THE PURCHASE OF A PROPERTY

The purchase of a property is one of the most important investments that you will ever make, and one that you may have made more than once. And, having a property inspected before the close of escrow is essential to that investment. A professional property inspection is not simply an economic investment but an investment in health and safety. For instance, you might learn that a roof is deteriorated and ready to be replaced or that a pipe is leaking and needs to be repaired. But, you might also be alerted to the presence of a suspicious substance that could be mold and a potential threat to the health of you and your family. However, you need to be aware that the average property inspector is not a licensed specialist, and that inspections are not technically exhaustive. For instance, a property inspector is not likely to be an indoor air specialist, a geologist, a structural engineer, a general contractor, a foundation contractor, a heating and air-conditioning contractor, or a licensed plumber or electrician, and will not have specialized knowledge. To use an analogy from medicine, a property inspector is a trained professional but not a specialist. And it is essential that buyers understand this, and thereby have reasonable expectations about inspections and inspectors. So, what can a buyer reasonably expect from an inspector?

PROPERTY INSPECTORS

Property inspectors agree to accept for a fee the considerable responsibility of evaluating and reporting on the complicated conditions and components that make up a property, with the understanding that the inspection service has limitations. Regardless, one of the most important things that you can do as a buyer is to share any concerns that you might have with your inspector, whether the concerns are personal or about the property itself. For instance, if you or any member of your family suffers from allergies or asthma you should share this so that the inspector can take even greater care in the evaluation of components and conditions that can affect air quality. Similarly, you should share any negative experiences that you might have had with previous properties so that the inspector can hopefully spare you a repetition of that negative experience. Now, let’s look at some important aspects of a property inspection and understand what you can reasonably expect.

HOUSES ARE RARELY PERFECT

It is unlikely that the house you are buying is perfect unless it is brand new, and even then the chances of it being perfect in every respect are slim. The older a house is the greater likelihood of defects and deficiencies, not only because of the wear-and-tear that occurs through time but because of the significant advances that continue to be made in building technology. Given these advances, and the extremely complicated issue of building codes and local regulations, you should not anticipate that your inspection will be technically exhaustive. As indicated earlier, your inspector is like a general practitioner, or someone with sufficient knowledge to alert you to the need for the services of specialists. However, let’s consider some fundamental concerns affecting all properties regardless of their age. 

GRADING AND DRAINAGE
Grading and drainage is important, because moisture not only degrades most materials and surfaces but can invade living space and lead to the growth of molds and fungi. Water is a mighty force of nature, and for this reason the ideal residence should have hard surfaces and gutters that discharge into area drains and carry water away to a street or storm drain. However, the residence that you are buying may not have these features, and although this does not mean that moisture will likely enter the interior space, it does mean that any recommendation for service or a second opinion should be taken seriously indeed.

ROOFS

There are many different roof types, some of which are better and more resilient than others. Flat roofs are the most likely to leak, but every roof will eventually leak if it's not repaired or replaced, and particularly a roof that does not have a regularly scheduled maintenance service. Most inspectors should be able to tell you the type of your roof and its design-life, but they should not predict how long a roof might last or when and where it might leak. Their job is to report on its visble condition and to tell you if it needs professional service. But, once again, please do not expect your inspector to predict how long it will last or whether or not it will leak. Only the contractor who installed the roof can credibly do that, and usually does, but an inspector cannot and does not.

FOUNDATIONS

Every house needs a strong foundation, and although structural standards vary from one area to another most foundations perform well, but all can be adversely affected by soil movement, seismic activity, and moisture. The most common defect is sloping floors, which usually result from the weight of a house settling unevenly on poorly impacted soils, which is called differential settling. However, water accumulating close to a foundation can destabilize soil and cause the same thing to happen. Some degree of floor slope may be considered tolerable, for instance one inch in twenty feet is common-place, and a difference that is not even noticed by the average person. Nevertheless, you should pay particular attention to what your inspector reports about the foundation itself, or about the condition of floors or the intermediate floor framing, if the foundation is raised.

PLUMBING

Plumbing can be understood in simple terms. Ignoring the huge variety of fixtures and components, such as toilets, tubs, sinks, faucets, showers, water heaters, regulators, and relief valves, plumbing is about pipes: pipes that bring us clean water, and pipes that remove dirty water. So, let’s consider these. One of the most common questions that people ask inspectors about water pipes is: “How’s the pressure?” But, most of the time, what they really want to know is how is how good the volume is, which is also referred to as the functional flow. However, high pressure tends to stress the components of a plumbing system, which is why most homes have regulators that reduce the street pressure to a manageable sixty pounds per square inch. By contrast, and assuming that the street pressure is adequate, water volume is typically influenced by the size and type of the water pipes. Most modern pipes are copper, although plastic pipes are becoming more and more popular, and both usually provide adequate volume. But this is not true of many old galvanized steel pipes, which become occluded by minerals that reduce water volume, or functional flow, when two fixtures are in use at the same time, and particularly within hot water pipes. Therefore, it will be important for you to pay close attention to what your inspector has to report about the age and condition of the potable water pipes. Drain pipes are somewhat more difficult to evaluate, and their condition can only be inferred. Your inspector will flush toilets and run water at sinks, tubs, and showers, observe the draw, and report on any drains that are slow or leaking. However, the main sewer pipe is impossible to evaluate, and those that are not a modern plastic type known as ABS are susceptible to damage and deterioration. For this reason, sensible inspectors disclaim an evaluation of main sewer pipes and recommend that they be video-scanned to confirm their type and condition. And it goes without saying that all private sewage systems should be evaluated by a specialist. 

ELECTRICITY

Electricity lights our homes and provides us with many of the creature comforts that we take for granted each and every day, whether it be when we brew a cup of coffee in the morning or flip on the lights in the evening. But in many ways electricity remains a powerful and mysterious force that must be respected. Errant electricity kills and maims people every year, and yet many homes have electrical systems that are either not safe or could be improved.  Technological advances in electricity are continuously being made, but unfortunately these advances are not commonly understood. The National Electrical Code is not retroactive, and for this reason alone buyers should pay particular attention to any upgrades or recommendations for service that their inspector may make. For instance, there are specialized circuit breakers and wall outlets that are relatively inexpensive and can quite literally save lives. However, it might be argued that a seller is under no obligation to retrofit a property to meet current codes and safety standards. And although this is true, in the final analysis it makes little difference which person pays for upgrading an electrical system as long as it is upgraded. Life is priceless, and cannot be measured in terms of money.