Your Comprehensive Guide to Home Inspection: Ensuring a Safe & Sound Investment

Are you in the process of buying a new home? It's an exciting journey, but don't let the thrill blind you to potential pitfalls. One crucial step in the home-buying process is a thorough home inspection. A home inspection ensures that your dream home is not hiding any costly surprises. In this comprehensive blog, we'll explore the significance of a home inspection and why it's essential to safeguard your investment.

Why You Need a Home Inspection

A home might look picture-perfect on the surface, but appearances can be deceiving. That's where a professional home inspection comes in. Certified home inspectors are trained to spot hidden issues that the untrained eye might miss. These issues can range from minor concerns to major problems that could significantly impact the value and safety of the property.

Uncovering Hidden Problems: The Importance of a Qualified Home Inspector

A qualified home inspector has the expertise to delve into the property's nooks and crannies, examining crucial systems such as electrical, plumbing, and HVAC. They can identify potential structural issues, roofing problems, and signs of water damage that might not be immediately visible. Furthermore, a thorough inspection can uncover pest infestations, mold growth, and other health hazards, ensuring your family's safety.

Saving Money in the Long Run

While a home inspection comes with a cost, it can save you a fortune in the long run. By identifying problems early, you can negotiate repairs or request the seller to lower the price to account for necessary fixes. In some cases, you might even decide to walk away from a deal that would have cost you dearly in repairs and maintenance.

Ensuring Safety for You and Your Loved Ones

Safety should be a top priority when buying a home. A home inspection helps identify potential safety hazards, such as faulty wiring, gas leaks, and fire hazards. By addressing these issues promptly, you create a secure living environment for your family.

Peace of Mind in Your Purchase

The home-buying process can be stressful, and it's easy to get overwhelmed with emotions. A home inspection provides much-needed peace of mind. Knowing the property's condition and any potential problems empowers you to make informed decisions and move forward confidently with your purchase.

Leveraging the Home Inspection Report in Negotiations

The home inspection report is a powerful tool during negotiations with the seller. If significant issues are found, you can use the report to request repairs or negotiate a price reduction. This gives you the upper hand and ensures you get the best deal possible.

In conclusion, a home inspection is a critical step in the home-buying process. It provides a comprehensive evaluation of the property's condition, uncovers hidden problems, and ensures your investment is safe and sound. Don't skip this crucial step – hire a qualified home inspector and embark on your homeownership journey with confidence. Your dream home awaits, but only a thorough inspection will ensure it doesn't turn into a nightmare.

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The Importance Of Ground Fault Circuit Interrupters

Ground fault circuit interrupters (GFCI’s) are outlets with the colored "Test" and "Reset" buttons specially designed to better protect people than ordinary outlets. GFCI's have been used in houses since the 1970's.

Why Are They Used?

GFCI's are designed to shut power off if there is a very small leak of electricity (a ground fault) which ordinary outlets wouldn't notice. Normal outlets are shut off by a fuse or breaker if more than 15 amps flow. This prevents fires, but since people can be killed by 1 amp or less, fuses may not protect people from shock. GFCI's shut off power if a leak as small as .005 amp occurs.

How Do They Work?

A GFCI detects a leak by comparing how much electricity comes back through the white wire to how much was sent in the black wire. When everything is working correctly, the current flow is the same. If a little electricity is leaking out, it may be going through a ground wire or through part of the house. If this happens, the black wire will have more electricity than the white wire. Electricity, like most people, will follow the path of least resistance. If a person touches a leaky electrical system, they may present a better route to ground for electricity, since they may offer very little resistance.

Another way of saying this is that the person may be a very good conductor or the person may not be well insulated. The electricity will flow through the person, giving them a shock. Without a GFCI, this can be fatal. With a GFCI, the little leak would be detected and the power would be shut off.

Where Are They Used?

In Canada, GFCI's are now required by Code for outdoor outlets, bathroom outlets and whirlpool outlets. Electrical systems for swimming pools are also GFCI protected. In the United States, kitchen outlets within six feet of the sink must also be GFCI protected.

Can The Outlet Be GFCI Protected If There Is No Button?

