Very often when I introduce myself as the home inspector and after an exchange of pleasantries, the home owner will say ' the house is in great condition' or ' the house is solid through and through.' I always say to myself "how many times have I heard that before?" But I smile and say to the owner "that's great." For personnel reasons I always hope the house is in good condition, because if it is, that's less time I have to spend in writing the report and inserting pictures.
It's Inevitable
Over time any house is going to need a little TLC, it's inevitable - repairs, or replacements parts will at some point be needed. When making repairs there's only two approaches, the right way and the wrong way. Depending on what it is the wrong repair can be costly and result in another component of the house to be negatively affected.Take for example a home inspection I recently performed. Usually I walk around the entire house first to get familiar with the layout of the grounds and the structure. At one house I noticed roof shingles scattered in the backyard. Once I got on the roof, I shook my head.
Wrong Way
When it comes to repairing, or replacing the roof, it must be done correctly other wise its going to lead to more costly repairs. In the pictures below you can see just how wrong this is. The repaired area was so soft it felt as if I were going to fall through, indicating that the sheathing underneath the shingles was rotted out.
The entire roof looked like it was pieced together by a two year old.
Globs of tar everywhere.
After showing my client these pictures I simply said to her, "there's the right way and the wrong way to make repairs."
If your buying a house, even if it's newly built, spend some money and get a home inspection. The price of the inspection pales in comparison to fixing this mess.
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