Why Have a New House Inspected?

It's brand spanking new! It still has that "new home" smell (really just paint, carpets and cabinets off gassing). The builder offers a full year warranty. Why bother having the house inspected? Right?

Well, maybe.

Hear the stories:

Story #1: New house. Pretty house. Big house. Reputable builder. Local municipal inspector signed off on several in-process inspections. A final CO (Certificate of Occupancy) was issued. Apparently no one noticed the large red sticker glued to the front of the natural gas furnace in the attic.

The sticker that said, "DO NOT INSTALL THIS FURNANCE ON ITS BACK."

Yep, you guessed it. It was installed on its back.

"But, what's the fuss," you say. "It's under warranty and all I have to do is make a phone call to the builder."

But, it was winter. It's a gas furnace. If it had been turned the first night the new owners were in the house, it could have also filled the house with carbon monoxide (a colorless, odorless poison gas). Not a good thing.

Fortunately, it was seen by the new owner's home inspector (yours truly) and remedied before occupancy.

Oh, and there were no carbon monoxide detectors in the house. Close call? Maybe. Who wants to find out?

Story #2: New house. Pretty house. Reputable builder. Reputable builder. Local municipal inspector signed off on several in-process inspections. A final CO (Certificate of Occupancy) was issued. (Sound familiar?)

Who noticed that there was no roofing paper (sometimes called tar paper or felt) under some of the shingles?

Maybe the framing crew knew (they're the ones that put the roofing paper on after the plywood roof decking was installed).

Probably the roofing guys knew (they put the shingles on over the roofing paper, or, in this case, over no roofing paper).

Did the municipal inspector know? Probably not. He didn't watch the roof go on. He certainly didn't lift any shingles to check.

Did the builder know? Probably not. He didn't watch the roof go on. He probably didn't lift any shingles to check. He replied on his sub contractor, the roofer, to do the job "right."

Does anyone know that in 3-5 years the plywood decking will be rotten. In humid parts of the country like the Deep South, water tends to condense on the bottoms of shingles. The roofing paper protects the plywood from this condensation. No roofing paper? No protection.

What good is a one-year warranty 3-5 years from now?

Fortunately, the new owners' inspector checked. And there is roofing paper on the roof now.

Story #3: Let's talk flashing. Do you know what flashing is, where it goes and what it does? If you do, you're in the top 10%!

Flashing prevents water from entering an intersection of two parts of the house like a wall and a roof. Flashing is generally installed around the base of a chimney at the roof to keep the water out. Flashing is generally installed between the wall of a two-story house and the roof of the adjacent master suite (single story)

Leave out the flashing and you have a leak. Not a big leak. But enough to cause mold in a week or two, and rot in a few years.

I have inspected 14 brand new houses in the last 12 months that had missing or improperly installed flashings. A one-year warranty offers no protection for rotted studs and mold a couple of years down the road.

So, does a brand new home need an inspection? You decide.

Questions? Concerns? Call or send me an email. There's no charge for a telephone chat or an exchange of emails.

Tom Sinclair

About the House - Home Inspections

Fairhope, Alabama

(251) 990-3169

http://www.inspecttestanalyze.com/