"The Home Inspector broke my Water Heater!"
About a month ago, I was doing a home inspection near Reading, PA. A few days later, my wife, Tina, went to pick up the radon canisters I had left behind. When she arrived at the home, the wife was home with her two kids. She followed my wife down to the basement and looked upset.
As Tina was closing up the canisters, the wife tells her, "The home inspector broke my water heater!"
Tina knows that in this economy, it's tough to sell a home and sellers are stressed out. She wasn't quite sure what to tell this woman since she didn't inspect the home and doesn't even know the defects I was reporting on. All she could do was gather more information.
Tina asked her, "What makes you say that?"
The woman responds, "Our water heater never leaked in all the years we've had it. I find it interesting that is suddenly starts leaking the very day your inspector came through! I mean, he ran soooo much water and I hate wasting water. And we never, ever have the dishwasher running while we're showering and I think he overloaded the water heater. It's not our fault it leaked!"
Tina says, "Oh, I'm sorry to hear that! Do you know how old the water heater is?"
The woman responds, "Well, it was here when we moved in, so it's about 14 years old."
Tina can sense the distress this woman is in and feels sorry for her, but at the same time knows I wasn't the cause of the leaking water heater. Tina wasn't about to get into typical lifespans of water heaters or why I, as an inspector, run multiple faucets at the same time. She told her she would be best to wait for the buyers to respond with the home inspection report and talk next steps with her agent.
I'm not always the seller's favorite person in these tough selling times, but the good news is the buyers and sellers worked out an amicable deal and the home was sold.
David Artigliere is a home inspector with
ARTI Home Inspections LLC.
Visit him at www.artihomeinspections.com
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