Our Great City

Submitted by: Mike Rossetti, Professional Home Inspector

 www.MetroplexHomeInspector.com

817-789-9726

I'm doing many more pre-listing inspections these days for sellers who are interested in finding out ahead of time about problems that will show up when the buyer's inspector looks at their house. I actually offer a free consultation to prospective sellers where, instead of a full blown inspection, I'll come for a visit and spend about an hour with the owner/seller describing the inspection process and pointing out defects in their property that I would list on an inspection report. More often than not sellers call me before the consult and tell me to go ahead and do a full inspection report for them.

Here are a couple of recent examples where I've found deficiencies during a pre-listing inspection that might have jeopardized the sale if they'd been reported by the buyer's inspector after there was a contract on the house. In one case the home had been built during the early 1950s. That was before we were aware of the dangers associated with asbestos. This particular home was sided with asbestos shingles, which were very popular at that time because of their strength, light weight, durability and insulating qualities. At the risk of going off on a tangent, in recent years manufacturers have developed a concrete composite siding material that has all the qualities that were valued 60 years ago in asbestos siding, and it's becoming very popular now. But back to the subject at hand, when I did the inspection on this house I was able to tell the prospective sellers about the potential concern with the siding. As a result they had the option of consulting with an asbestos abatement specialist. In most cases the experts will recommend leaving the asbestos product in place so long as it is not damaged. In some cases, it may need to be encapsulated or contained. With siding, it is on the outside of the dwelling, so asbestos fibers would not be deposited into the indoor air, and so long as it is painted and not damaged, there is minimal danger of any fibers sloughing off, so normally the best thing to do is to make sure it is painted, properly maintained, and leave it alone. And as it turns out, this is some of the most durable, long lasting siding that's ever been manufactured.

In another case, again with an older home, the electric service drop had been installed when the house was built in 1970. At that time the only restriction on location of the electric service drop (the connection to the overhead wires that come to the house from the utility pole) was for the connections to be at least 12 feet above the ground. On this particular house the connections were under the eave at the corner of the house, and within inches of an openable bedroom window. This would never be permissible under current standards. These wires that run from the utility pole to the house have no protection at all for overcurrent or overload, and there is no way to turn off the electricity to them. The main breaker in the main service panel is the first place where the electricity can be turned off, and for this reason the universal electric codes require keeping the distance from the service drop to the main service panel at a minimum. At the same time, the wires and connections should be protected and also out of reach in order to prevent accidental electrocution. An electrician may tell you that those wires are insulated and the connections are covered with insulation after they're installed, but at the same time you won't see any electrician touching them without huge protective rubber insulated gloves, so that should give you a clue to how dangerous they may be. Since these connections were immediately outside a bedroom window, a bedroom that could be used as a child's room, I had to point out the danger that might represent. In this case the sellers were able to contract with an electrician to extend the service drop several feet so that it was above the roofline instead of under the eave, and they avoided what would have been an unwelcome bump in the road and a possible delay in closing the sale of their home.

And just the other day I notified a prospective seller about some broken concrete on the top of their chimney, which was only visible from the roof. Again, this was something that needed to be repaired and that might have caused a delay in closing, but since it was discovered early in the process they have much more time to address the problem. I think the best advice, if you're about to put your home on the market, look it over through the eyes of potential buyers, and find out if there are any repairs necessary before putting it on the market. Cleanliness, cosmetics and style may sell a house, but in order to close the deal the structural and mechanical systems need to be up to par also.