When you have spent as much time poking around in other people’s homes as we have, you find that common problems emerge.
Both people and Mother Nature tend to affect homes in the same geographical area in the same sorts of ways. In this space where we get to share knowledge from the rarified world of home inspection, sometimes we like to show you weird and wacky stuff, or scary and dangerous stuff, but we think it’s probably most helpful to share the things you’re likely to find in your own home.
So here are some more common #homeinspectionfinds.
No GFCI in Required Spaces
What’s a GFCI, you say? It stands for ground-fault circuit interrupter, and you’re required to have them on outlets in bathrooms, garages, crawl spaces, basements, laundry rooms, and areas where a water source is present.
It’s a safety device that quickly protects against electrical shock or ground fault by breaking the circuit when the wiring gets wet, or the wiring is faulty, damaged, or leaking. Homes started using them outdoors in the 1970s, bathrooms and kitchens in the 1980s, and more spaces over the years. So the older your home, or your most recent renovation, the less likely you are to have all your GFCIs.
But having them is only half the battle. Given that they started showing up in the 70s, you can imagine that many of them are really old. So you need to put that on your yearly home maintenance checklist — check your GFCIs, both indoors and outdoors, by flipping the reset button and checking for power. They are super easy and cheap to replace.
Unless you are this guy.
Water Heater Problems
The water heater is one of those bigger-ticket appliances, so when you’re purchasing a home, it’s a good idea to know what shape they are in so you can plan for repair/replacement accordingly.
Currently, a new water heater runs between $800 to $2,000, depending on what type you purchase. You can expect them to last between eight to 10 years if you take care of them. (Did you know you’re supposed to drain and flush them once every year or two? Of course, you didn’t. Almost no one does it).
Water heaters not being set up properly, rust, wrong equipment, no drain pan, no sediment trap, the flue pipe too close to combustible material, setting up a fire hazard, we could go on and on about the ways that people jack up their water heaters, lessening their life spans and setting themselves up for a broken water heater, a flood, or something like this:
Conducive Conditions For Wood-Destroying Insects
That’s a whole lot of words to say you built condos for termites.
Certain types of home loans require that you get WDI inspections prior to your home purchase, but every North Texas homeowner should have this done, either by a home inspector or by your pest control company.
We all have something around our house that’s inviting wood destroying insects: that wood pile stacked up against the back of the house, vines or foliage crawling up the exterior of the house. Or as in this video: wood form boards and planters against the structure of the house are both very common conducive conditions found in North Texas homes.
“It’s like setting out appetizers for WDIs,” inspector Alex said.
You don’t have to wait until you buy or sell a home to have it inspected. You can have a Home Maintenance Inspection anytime to have an inspector take an overall look at the state of your property and give a report you can use to do maintenance and plan for the future.
