I have inspected many newly constructed homes through out my career. A recurring theme that I hear from the time I get the phone call at least until the inspection starts is;

"It's a new house and has been inspected by the city, what could be wrong?"

Yes indeed what could be wrong when builders are untrained and everyone is hurrying to finish the job and the city inspector only has 10 minutes to check the structure. Let's take a look at one house beginning in the garage.

This is known as green construction. The garage door won't go up completely thus forcing the homeowner to buy a small hybrid so they can park their car in the garage. You can see a main support column in the center of this picture.

The second photo is a close up of the base of this column. It has been installed on top of the floor slab and is not anchored in place. This was re-inspected by the town inspector after the home inspection and said to be fine. It's not. The buyer had to call the inspectors boss who finally stated, that yes it must be anchored.

Decks are a great feature on a home, but too often they are not constructed correctly. The first photo is one of the support piers for the deck. It has been shimmed to level the pier, but more importantly it is not anchored to the base. Is there a recurring theme here?

The second photo is a tribute to the nail gun. This is a main support for the decks railings. Instead of bolting the baluster support it is better to use a bunch of nails. This and several other supports were so weak they could be easily rocked back and forth about two feet.

These were not the only issues with the deck, just the worst. So let's move onto the interior.

This photo of the living room windows might not seem unusual, but there is a problem. As is apparent the windows are very close to the floor. When a window is within 18 inches of the floor it must be tempered glass. The way to tell if the glass is in fact tempered is by a decal or etching in the glass usually in the lower corner of window. The second photo shows such a label.

Leaky plumbing is not something that would be expected to be found in a new home. Especially because

Moving on to the heating system the next photo set shows more problems that were discovered. The main flue pipe for both the furnace and water heater is not sealed where it enters the chimney. The second picture shows the furnace to flue pipe connection. Soot stains and deposits from the flue are very evident indicating at minimum a leak and possibly system tuning and venting adjustments are required.

Remember that recurring theme? Here's a slight variation. The first picture is one of the homes main structural support beams in the foundation pocket made to accept the support. Notice the shim under the beam. Notice the space between the shim and the beam. See how the shim can be easily removed from the pocket.

The other end of the beam was similarly shimmed. The support columns for the beam were put in the same as the garage.

To finish off here is a list of other defects discovered in this newly constructed house during the inspection.

1. The attic was under insulated. R - 38 is required, R - 30 was installed
2. Tempered glass missing from stairway windows
3. Insulation installed in the wrong walls
4. Missing extension on water heater TPR valve
5. Loose and uneven stairs in garage leading into house
6. Missing GFCI outlets
7. Dishwasher not operable due to incorrect installation
8. Tie rods in foundation not sealed, water leaking through
9. The A/C compressor was 4 years old.

Do new homes need to have a home inspection? I believe the house speaks for it self.

James Quarello
JRV Home Inspection Services, LLC