What the home inspector missed

Michael Thomas

This morning's post by RST

is not uncommon comment here.

In an effort to improve my own inspections, I'm curious about what your home inspector missed, and especially about why you think they missed it.
Insufficient knowledge? Area/system not accessed/inspected? Not enough time available/spent at the inspection. Problem discovered, but not clearly reported/verbally explained? Something else?

In addition to the above, if you have the time to include this information, it would be helpful for me to know:

(1) Type of inspection (house, condo, 2 flat, etc).
(2) Time spent at inspection
(3) Was the written report delivered on-site, or later.
(4) The approximate length of the report (in pages)
(5) Number of pictures included (if any),
(6) Was the report more like a "checklist" or a "custom written narrative"
(7) If defect(s) was discovered, but not fully/accurately/clearly reported, an example of how it/they were reported.

And of course, anything else you feel would be helpful in understanding why the inspection did not meet your needs.

Thanks

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Home Inspections, Infrared (Thermal Imaging) Leak Identification and Inspection Services, Roof, Attic, Building, Basement and Foundation Moisture Intrusion and Water Leak Inspections, Troubled Building Consultations - Serving Chicago and Suburbs
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Scuba_Dave

(2) 240v lines at the bottom of the stairs that were live
Panel was not marked
Not a huge problem...until I went to move the wires & they were not capped properly...sparks

He said that there wasn't any evidence of water intrusion
And yet there was small pebbles that had washed thru from the front porch

Rotting sill - front porch, back patio
House was sided then front & back patios at some point were poured up against the wood siding
It wasn't that bad....but back patio was loped towards the house
Formerly covered by a 3 season room

Michael Thomas

Was this a "electrical panel", or a "junction box"? Were the wires "uncapped" or not "not Capped Properly"?

Do you know if this was:

1) Failure to observe
2) Failure to understand the implications of what was observed
3) Failure to report
4) Something else

Were these visible at the interior? Exterior? If not, what would the inspector have had to do (crawl under porch, etc) to observe the plate(s).

Thanks.

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Home Inspections, Infrared (Thermal Imaging) Leak Identification and Inspection Services, Roof, Attic, Building, Basement and Foundation Moisture Intrusion and Water Leak Inspections, Troubled Building Consultations - Serving Chicago and Suburbs
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Scuba_Dave

The wires were just curled up & stuffed up by the rim joist
There wasn't any junction box
If they were capped, then the caps fell off when I pulled the wires out
So improperly capped....or not capped at all
It was 7 years ago, so not 100% sure
I just remember the sparks

On the water intrusion I am not sure if he noticed anything
It was pretty obvious from the water marks on the wood that there had been water intrusion
It was also pretty obviuos from the exterior that there was wood siding between both patios & the house
It was very easy to push a screwdriver into the wood shingles
Once I removed the wood shingles the rim joists were not that bad
But if I had not enclosed both areas then the rot would have been worse down the road

My last house - No home Inspection
I bought the house as is & had to sign a statement on purchase
I could have had it inspected, chose not to
My F150 cost more then the house
So I figured best to put the $$ towards actual repairs

Michael Thomas

Thanks.

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Home Inspections, Infrared (Thermal Imaging) Leak Identification and Inspection Services, Roof, Attic, Building, Basement and Foundation Moisture Intrusion and Water Leak Inspections, Troubled Building Consultations - Serving Chicago and Suburbs
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ianc435

Missed on inspection
Broken chimney cap
Leaky circ pump
Outdated furnace stack switch
110 volts at thermostat for basement zone
Pee stained wood floors
Glasing on window which have been replaced
Crack floor joist
Non grounded basement receps wired with #14 lamp cord
9x9 lino tile asbestos
Backed up furnace flue
Termites in sill
Termites in bulk head stairs
Out of code electrical
Broken chimney damper for fire place
Heating pipe laid over foundation which burst two years later an flooded basement.
Tops of hollow core doors missing

