In general, a thorough inspection every eight to ten years is a good idea. It will enable you to spot any serious current problems, such as a heater or flue leaking combustion gases, and to evaluate the state of your home's systems and components. From there you can develop a reasonable repair, maintenance and upgrading plan for the future.

 

A home inspection is especially valuable if you are not yourself a handyman type who regularly does your home's maintenance and repairs, if  you rarely venture into your attic or basement or crawl space ("I have a crawl space? Where?") and/or if your approach to home maintenance has been rather casual over the years. 

 

It is also a good idea if you are getting ready to remodel, renovate or add on to your home.  It would be a shame to put a great deal of money into something like a kitchen remodel, and then discover that you have a serious drainage or foundation problem that needs attention and dollars.  A home inspection can also identify problems or conditions that need to be corrected or upgraded in the process of your remodeling.  For example, you may need to upgrade your electrical service in order to be able to provide the wiring that current code calls for in a remodeled kitchen.

 

Finally, a home inspection can help you identify conditions that you can blend into your remodeling project at less cost than tackling them separately would incur. For example if you are running new plumbing for a bathroom remodel or addition, it may be cost effective to upgrade the rest of your plumbing at the same time. Materials expense is rarely as high as labor expense, and labor expense is lower when an entire project is done at once than when it is done in several smaller parts.

 

A good home inspection will cover your home's major structural and mechanical systems.  You should plan to accompany the inspector since you will learn a great deal about your home that way. You should receive a narrative written report, not just a check list.  Ideally, your home inspector will have several years of experience in one or more of the building trades beyond any training he may receive with an inspection company.  He should be local, so he knows the local building codes.  You should look for membership in either CREA or ASHI, two professional membership organizations of home inspectors in California that set rigorous standards for membership.

 

Reputable home inspectors DO NOT provide bids to do repair work on properties they inspect nor do they steer customers to particular companies to do work they have recommended. 

 

 

Northern California is a hospitable climate for people and also for termites, beetle and fungus.  It is a rare house in the Bay Area that has never had a termite infestation.  Any unprotected wood exposed to water will develop dry rot fungus over time. Wood boring beetle can over a long time turn wood to powder.  Left untreated, all of these wood destroying organisms can do enormous damage to wood which will eventually cost large amounts of money to correct.

 

You should have a licensed structural pest control inspector inspect your home every four to five years.  If you have to treat for an active termite infestation, you probably want a follow up inspection after one year, to be sure the problem hasn't reoccured.  A report currently (4-10) costs from $250 to $350, which is a small price to pay compared to the value of you home and the potential costs of repairing problems left long undetected. 

 

Use a licensed company, local to your area, with a good local reputation for being thorough.  Use a full service structural pest control company, not a company who limits their inspections and work to termite control.  The limited companies don't have the expertise to identify the full range of potential problems. 

 

The inspector will need access to your home inside, outside and underneath.  If you have many things stored in your basement up against the side of the house and the foundation you will need to move them so the inspector can see the important structural elements of the house.  Typically inspections do not include detached garages or decks and fences that are not attached to the house. Since you want all the information available and a sale is not involved, you should ask the inspector to include these areas as well. 

 

Inside the inspector will check bathrooms, kitchens, laundry rooms, anywhere with running water, as well as windows, wood trim and paneling on walls.  Outside he will check wood windows, wood siding, porches, decks.  He will do a visual inspection of the underside of the roof eaves but will not get on a ladder to actually reach the roof. If the house is stucco he will be looking for cracks in the stucco or cracks at joints and seams where water could get under the stucco and into the wood framing. If the inspector finds evidence that water may be getting under the stucco then he'll ask permission to make test holes to probe the wood underneath.  You should give that permission. The test holes will be refilled but you will have to touch up the paint yourself.

 

Underneath the home he'll be looking for termites or beetle and for damage to mudsills, framing, wood posts and any other structural or wood members under the home.  Although pest inspectors are not charged with commenting on foundations, they have a great deal of experience with repair and replacement of foundations and if you are there at the time you can ask his opinion about yours.  That may help you decide if you need to consult an engineeer or foundation contractor.

 

You will get a written report which will be divided into Section I and Section II items.  Section I items indicate acutual damage or insect infestation.  Section II items point to conditions that, if not corrected, may lead to actual damage or infestation.  You will also get a bid to repair each item on the report.  The reports are filed with the state, and are considered current and valid for 6 months. 

 

You do not have to have the work done by the company that did the report.  For that matter, you do not have to have the work done at all.  It's your choice.  You don't have to have your tooth filled when the dentist says it needs it either, but eventually the consequences will get unpleasant! 

 

Only licensed pest control companies can use the chemicals required for the treatment for termites and beetle. Other work, such as replacing damaged wood, can be done by other types of licensed contractors.  Since the new EPA law effective 4/22/10, you need to be sure your contractors are meeting the laws about lead abatement. There are many contractors who will give you a competitive bid to do work called for by the pest report and often they can save you some money because their overhead is lower.

 

Roof Inspections

 

How often you should have a roof inspection depends on the age, type and condition of your roof, but as a generalization, about every five years. If you've owned your home for a long time and never had a professional inspection, NOW IS THE TIME! If you know your roof is old and nearing the end of its life, have it inspected every other year, or even every year. In general, slanted roofs with composition shingles last longer and need less checking than flat roofs of tar and gravel or torched down bitumen.

 

A professional roofer will not only check your roof surface, he'll also examine gutters and downspouts, flashings, eaves, seals where pipes and flues protrude through the roof. In addition to the inspection the roofer will give you a bid for any work that needs to be done.  If the inspection calls for a lot of work, you should get one or two other bids as well because there is a great deal of variation in the prices of different roofing companies.  It is usually better to have roofing work done in the summer, when roofers are less busy and prices may be lower.  The worst and most expensive time to do roofing work is during the rainy season, when it is an emergency!