When I say the home inspector's hands were tied, I mean it as a joke. However, it is not uncommon to find this to be the situation in the real world of inspection. It is most often the case at a home that has been vacant. The seller decides to winterize the plumbing or does not wish to pay for the power, the water, the gas. Then, someone decides they want to buy the home and calls for an inspection. The inspector gets there, and should know going in if the right questions are asked, that there is no power, no water and no gas. Or maybe there is just one of those utilities, but the other two are missing. Whenever that, or a similar combination is the case, the inspection is very limited in scope.
When the water is off, an inspector cannot look for active leaks at sinks, fixtures, etc or test the operation of toilets. Also the positioning of hot and cold water, hot water to the left, cannot be evaluated nor can the water pressure or the temperature of the hot water be checked. When electricity is off, that means that the outlets, lights and many things electrical cannot be evaluated other than looking in the main panel or viewing obvious GFCI outlets, knob and tube or old two-prong systems. If the water heater is electric, it will not work and the forced-air furnace will not work, without power, even if it is gas or oil. When the gas is off, furnaces and gas water heaters cannot be evaluated. As an inspector, when all of these elements of the inspection are excluded, it really makes the inspection go faster, but it certainly does decrease the quality of the inspection and the value to the client. If you are a realtor, and do not know this, home inspectors are suppoosed to only operate normal controls. The inspector is not going to come in and start turning on the main water valve, the main breaker, etc. If these systems are inoperable when the inspector arrives, they will not be evaluated. If you wonder why, it is because the inspector does not want to be responsible if turning on the main water leads to a ruptured pipe in the house, or flipping the main breaker leads to a fire or electrical short.
Thanks for stopping by.
Bellingham WA home inspector
Steven L. Smith
Comments(3)