A whole house inspection gives a snapshot of the condition of the home’s main systems and components. It’s an inspection of the visibly accessible areas of the home. A home inspector looks for major defects and safety defects in the heating system, plumbing system, electrical system, siding, roof, attic, foundation, crawlspace, floor structure, and more.
A wood destroying organism inspection looks from the floor structure down for signs of fungi decay, termites, carpenter ants, wood boring beetles, and conditions that are conducive to those wood destroying organisms.
Using an Oregon Certified Home Inspector is important, because they are not allowed to bid or perform repairs on homes they inspect. This means that the buyer will receive an unbiased report of the home’s defects.
Having your home looked at by a home inspector is like going to your general practitioner for a checkup. A home inspector will point out defects and recommend further evaluation by a specialist in that area, like a roofer, electrician, plumber, where needed, in the same way that our doctor might send us to a specialist for further tests and procedures.
Some defects will just be things to be aware of and keep an eye on. Some might be things that you can fix yourself. And some might require a professional opinion and bid from a specialist, to consider whether the house is still worth the price you offered before you knew about the defects. Our goal in providing a home inspection is to help our clients make informed decisions about their purchase.
While no home, not even a new one, is perfect, we want our clients to be aware of the major imperfections before they close on their purchase and move in.