Before a buyer commits to the biggest purchase of their life, they need the assurance that they won\u2019t be footing the bill to correct dysfunctional home systems, damages, and repairs once they get the keys. Enter the home inspector.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re looking at all the main systems of the house \u2014 structure, electrical, plumbing, heating, cooling, roofing, exterior, etc.,\u201d says Vahn Balabanian, a registered home inspector and the founder of Solex Group Professional Home Inspection. Home inspectors can\u2019t actually go behind walls so it takes a trained and experienced professional to interpret the clues from a house.<\/p>\n
\u201cUsually, my clients don\u2019t own the home yet,\u201d says Balabanian. \u201cNo homeowner would allow a home inspector to take chunks of old plaster, old vinyl flooring or old wallpaper from their house. You can\u2019t take their house apart before the clients even buy it.\u201d And yet, almost every real estate transaction is contingent on this key step. To get a better understanding of what inspectors look out for once they\u2019re inside the house, we asked Balabanian about his home inspection methods and the common culprits that go into his reports.<\/p>\n
What will you find in your report?<\/strong><\/p>\n A home inspector\u2019s report forms the basis for continuing with the purchase, renegotiating the sale price, allowing the seller to make repairs or backing away completely.<\/p>\n Balabanian\u2019s detailed reports range from 20 to 60 pages. \u201cA condo unit could be about 20 to 30 pages \u2014 which includes maintenance reminders, the contract, a summary page, the standards of practice. These things eat up pages, the actual reporting part is maybe half of that. A house could be 40 to 60 pages.\u201d His reports also feature lots of photos and illustrations to make it easier to digest and understand.<\/p>\n It is not a home inspector\u2019s job to make a judgement call and tell you not to buy a house. They are there to provide information. Balabanian uses the analogy of taking a car you\u2019re thinking of purchasing to a mechanic. \u201cThey take a small fee and a small amount of time to give you valuable information for you to make a more informed decision \u2014 it\u2019s not invasive and it\u2019s general in nature. They will report to you what they see. At that point, it\u2019s up to you. Are you satisfied with the condition of the car?\u201d<\/p>\n When Balabanian sees significant issues, he verbally flags the financial repercussions to the client. \u201cWe don\u2019t give cost estimates in the report but in some cases, my clients will verbally get a ballpark range of what they can expect \u2014 just so they have an idea on the magnitude of possible costs. We\u2019re not contractors \u2014 the final price will come from the contractor who specializes in fixing the issue or issues at hand. But if I see something that is going to be a major cost to rectify, my client is going to know about it.\u201d<\/p>\n Structural problems<\/strong><\/p>\n We all fear the house we buy will be a lemon with significant structural problems that make it uninhabitable. Balabanian assured us that major structural issues are rare to come by. \u201cIt\u2019s not common to find major structural issues but we do come across it occasionally.\u201d<\/p>\n When there are serious structural issues, there are some tell-tale signs. \u201cFor example, if we\u2019re talking about a foundation, it could be horizontal cracking or lateral movement in a foundation, which is the beginning stages of structural failure. Some sort of movement has occurred there that\u2019s not typical and should be looked at and addressed.\u201d<\/p>\n Electrical and plumbing<\/strong><\/p>\n Your home inspector will look at the electrical components of the house to ensure they were properly installed and that everything is operating safely. They will also take a thorough look at the plumbing \u2014 investigating drains, vents and waste systems.<\/p>\n \u201cA home inspector is not an electrical specialist but we know enough to identify things that aren\u2019t standard or poorly\/improperly done,\u201d says Balabanian. \u201cIf I see a renovated basement and there are numerous electrical issues, we can start to draw the conclusion that a non-professional did the electrical work. Possibly from there, you usually find non-standard plumping and other aspects of the renovation that are done poorly at the same time. Sometimes, it\u2019s fairly obvious that they didn\u2019t pull permits or hire professionals and that an ammateur did the work.\u201d<\/p>\n Knob and tube wiring can usually be found in pre-1950s houses but the inspector can\u2019t actually go behind walls to see it. \u201cExperienced home inspectors will generally have an idea based on various factors \u2014 how a house is built, the materials used, the style,\u201d says Balabanian. If it\u2019s on display in an attic or unfinished basement, they will test it with a volt-meter to see if it is still active. Another technique is to use an outlet tester. \u201cIf we see that most of the outlets are grounded, that usually means they\u2019ve updated the wiring and it\u2019s probably not knob and tube anymore (which doesn\u2019t have grounding).\u201d<\/p>\n Water damage<\/strong><\/p>\n The greatest enemy to a house is water and at one point or another, every home will battle against the elements. The home inspector can decipher whether it\u2019s a historical issue that\u2019s been rectified or if it\u2019s damp and problematic at the time of inspection.