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Home Inspection Reports are full of details

By
Home Inspector with Elliott Home Inspection

Most people think of a Home Inspection as the process of checking the furnace,looking at the roof,

walking around the perimeter and trying to view broken windows,opening the electrical panel,

inspecting plumbing for leaks,looking at the foundation for cracks and maybe scuttling through the crawl space.

 

The Inspector is thought of as a guy with a checklist who does this and simply writes down visible issues ,

takes some pictures,collects his Inspection fee,and sends a report.

The above is not inaccurate but is only a part of the process.

 

Look around the internet for a Home inspector and hit images to see there are many logos with a graphic of a magnifying glass 

and a picture or cartoon of Sherlock Holmes.

Heck there is even a entire TV show starring a guy named Mike Holmes....coinsidence ?

 

One thing I learned to do more and more of as my experiance grew was to look for clues.....ah ha ! ,yes I had a point here.

When going through a property during my inspection process I often go back and forth rather than in a simple clockwise or

counter clockwise fashion for good reason because often times there is a clue that something bigger may be going on.

Sure I might for instance see a water stain and could simply write up there is a water stain but what is causing it ?

Often times there are cases of problems being hidden from sight but an experianced inspector will look for causes when possible 

simply because they can lead to other issues which are report worthy.A noticable problem may be the issue

or it may be a symptom of yet another issue.

One example is below 

Pie plate on the ceiling makes no sense and something is not right so peel it back and in this case it turned out to hold live wires

Yikes!

 

Electrical issue

Comments (2)

Royce Dean Vanderpool
Devan Realty & Development Corporation - Lake Mary, FL
GKC, RMC, REOS, CIAS, BPOR - Principal Broker

The surprises just never end when inspecting a vacant property.  From pot houses to wire stripped out of the wall.  Yikes!

May 11, 2013 04:42 PM
Bob Elliott
Elliott Home Inspection - Chicago, IL
Chicago Property Inspection

Believe it or not that was an occupied Chicago Bungalow.

Thanks for commenting Royce.

I could most likely use 1,000s of examples from my report photos  and this quick forum blog has me beginning to go through them now before it gets out of hand and tag them for future material.

Today for instance was looking at white powder on top of a lower window in a double hung frame.

Old 1920ish building so I opened the window and saw signs of a rusted lintel which indicates a history of trapped water.

The trapped water will cause the brick to have efflorescence which is the salt left behind after evaporation of the water.

This efflorescence was what I saw and caused me to open the window and screen to look outside.

Royce this belongs in the main article so I may do an edit and include some shots.

May 11, 2013 05:03 PM