Common Inspection Questions

Jamie: 00:00:01

Welcome to Thoughts from the Crawl Space, a podcast where our goal as home inspection experts is to support and serve our community.

Whether you're a homeowner, home buyer, real estate agent or investor, we believe everyone deserves solutions to their homeownership challenges and inspiration along the way. Your path to success starts here. Welcome again everybody to another episode of Thoughts from the Crawl Space.

Today we are going to tackle some common questions we get from past clients or prospective clients, or just general questions about a home inspection. Some of the mainly the interior part of the home. So these may help you in self assessing your own home. So that's our hope today.

So let's jump into these. There are about 20 of these, so let's quickly go through them.

Which part of the home is most likely to have hidden water damage that could affect the interior? And these are multiple choice. Obviously you can't answer from where you're listening, but is it the attic, the kitchen or the basement?

Well, the most likely is a kitchen. Now obviously you can have it in a basement or an attic, but I can speak from experience.

I did a job yesterday that was involved with mold remediation with our parent company, Mold Mob and there was some mold under the kitchen sink on the back of the sink basin. And whenever you see that, you hope it's localized.

But what we find many times is water has been getting in there little by little and nobody sees it. You put cleaning supplies under there, you put all kinds of things under there and you never think about it, right?

And so we pulled off the back, the drywall was all moldy. We pulled off the drywall, the insulation was moldy, and worst case, it was going past the sides of the sink base.

So we ended up having to pull out the entire kitchen cabinet, the refrigerator, the dishwasher, and most of the countertop to get to where all the mold was. And that was a hidden leak. This leak, it's hard to tell where it came from exactly. It wasn't leaking at the time.

It could have been from a window right above it. It could have been from the plumbing pipes. Over time, who knows?

But regardless, this is the most common place we find hidden damage because you just don't know what's there until you can pull some things apart. And there's no way to see. Number two, what is a common issue found in bathrooms during an interior inspection.

And this would be A, cracked tiles, B mold or C, poor plumbing. Again, we could answer all of the above, right? The most common, however, would be mold or mildew.

People call it Mildew, Technically, mildew grows on living things, so that would be plants, whereas mold would grow on everything else. So. So if you see that in your bathroom, unless it's on a plant, it's mold. And that's the most common thing we see.

It could just be lack of cleaning, could be in the grout lines in your shower walls. It could be on a variety of surfaces.

But because you always have moisture, you got steam, you got water coming out of the tub, water coming out of the shower, the sink, water in the toilet, you have a lot of options for leakage and damage, and we don't want any of that. So the number one thing that we find in bathrooms is mold.

If you're going to get a mold test, I would highly suggest that you get mold testing done in the bathroom. That'd be definitely one room that you want to investigate.

Number three, what should an inspector check in every room for signs of damage or moisture? A, floors and walls, B curtains and drapes, C light bulbs.

Well, this one's fairly obvious, but floors and walls, always, when we go into a room, we want to look up, we look up. We're looking for signs of water stains. Do we know the difference between a water stain and a bad paint job?

On the wall, it says there streaking or warped drywall under a window. Those are two key areas that we're going to see potential problems in a bedroom, an interior room.

Now, there are some times the first sign that you see is maybe staining on the mini blinds, and that came in through a window, it ran down the blinds, it stained it, Nobody's noticed it. That might be our only clue. So that's certainly a possibility.

But floors and walls are by far the number one place that we're going to find problems like this. Four, which part of the interior would an inspector check for potential electrical issues?

A, windows and doors, B electrical outlets and switches, and C, flooring. Well, this one's pretty obvious. It's like, duh, the switches and outlets. We're going to check the plug.

We're going to plug in a tester in each outlet, and we're going to operate the switches just to make sure they're installed right. They're doing what they're supposed to do and so forth.

As part of that also, we would check the electrical panel, but that wasn't part of this question, so we won't deal too much with that. Number five, true or false. Interior inspections focus only on aesthetic features like paint and decor.