<\/p>\n \u201cWater damage will happen in any house,\u201d says Balabanian. \u201cIt could be a plumbing, basement, or roof leak and the homeowner has addressed it. You might see some water stains, water damage, or a patch repair left behind. If I test such areas with a moisture meter and moisture levels are normal, it\u2019s not considered an active moisture issue at that point of time.\u201d<\/p>\n As Balabanian goes through the house, he will look for visual signs of water damage, such as damaged finishes, stains, rust, even possible mold. If there aren\u2019t any visual signs, he can use a thermal camera which reads abnormal temperatures.<\/p>\n Heating and insulation<\/strong><\/p>\n No one likes to be in a drafty house, especially in climates with harsh winters. Your home inspector will be able to determine how sturdy the insulation is by looking at the age of the house and original construction. \u201cAn original 60- or 70-year-old house is going to have very little or no insulation in places,\u201d says Balabanian. \u201cOn a newer house, insulation is usually an aspect of the house that we can\u2019t visually see or confirm. If there\u2019s an accessible attic or an unfinished basement, we can.\u201d<\/p>\n The home inspector will also look out for maintenance items that have been neglected. \u201cWe look for missing caulking on the exterior of a house. This is usually a maintenance item, but not really considered a major issue. I\u2019ll recommend correcting missing or ineffective caulking to my client \u2014 especially when I see a lot of caulking that is cracked, deteriorated, or missing.\u201d<\/p>\n Checking the roof<\/strong><\/p>\n These days, safety standards prohibit many inspectors and contractors from getting on the roof with a ladder alone. That said, there are various methods of inspecting a roof that home inspectors can employ.<\/p>\n \u201cIf not going on a roof (maybe it\u2019s too high, too steep, poor weather conditions, etc.), a home inspector can maybe put the ladder on the edge and inspect from there or use binoculars,\u201d says Balabanian. His tool of choice is a WiFi enabled digital camera mounted on a telescopic carbon fibre pole. \u201cMine can reach up to 40 feet (12 metres) where I can get some incredible views of the roof and snap aerial photos of it from different angles.\u201d<\/p>\n Life expectancies and warranties<\/strong><\/p>\n Another common culprit will be equipment that is at or near its life expectancy like a furnace, water heater, etc. Often these systems are installed at the same time, with life expectancies that will fail around the same time. If you need to replace them within a short range, it\u2019s an expense you\u2019re going to want to be prepared for.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen we\u2019re inspecting the equipment, we\u2019re identifying the age by looking at the serial number to determine when it was manufactured. From there, we can give typical life expectancies of all the equipment so our client has an idea of where they stand,\u201d says Balabanian.<\/p>\n They will also make a list of warranties, which come in handy particularly when you\u2019re moving into a newer build. It\u2019s a misconception that you can skip a home inspection in a newer home. \u201cI come across things that are incomplete or not properly installed in newer builds all the time,\u201d he says. Warranties for new builds often expire within one or two years of the home being built. If you catch an issue after this mark, you\u2019re going to want to know whether or not the builder will take care of it for you.<\/p>\n Environmental hazards are not tested during a home inspection<\/strong><\/p>\n Environmental hazards like air quality and mold tests are outside the scope of a visual home inspection. \u201cTo test for asbestos, for example, you actually have to sample the material. And that\u2019s not usually done during a home inspection,\u201d says Balabanian.<\/p>\n The home inspector recommends hiring a qualified specialist to do your due diligence, especially to test for radon \u2014 a radioactive gas that occurs naturally when the uranium in soil and rock breaks down. \u201cThere\u2019s a short term test that takes 2-4 days that isn\u2019t accurate,\u201d he says. \u201cThen there\u2019s a long-term test recommended for accuracy and making mitigation decisions (if needed), which takes 90-365 days.\u201d<\/p>\n Identifying if the seller is hiding something<\/strong><\/p>\n It can be a challenge to determine if the seller is deliberately trying to hide things but an experienced inspector can often find oddities.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you see a bunch of storage up against a specific wall in the basement, I will always try to look behind such areas. Sometimes it\u2019s possible and sometimes it\u2019s not.\u201d Other times it\u2019s more obvious \u2014 like a random piece of storage in front of a crack. \u201cSometimes it\u2019s not even a major issue, but people still do it,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n Balabanian has inspected a few homes that were former marijuana grow-ops. \u201cWhen the whole basement is unfinished but all of a sudden there\u2019s drywall around\/under the electrical panel, that\u2019s a red flag,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n