What Are Three Important Items to Consider During Your Home Inspection?

What should you look out for when conducting a home inspection?

Homeowners may not see the importance of a home inspection until something goes wrong. Therefore, we always recommend scheduling a home inspection before buying or selling a house to avoid surprises.

Home inspections are essential to ensure that the property has no significant issues. They also provide valuable information to buyers and sellers alike. Here are three things to look out for when inspecting a home.

Structure

The first thing to check is the structure of the home. Cracks in walls or ceilings often point to structural damage. Also, cracks in the foundation signal a major red flag for structural damage.

Structural damage compromises the structural integrity of the home. The risks of structural damage may span from continued cracking in the walls, ceiling, or foundation to a complete house collapse.

Unfortunately, structural damage usually has a high cost for repairs. For this type of damage, only work with a certified professional. You may even need to hire a structural engineer to ensure the proper remedy.  

Safety

Checking the home's safety can be difficult because there are so many areas to inspect. However, it's essential to ensure that all appliances, heating systems, plumbing, electrical wiring, and other components are working correctly. Any system that isn't working correctly could potentially lead to a safety issue.

However, there are a few primary areas where safety can impact the health of the people who live in the home. Mold can cause respiratory problems, allergies, and other serious illnesses. Undetected radon and asbestos can lead to cancer. Also, poor indoor air quality from improper ventilation or a dirty HVAC system can cause allergies, asthma, headaches, and many other health issues.

It's vital to ensure your home is safe for your family. A home inspection helps identify potential health and safety risks. 

Deferred Maintenance

A home inspector may find deferred maintenance issues throughout the home. Deferred maintenance is when homeowners fail to maintain their homes with regular upkeep.

It includes items that require repairs, such as leaky faucets, broken windows, and damaged roofs. However, it also applies to regular maintenance of the home's systems. For example, scheduling regular HVAC maintenance, gutter cleaning, or swimming pool maintenance all help keep a house in good shape.

When left undone, a home can easily fall into disrepair. While any of these issues as a standalone aren't a big deal, when taken together, they can cost new homeowners thousands of dollars to repair.

Avoid the Risk by Scheduling a Home Inspection

Don't risk buying a home without a professional home inspection. It's easy to overlook minor issues when looking at a beautiful home. But if you don't have a professional home inspector, you might pay a fortune to fix the unexpected problems after the purchase.

A home inspection will help you avoid these costly surprises. With a thorough inspection, you'll know the needed repairs before you buy. Even in a seller's market where the seller may not agree to make repairs, a home inspection could help you plan for repairs or even decide to walk away from a bad deal.

At Kenco Home Inspections, we help homeowners make informed purchase decisions. Contact us today for a home inspection in Southeast Florida.