Now, you might imagine, by the way, that I Read that. That is incorrect. In fact, a home inspection will deal with almost everything but aesthetic features.

We don't care if it's a lime green wall with orange highlights or even if somebody kicked a hole in the wall. Those are aesthetic things. They don't have anything to do with the structure of the home and so forth. Now, we will look for settling cracks.

If you have that, that can be a problem. But we're looking for structural items.

We're looking things that would devalue the properly, be costly to fix, dangerous to your health, that sort of thing, and not for esthetics. So if your carpet has wrinkles, we don't really care.

If your hardwood floor is scratched, we don't really care if your hardwood floor is warped from moisture, we're going to notice that. But that's a whole different issue.

Number six, which issue would likely be flagged during an inspection if it affects the overall functionality of the home's interior? A, a squeaky floorboard, B a leaky window, and C an outdated kitchen appliance?

Well, I think in some people's mind, maybe an outdated kitchen appliance should be flagged. But truthfully, if it works, it works by far. The number one thing here would be a leaky window.

We don't want water coming in just for the thing we mentioned in point number one. It can lead to mold in the walls and rotted framing and deteriorated insulation and so forth.

And that excess moisture also attracts termites and things like that. So of those three, that would be number one.

Number seven, what is an inspector most likely to look at or for in the attic during an interior inspection? Is it A, insulation, ventilation and signs of moisture, B the number of storage bins or flooring, and C the height? Again, pretty silly question.

Obviously it is A insulation, ventilation and signs of moisture. Number eight, which of the following is not typically checked during an interior inspection?

A plumbing fixtures and pipes B H vac system functionality, C landscape and garden beds. The answer to this one is kind of C landscape and garden beds.

We're not really checking for how they look, but if they do slope toward the house or direct water toward the foundation at all, we are going to call that out. So in the realm of grading and drainage, we're going to call that out. In the realm of, oh, this looks nice, we don't care.

All the plants could be dead and the mulch is deteriorated. We're looking more which way does the water run?

Number nine, what would an inspector check for around doors and windows during an interior inspection?

Well, you might know the answer to this already since we've touched on this previously, but is it A proper installation and sealing to prevent drainage, drafts and moisture? B, the paint color, C, the style of window treatment, obviously.

A, the proper installation and sealing to prevent drafts and moisture injury, things like that. All right, we're already up to number 10. What should an inspector do if they find visible cracks in the interior walls?

A, ignore them as they are likely cosmetic, B, investigate the cracks, just determine if there are signs of larger structural issues, or C paint over the cracks? Well, investigating the cracks to determine if they're a sign of larger structural issues is the obvious answer here.

Every we see cracks, we're going to look at a couple of things. Is it diagonal? Is it offset? Is one side pushed out further than another? If so, we got things shifting, we got things twisting.

Maybe we have a post underneath it in the basement that has been moved or isn't supporting like it should. Maybe the main beam is sagging.

Whatever it is, when we see interior cracks, and that's why we will check the interior before we check anything downstairs, is just to see if there are signs. And that's definitely one of the things we're looking for. 11.

What is the main concern when inspecting a home's electrical system during an inspection?

A, checking location of the light switches, B ensuring all outlets and switches are functional and up to code and C evaluating the number of light fixtures? Well, we don't check codes, but the answer is C, make sure they're functional, installed in a safe manner.

We don't really care how many location of the light switches does affect the livability of the home to a degree, but it's really not something we're going to comment on because everybody's different. Number 12, what might an interior inspector look for when inspecting floors?

A flooring material types, B signs of damage or water damage, and C, the style of rugs. We're always going to look for water damage above all.

So now if your carpet or rug is deteriorated such that it might be a trip hazard, then that's something that we would consider talking about. But generally it's just going to be water damage.

Number 13, during an interior inspection, which of the following is not typically part of the inspector's checklist? A the condition of walls and ceilings, B the working condition of plumbing fixtures, or C the location of an outdoor patio?