Michael Thomas

Thanks for the response. My thoughts:
Should have been caught if roof was safe to walk, or if visible from ground with binoculars.
If significant, should have been caught if boiler was operative at time of inspection.
If non-functional, should have been caught. If functional but "outdated", may have been beyond scope of inspection.
Unclear from description.
If just "stained", cosmetic and beyond scope of inspection, but I would have reported as an FYI item. If there was floor damage, obvious odor, etc. should have been caught.
Unclear. Cracked? Blown Seal?
Probably should have been caught if "readily visible"... but...real world, there is not enough time at a home inspection to inspect every joist/rafter/etc. in detail.
Should have been caught
Should have been caught
Unclear. If not creating a functional problem can be difficult/impossible to discover within scope of inspection.
Can't determine without more information.
Unclear, Some defects (ex: OCPD/conductor mismatches) are always "out of code", some things are out of code in one jurisdiction and OK in the next town over, some things are "out of code" if installed in 1998 but not if installed in 1968, etc. Often a HI can't know if something is "out of code" or not.
Should have caught if discoverable from fireplace.
Unclear, need more information.
Good point, I'll start running my hand over the top of these.

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Home Inspections, Infrared (Thermal Imaging) Leak Identification and Inspection Services, Roof, Attic, Building, Basement and Foundation Moisture Intrusion and Water Leak Inspections, Troubled Building Consultations - Serving Chicago and Suburbs
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ianc435

The floor joist was broken and the first thing i saw when walking from finished to unfinished basement ov the soot stained rug from the puff back from the furnace. Smoke alarm went off when the furnace came on. Not to do with the inspection, one friggin zone for the whole house first and 2nd floor. Has been spit since. I alsomf orgot to mention the busted landing where water got down beside rod iron rail and blew the front step apart. Inalso didn'mention zero insulation on knee walls and badly torn up insulation in knee wall storage area. I wish i attended this inspection but i could not get the time off of work my boss is an ahole.

The owners were a bunch of dweebs. They put an area rug over paint that was spilled on e wood floors. There was mold down growing on the mdf base board by the water heater. If i ever see the old owner i am going to tear his unibrow off his face and stuff it in his ear.

ianc435

Single pane windows glasing coming of by fingers. I gald they fell apart i had to get new windows.

Michael Thomas

In that case, should have been caught.

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Home Inspections, Infrared (Thermal Imaging) Leak Identification and Inspection Services, Roof, Attic, Building, Basement and Foundation Moisture Intrusion and Water Leak Inspections, Troubled Building Consultations - Serving Chicago and Suburbs
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suprvee

Good post!

1) Minor water damage in closet near MB bathroom from a previous leak. Had to replace some trim pieces; that's about it.
2) Kitchen exhaust fan exhausted into the attic.
3) 1973 Newspaper covering a sizable hole in the cold air return system located in the attic. Fixed it, by covering it with a 2010 Newspaper. On a side note: there was also a can of soup from the 70's supporting a fiber board panel for the air return.

gma2rjc

This will be an educational post for anyone buying a house.

The only three things that stick out in my mind that our inspector missed are things I didn't know about until about 11 years after we moved in, when I went up in the attic to seal it before insulating.

The bathroom ceiling vent/fan wasn't vented at all. Its metal box up in the attic was covered with insulation. The hole in the side of it, where the damper is, had no pipes hooked up to it.

All of the soffit openings up there were stuffed with insulation and there were no baffles.

The insulation in the attic was only R-19. It would have been nice if he had told us and suggested we add more. But I don't know if that's something an inspector should put in a report or not.

Michael Thomas

I report attic insulation below current best practice as an item in the FYI section of the report.

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Home Inspections, Infrared (Thermal Imaging) Leak Identification and Inspection Services, Roof, Attic, Building, Basement and Foundation Moisture Intrusion and Water Leak Inspections, Troubled Building Consultations - Serving Chicago and Suburbs
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Red Squirrel

The home inspector failed to check the sump pit. When I decided to check after I bought the house, I found this.

gma2rjc

It's nice that you do that. We had no idea and since snow didn't melt off of our roof right away (or so we thought), we thought it was fine.