How to Know What a Home Inspector is Looking For in Your House

I am a licensed home inspector in one of the 50 United States who did NOT renew his license to further inspect homes due to the state of our economy. I thought perhaps I could give an “insider’s view” into what guys and gals like me are looking for as we perform a typical residential home inspection.

One of the first things that I thought about when beginning an inspection, was “What is lurking in this house that no one wants me to find?” Sometimes this was a simple question to answer, sometimes it was never answered during the inspection. We are trained to look for things that are “out of place” within your house. Items such as stains, leaks, remains of water drainage such as in the basement, hanging or loose wires, improper plumbing hookups, ungrounded or other improper electrical outlets, sways in a roof, gas piping that does not have a dirt retaining Tee, appliances that don’t work right, hot water heaters that are old and wasteful along with many other things, are all items of extreme interest to home inspectors.

It seems some homeowners are hoping I don’t do my job as they attempt to disguise some defect within their house. This certainly isn’t true for all but I was always aware that it could be someone’s method of operation so I need to be wide-eyed as I approached their home. I’ve seen mold-ridden walls hidden by large sheets of plywood, light bulbs removed from remote places such as crawl spaces or even electrical circuit boxes hidden behind cabinets. Although when licensed in my state, we were instructed to NOT move items in a room. We are suppose to do a “visual inspection” examining only some of the outlets in a room, or examining only random issues and not moving furniture or unloading closets to gain access to other areas. I always felt that these situations may just be where problems await. I usually moved many of these obstructions to gain a better look and not miss a potential major defect. Oftentimes I found them too. Perhaps it was a hole in the wall, a bad outlet, a stained floor or even rodent remains. Sometimes it was increased cold air infiltration, a leaking chimney or a flaw in the framing of the entire house. These items I was being paid to discover and desiring to do my best for my client, the buyer, I did so.

Garages were notorious for hidden damage. Plywood sheets often hid damaged walls where cars had hit the drywall or worse. Frequently after moving plywood sheets, I would be able to see water infiltration or rodent infiltration. Other times I would discover bad wiring or lack of insulation. You just can’t inspect enough usually. Beware, most inspectors really want to do the job they are hired to do. I encourage you to not hide or attempt to hide defects that you know of. In nearly all cases, after the inspection, these items of concern were all reduced to minor problem type of negotiations and the deal closed as planned. Besides, just because these questionable issues are not found in the inspection, you, the homeowner in all cases that I know of in our state, must sign off disclosing flaws in your house. You are liable if you lie. It isn’t worth the hassle. Be up front and be fair.

Home inspectors are not looking to “see how you live”, but rather “what you live in”. We honestly don’t care if there are dirty pots and pans on the stove. We do care if there is garbage in the house attracting rodents and insects. We don’t care if you have a garage door opener, we care if it reverses as it is supposed to when it closes and something (like a small child) is in the way. We don’t care if you are stealing cable TV service from a company, we care if the wires, etc are safe.

I don’t think there are many, if any, home inspectors that walk through the door hoping to squelch a real estate deal…that part does not hurt us or help us. We are searching for “just the facts, Mam”, as an old TV show used to say.

Let me know if this is an article that you find is helpful and I will write more. Go to http://www.easyhomeimprovementprojects.com for more information relative to your house.

Mike is a long term veteran of the home building industry. I have owned and operated several different manufacturing companies as well as rehabbed and built new homes in the Chicagoland area.