Yeah, we're not going to care about the outdoor patios too much. Again, if it slopes toward the house, if it has offset sections, that could be trip hazards.

Those are all concerns, but just the location in general is not a concern. And it would definitely not be part of what we're comparing what we're inspecting compared to the walls and ceilings and plumbing fixtures. 14.

What would an inspector check to ensure the home is energy efficient during an inspector interior inspection? So what is the best thing to look for? Energy efficiency. First of all, we're not going to calculate the energy efficiency.

There are some metrics that do that. We're not going to do that. Insulation and windows A B interior paint color or C lighting design. Well, obviously that's not going to matter too much.

It's going to be insulation and windows. They go a long way toward determining what kind of energy efficiency you have in the home.

e because you at least have a: 5050

True or false Inspectors check for the functionality of all major appliances during an interior heat inspection. False. Inspectors are going to check for basic functions, but not likely all of them. For example, on a dishwasher you have many functions.

You got a heavy duty cycle, you got a quick rinse cycle, you got, you know, clean and sanitize or whatever your dishwasher may have. We're not going to check all of those. We're going to check a one. So that's kind of a basic inspection. Same on your range.

There's different kinds of heating programs that you can do to cook your food and so forth. We're going to just choose one to make sure it's functional. 16.

Which of the following issues could indicate a potential safety hazard found during the inspection? A Loose handrails on stairs B Small cracks in paint C Outdated furniture. This would be A Loose handrails on stairs.

Anytime a handrail is loose, missing, undersized, etc. Too low, that's going to be a concern. Couple more here. 17.

What should an inspector do if they find an issue with the home's H Vac system during an interior inspection? A Ignore it if it's working even slightly. B Flag it for further evaluation by a professional H Vac company. C Fix it themselves. Well, what do we do?

We're a generalist, and so whenever we see issues that require investigation by a specialist, we're going to refer that out. So the answer here would be B flag it for further investigation by an H vac technician. 18.

What is the role of a home inspector when it comes to the interior condition of a Home A perform repairs B evaluate the overall safety, functionality and potential issues. C to redesign the layout of the home. Well, A is prohibited.

Inspectors aren't allowed to do any repairs on homes they inspect for a year and C is silly. You don't want us redesigning anything. So the answer is B to evaluate the overall safety, functionality and potential issues of the home.

And two more. See if you can get these right and maybe send us your grade number 19.

What might an inspector do if they detect signs of pest infestation in the interior during an inspection? A recommend pest control services, B ignore it as it's not their responsibility and then C, only report if the pest is visible.

Well, this is going to be a Recommend Pest control services.

Now, specifically speaking to wood destroying insects, state law requires if you see signs of wood destroying insects, it could be if it's termites, it could be mud tubes, it could be damaged wood, it could be the actual termites, it could be insect parts, et cetera. And we don't see any signs of treatment that we are required by the state to recommend treatment. And that would be a pest control company number 20.

We're going to end you with a true and false 1. A home inspector checks for compliance with local building codes during an inspection that is false.

Home inspectors evaluate concerns, safety features, condition of components and things like that. But we are not code compliance officers. We don't know what this code in this county does and so forth.

We're in roughly 20 counties and it's, you know, everybody has their own little twist on codes, so that's not what we're there for.

We're there to look for any health and safety hazards, any structural problems, any water penetration, any insect damage and this, any system or component that's not working like it should that would be seriously devaluing the property, costly to fix or dangerous to their health. So thanks for following along in this silly little quiz.

But if you want more information on what we do on how we do it, if you have a concern about your own house, give us a call. We'd love to answer your questions and pass this on.

Share this with others that might be considering a home inspection or considering buying a home, and we'd love to help them out and give them the peace of mind that they want going forward in their real estate purchase. Thank you for listening.

This week you can catch up on the latest episode of the Thoughts from the Crawl Space podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and YouTube. For more information about Gold Key Inspection Services, go ToGold keyinspect.com.