So, have you just got your offer accepted for a dream house recently? For sure, it is a matter of great joy for you and your family but you are only done with half the job - if that doesn’t spoil your party. In order to get that home you need to inspect it thoroughly because chances are that no matter how fancy it may look from the outside, there will be problems lying in the corner. The problems that we are talking about here are not associated with the peeling paint but the big-ticket items that can potentially affect the livability factor as well. So, we are presenting a detailed home inspection checklist that we think you should pay attention to while buying the house of your dreams. By doing so, you would not only be able to analyze the problems of the house but also make a fair deal with the owner considering the state of the house.
Table of Contents
The number of things to be checked is listed below.
1- Oil Tank
First up, if you are buying a house that is heated with the help of an oil tank and you also want to keep it the same way then there is no problem. However, if the house is heated with gas, there is a potential that it was originally heated with oil. As a result, you must be careful to find the oil tank.
The oil tank is usually filled with sand or gravel. In case, it is empty, you would leave it there, but if the location is unsuitable then there is a chance that the tank cause harm to the property if it leaks, so you should remove it at once.
2-HVAC System
One of the most important things in the home inspection checklist is the HVAC system,
- First of all, the ventilation, air-conditioning, thermostats, ducts, and all other HVAC components are checked manually to make sure that there is no crack, unwanted sound, dirty filters, ignition problems, Mechanical wear & tear, dirty or blocked condensers or evaporation tubes, etc.
- In the second step, running/operating procedures of the whole unit are tested in which turbulence, vibrations, Power, Leveling of the unit, and flow of the fluid (Feron gas) is properly flowing through tubes of the condenser and evaporator is recorded.
Neglected and dirty HVAC equipment is omitted and it is one of the major reasons for losing the trust of buyers.
3- Roof
For sure, you wouldn’t want to buy any house that has problems with its roof because in the end when we buy a house, we basically lookout for a shelter for ourselves, and then if the shelter has problems, what will you do of such a house? Hence, it is extremely important that you check the health of the roof thoroughly on time. Besides that, you should also ask the owner if the roof warranty will transfer with the purchase or not.
4- Chimney
A lot of homeowners may not realize this initially but chimneys can be a really costly affair if you are not going to inspect it at the time of buying and later it turns out damaged. A Professional home inspector should definitely check out any signs of damage being done to the chimney lining, any faults in the masonry, or corrosion. Getting the whole chimney place rebuilt would absolutely be the last thing that you would want considering the fact that you would actually be going to buy an expensive house.
5- Water Drainage
It is no hidden fact now that water is often regarded as the biggest enemy of any house. It can potentially damage the foundation, walls, roofs, or any place inside the house. Hence, it is the prime responsibility of the home inspector to make sure that there is no presence of water inside the vicinity of the house, check the gutters and spouts, and more importantly, look out for any moldy walls with the help of proper infrared cameras. There should be no compromise at all when checking out the water drainage system and the presence of any amount of water inside or outside the new house.
6- Electricity System
When inspecting the electrical system of the house in detail, there are majorly two things that you will have to check with extra care: knob and tube wiring. Although both of these are usually found in old homes you really never know if the electrical system of the place you are about to buy exists underground. Besides that for modern homes, you should also see the state of the electric panel because that is where most of the tripping happens and you wouldn’t want that.
7- Quality of Flooring
After looking at the floors as a part of the plain sight process, you should dig in deep to find out any problems that may exist in sub-floors covered with carpet, tile, or lamination. Detecting soft spots can be pretty easy as you can feel if the wood is weak by walking on the floor or even smelling the place to know if the place is wood rot. Besides that, you should also make sure that the place you are about to buy does not have carpenter bees, carpenter ants, powder post beetles, and, of course, termites residing inside.
8- Waste System
If you are about to buy a home that is relatively older then chances are that it will have a septic system but since over time that concept has almost vanished, now homeowners go for the cave-in as a part of their waste systems. You should also look out for the state of sewer pipes and make sure that everything around the house is crystal clear for the right disposal of waste.
Now that you have the home inspection checklist before buying an old house, we really also hope that you not only depend on the home inspector of your area but also look out for the things mentioned above yourself as well.