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.

There are many different roof types, some better and more resilient than others. And although flat roofs provide the most likelihood of leaking, every roof is likely to leak at some point, and particularly a roof that does not have a regularly scheduled maintenance service. Consequently, your inspector will not be able to tell you how long your roof will last or when and where it will leak. However, your inspector should be able to tell you what type of roof it is, how long it’s designed to last, and whether or not it needs to be serviced, and the inspector might even be able to estimate its age. But, once again, do not expect your inspector to predict how long it will last or whether or not it will leak. Only the contractor that installed the roof can credibly do that, and usually does, but an inspector cannot and does not.

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 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 good the water is, or the functional flow. High water 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 the 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 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 turn 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.