Good house inspection

[Falcon67]

We're looking at a "new" house. The one we're focusing on was built in 2004. It was inspected in June 2010 for a sale that fell through. We called for a new inspection, using a recommendation by our agent of a guy well known for doing good work. Worth the $$$ for sure - pulled the panel cover on the 200A service and *hey*, there's no ground. No rod, no UFER - nothing. Just the three service conductors from the meter. The 06/10 inspection did not note any such deficiency. That was a sure WTF moment.

 

[gatchel]

I often question home inspectors myself. I had one miss a few other minor wood related rot issues but nothing major. He did get the electrical issues though. Once again nothing major but still not to code. He even took a few pics for his code violation website...

I guess you should ask around when trusting someone with you new home purchase. I wonder how legit the realtor recommended inspectors relationships really are.

Anyone getting their palms greased, who knows?

 

[Falcon67]

I get that, and suspect as much usually. When my daughter's older 50s house was inspected in 2005, it passed no problemo. Then they move in and home warranty replaces the AC and heat system within 3 months, and they found out that the washer drain really didn't very well - they had to leave the cleanout in the front flower bed open so the washer would drain without too much problem.

Our Realtor is somebody we've known for a long time. And when he says "If I wanted my daughter's house inspected, I'd call this guy" well, that's the guy to call. Inspector guy does about triple the min Texas continuing education requirements, spent 15 years as a contractor and HVAC sales/service. Plus - he's a hot rodder and knows some of our racing buds LOL. Suffice it to say that the June inspection and the October inspection are like night and day in both thoroughness and content. Any deficiency noted carries a notated picture and description. The June inspection PDF file is 261K, the Oct PDF file is 2.31meg.

And we paid out of pocket for the inspection, not the finance or realty company. I think we got a good deal. I try not to use the potty in a house that's not mine, and now we know that both toilets are loose on the mounts. I would have never thought to give them a shake and the first sit down would have been "!@#$#".

 

[cowboyjosh]

Remember a Home Inspection is a check of the bones of the house on a said date and time; just because the furnace works alright today, doesn't mean it will when its 10 degrees outside; also a house never passes or fails an inspection.

I've sold brand new homes (usually 500k plus) where folks will call in a team of inspectors to check out my home building skills. Its not uncommon for the buyer to call their own plumber, electrician, HVAC guy, geotechnical engineer, roofer, and GC to look over the specific systems instead of just 1 general Home Inspector who might miss something like a house w/o a electrical grounding means. As a builder I take no offense for someone calling in a team of contractors to look over my homes, very few times do they find anything; once in awhile a competitor to say the HVAC company who installed the system in my house might inspect their competitors work and nit pick it, but most of the time they all keep it honest and play fair. Every once in awhile someone will find something that was done improperly that even I over looked and I'll take care of it ASAP, and admit along the way that no building is ever built "perfect".

If in doubt always call a trade contractor to take a look at any specific system you have concerns with instead of relying on a one size fits all home inspector. I love it when Home Inspectors toot their own horns by saying something like "I was a builder for 30 years", well good for you, and as a builder I'll still admit there are things I still am unsure of and don't know and I won't pretend in front of people that I do.

 

[ecotec]

I get that, and suspect as much usually. When my daughter's older 50s house was inspected in 2005, it passed no problemo. Then they move in and home warranty replaces the AC and heat system within 3 months, and they found out that the washer drain really didn't very well - they had to leave the cleanout in the front flower bed open so the washer would drain without too much problem.

Our Realtor is somebody we've known for a long time. And when he says "If I wanted my daughter's house inspected, I'd call this guy" well, that's the guy to call. Inspector guy does about triple the min Texas continuing education requirements, spent 15 years as a contractor and HVAC sales/service. Plus - he's a hot rodder and knows some of our racing buds LOL. Suffice it to say that the June inspection and the October inspection are like night and day in both thoroughness and content. Any deficiency noted carries a notated picture and description. The June inspection PDF file is 261K, the Oct PDF file is 2.31meg.

And we paid out of pocket for the inspection, not the finance or realty company. I think we got a good deal. I try not to use the potty in a house that's not mine, and now we know that both toilets are loose on the mounts. I would have never thought to give them a shake and the first sit down would have been "!@#$#".

so, now you are going to have to put in two new flanges at your daughters. that will end up taking a whole day.

 

[Falcon67]

Not my daughters house - one we're looking at. I'm not fixing it, the sellers are taking the hit on that. And the other stuff. No skin off my nose.

Now - WTF. We looked at another house around the corner today. I did my own inspection. This house is also missing the ground at the service entrance.

I'm calling the util on Monday to see if there is something weird about their requirements.

Also - our inspector said that he sees this a lot. And when he does see a ground rod, first thing he does is kick the **** out of it. Said you'd be sad at the number of 12" long copper rods in the ground around houses.

 

[Norcal]

so, now you are going to have to put in two new flanges at your daughters. that will end up taking a whole day.

If cast iron one is pretty slow if it will take all day, breaking out the old one & using a instant set flange is EZ. ABS or for the easterners, PVC could be a PITA.

 

[ecotec]

If cast iron one is pretty slow if it will take all day, breaking out the old one & using a instant set flange is EZ. ABS or for the easterners, PVC could be a PITA.

well, i am an electrician. i always give myself all day for plumbing jobs. i redid my bathroom in one of my current houses, though (new tub, toilet, and sink).

 

[Falcon67]

I talked to the power provider today. They are going to take a look at both houses and call me back. Also - they have no issue with me double tapping their meter box for a shop feed. Said they'd be glad to change it up to a 200A box if I needed it. Groovy.

 

[Falcon67]

Follow up. Talked with local co-op master electrician that looked into the gounding situation Told me when we got access to the house to call and they would:

- Fix the meter box that's pulled away from the wall
- Put in any and all required grounds, rods, etc
- "And bring a ******, some #4 cable and your shop feed box, we'll tap that into the meter and hang it while we're here".
- No cost to the customer

I think I'm gonna like these guys.

 

[6768rogues]

I have properties in the areas covered by different utility companies. One requires that the meter box be grounded to ground rods and not the panel box. The other requires the panel box to be grounded to ground rods and not the meter box. If there is no grounding for the panel box, just for grins check the meter box.

 

[hillbilly1]

It's a roll of the dice when it come's to inspections, I've had inspectors that were very knowledgable and some that don't have a clue. I had one inspector that wanted to fail my inspection because there was no main in a sub panel, which was not required by code. Fed him a line of BS, because I knew he didn't have a clue about code, and he passed it. After he signed the permit, he asked "off the record" what size of wire he needed to run for HIS dryer at HIS house!

 

[Falcon67]

Note that in this thread "inspector" refers to a hired home inspector, not a city code inspector. There are no city code inspectors here.

 

[hillbilly1]

Note that in this thread "inspector" refers to a hired home inspector, not a city code inspector. There are no city code inspectors here.

Those are usually retired builders or carpenters, there good for structural inspections, but usually are very limited on knowledge of electrical and plumbing. If those systems are fairly complicated, say add a generator, or some other out of the ordinary system to the mix, and it isn't in the book, they have a hard time grasping how it should be.