mardi 21 octobre 2014

Conducting Your Own Home Inspection

By Patty Goff


Any person who is serious about investing in a house that he has just identified needs to make sure that he has the residence inspected. The first home inspection can be conducted by the individual before calling in the professional to do the handiwork for him. With a personal assessment, the investor will get a good idea on what he is buying in to even before he receives the report from the inspector.

Assessments should always begin by looking at what is right in front of you. This is the obvious. Examine the flooring carefully and determine whether it is in need of replacement. This is an answer that can be arrived at by checking whether it has become worn out.

This will include checking whether the flooring is smelly and also looking at the condition of this carpet. Where the carpet has been placed to cover from wall to wall, be sure to lift it in one corner in order to take a look at the floor beneath it. Examine the floor for the presence of holes and cracks.

Take your time to check the ceiling before moving from one room to another. The ceiling is clearly the easiest place to assess. Where a water mark is noted on it, it will mean that something is wrong with the roof.

For this, head outside and walk some few meters away from the residence. Locate a good standing point from where you can easily check the condition of this roof. You will also want to check for signs that some shingles could have come out or been removed and not been replaced which is how the water could be gaining entry to the residence.

A professional inspection will often include a thorough check of the crawl space if there is one. This is because some houses are built on a slab foundation meaning that there is no available crawl space. If it does happen to be present, look at the boards and check for mold.

As you start making your way back to the residence, stop by the foundation to check whether there is an existing crawl space. If it does happen to be there, crawl in there and check whether there are molds. This can be noted by shining a light on the existing floor boards.

When it comes to wiring, you will find that you can never really know the cost associated with a repair until you call in the professional. Therefore, if you do notice wires that are out of place, do not hesitate to make that call. This could save you some major repair expenses down the line.

Do not forget to also examine the air ducts that are present. Air ducts tend to be quite sensitive and can be used to get mold in to the house from the basement. A clean white towel can be placed in to the ducts to check whether there is mold present before coming up with a solution on what should be done.

It is only after you have completed the assessment that you can now sit down and go through the notes that you had made. From these notes, you can be able to decide on whether to proceed with the purchase or start looking elsewhere. It all depends on how much damage has taken place.




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