector would look for cracks and alert you. Or what if the inspector finds a literal hole in the ceiling in the attic letting rain inside? You, on your own, might not know what to look for, but an inspector does– this is their trade and they encounter unusual situations in homes often.
Inspectors can and do assess things like smoke detectors, safety glass, ground fault interrupters, stairs, the foundation, the walls, the roof, heating/air conditioning systems, plumbing, electrical systems, ventilation etc. Basically, does the house have “good bones” or not? Is it livable or not? Is it in poor, fair, good or excellent condition? What are some things that might need repairs or replacing? When you get an inspection, you get a written report– like a report card for the property.
Looking for a residential or commercial inspector for your property? Call Cornerstone Home Inspections of Warren, New Jersey, at 1-800-648-6187 for more info or email cornerstoneinspections100@gmail.com.