Yes, if for example, the circuit breaker back at the panel has a "Test" button, it is a GFCI breaker. This will protect everything on that particular circuit. Any outlets wired downstream of a GFCI outlet are also protected if the GFCI is wired correctly.

Can They Be Added To Older Houses?

Yes, GFCI's can be added to any electrical system. They are more expensive than regular outlets ($15-$20 vs. $1-$2), but are inexpensive insurance. While they do not replace grounding systems exactly, some Codes do allow GFCI's in lieu of grounding in some cases. It is safe to say that a circuit protected by a GFCI is better protected than one without.

Line drawings are from the Carson Dunlop Home Inspection Training Program and Home Inspection Software Tool – Horizon

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Roy White

Oklahoma Lic 70002297 Arkansas Lic HI-2216

Roy White

Oklahoma Lic 70002297 Arkansas Lic HI-2216

Hello and welcome! I’m Roy White owner of Above & Beyond Professional Home Inspections. I’m a licensed and certified home inspector serving both Arkansas and Oklahoma. I believe in giving my clients the best service possible. I inspect every home as if it were my own.

Broken Bow Oklahoma Home Inspector Above & Beyond Home Inspections

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Your New Home: Kick the Bricks!

As a professional house and building inspection company, one of our primary jobs is answering questions. One of the most common questions we get is "Should I have my brand new house inspected?" It's a fair and honest question. The short answer is YES. But you expected us to say that, right? Let me tell you why it's a fair and honest answer.

Risk Reduction

Let's take the emotion out of it. Let's not call it your home; let's say it's a house. A building with a roof, a structure, mechanical systems, and interior finishes. It requires a substantial investment for you to purchase this building. You are putting your money at risk. It makes sense for you to learn about the qualities of this investment before putting your money on the line.

"But what could be wrong? It's a new house?" Yes, the risk of problems is probably lower than if you bought an old building. It actually depends on the individual properties one is comparing. It boils down to illuminating the risk, rather than assuming there is none.

House vs. Home

But it is artificial to take emotion out of it, precisely because the building will be your home. So you have a financial and an emotional investment. Why is this important? Because even a small problem, like for example a leak at the kitchen sink, will elicit in you an emotional response. What happens when you notice the leak? You get an adrenaline rush, you turn off the tap or the dishwasher, you wipe up the water, you remove the soaking box of dishwasher detergent, you wonder what you should do next, you call someone you trust, you call the builder or a plumber, you wait to make dinner until the service-person arrives. A non-trivial emotional investment, for a minor problem.

For some people, that minor incident will bring on a not-so-minor bout of buyer's remorse, wherein they wonder, "What else will go wrong?" It is better for both you and your builder for the inspector to find the leak so it can be fixed immediately.

Helps the Builder

Your builder has worked hard to put your home together. It takes a phenomenal amount of coordination to turn an empty patch of ground into a dream house. With so many steps and so many hands, it is inevitable that some things will get missed. Sometimes we find electrical outlets that don't work. Sometimes we find un-insulated attics. These were not done on purpose, they just happen. If you hire an inspector to find the things that need attention, you can put the items on the PDI punch-list (the list of deficiencies generated at the pre-delivery inspection that the builder is contracted to fix), or you will have documentation of the issues and can bring them up later. This helps both you and the builder keep track of the final wrinkles to be ironed out. If there are only a few wrinkles, you will gain an appreciation of how well the house has been built.

11-month Inspection

Many of our clients choose to hire us after they move in, but before the standard one-year builder's warranty coverage expires. This has proven to be a uniquely successful strategy. The waiting period allows the newly built house to "settle-in", making a performance-based inspection more valuable.

No matter how you look at it, getting a professional building inspector to kick the bricks of your new home is a sound idea.

As seen in HOMES Magazine June/July/August 2003. Gerard Gransaull, P. Eng., Engineering Manager, Carson Dunlop and Associates Ltd., Consulting Engineers - Building Inspections, www.carsondunlop.com

Line drawings are from the Carson Dunlop Home Inspection Training Program and Home Inspection Software Tool – Horizon

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