Purchasing a home either new or second-hand one involves few things to do before finally making agreement and payment. One of which is a home inspection. To carry out a home inspection, a buyer should have a home inspection checklist to know the overall condition of the home.
Below is what you necessarily know about a home inspection checklist. You will learn to what extent the checklist contributes to home acquisition.
About Home Inspection
A home inspection is a visual evaluation conducted on a home’s physical structure and systems. This is done to know the exact condition of a home and find a possible problem. The result will lead the buyer whether to purchase or cancel the home and whether to continue negotiating about the price due to the home condition.
In this regard, a home inspection is typically charged to the buyer. The home inspection costs can vary depending on where the house is located, how old the house is and the size of the home. In general, the costs can rage from #300 to $400.
About Home Inspection Checklist
A home inspection checklist is a checklist used to inspect a future home that someone want to buy. The checklist is used to evaluate or examine the real condition of a home. The home inspection checklist will lead to know what parts of a home that a buyer wants to know in detail.
Home inspection involves an inspector that has a duty to process the home inspection. A home inspector will look for a deep and complete information about the home. A home inspector will find the details and answers of your questions and use the information as the base to determine the price and to make decision about other related case such as home repairs if there are some damages.
In this case, a home inspection checklist tells what parts of the home that you inspect. This way, there are typically 9 parts of a house that an inspector will examine. Those are the exterior and interior structure of the house, basements, attics, bathrooms, kitchen, electrical systems, heating and cooling systems as well as plumbing.
Here is the complete overview of a home inspection checklist:
Exterior and Interior Structure
The exterior structure that you need to look carefully includes the basic condition or foundation, septic tank, drainage system, exterior walls, window and door frames, siding, bricks, paint, roof shingles, gutters, chimneys, garage, shed and fence. Make sure that all of these parts are in a good condition and work properly.
After the exterior structure, you should also check the interior parts of the home. Make sure the rooms have floors, walls, and ceilings that are all good. Look at the lights and the electrical outlets as well as heating and cooling systems.
Are they working properly? After that, if the home has a fireplace, make sure it has been cleaned. The smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors should also function well.
Basement
Look at the checklist! There must be a list of what to examine in the basement. It usually includes moisture, water damage above the floor and pump operation. Examining the moisture usually involves a mold inspection.
Bathrooms
There are more to examine in the bathrooms. As bathrooms are ones of the vital parts of the home, you should check the plumbing under the sink, the water pressure for hot and cold water, tub, shower and toilet. These are all the bathroom parts listed in the inspection checklist. This means that you should check them all.
Attic
Attic inspection require you to check the condition of a roof, ventilation, insulation and electrical splices. Make sure the roof isn’t staining and there isn’t any damage on the structures.
Electrical Systems
The next things to examine based on the home inspection checklist are the electrical systems. They are the wiring, service panel, cables and electrical splices. Make sure all these things are installed properly to avoid an unexpected accident due to the electricity.
Kitchen
Kitchen is a heart of a home. It is a part of home that plays an important role to warm up your families. Kitchen is where a wife prepares food for her families. Make sure the kitchen is comfortable and boosting the wife’s enthusiasm in cooking.
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Thus, check the plumbing under the sink, the windows, the garbage disposal, water flow and the built-in appliances. Look at the list in the checklist carefully to make sure that the kitchen’s overall condition is good.
Heating and Cooling Systems
Check also the heating and cooling systems that include the heating and air conditioning, air filters, cooling unit, and the flues.
Plumbing
Plumbing is the last thing to examine. Check the plumbing by examining the visible pipes, water heaters, water pressure and hot water temperature.
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Finally, you have learnt what things to inspect before buying a home. Make sure that you inspect the home based on the home inspection checklist. This will lead you to know the details of the home and you can make your final decision.
