During Your Inspection
Whether you are buying, selling or maintaining your home, At Ease Home Inspection Services provides professional and quality service from the moment you call us. Our certified home inspectors will walk through your home with you and teach you as much as you want to learn. We strictly follow all state and NACHI Standards of Practice for home inspectors.
After Your Inspection
After walking through the home with you, I will explain the general condition of the home and systems to you and your agent. I will talk through any major issues that need to be addressed sooner rather than later. I will also mention the items that you will want to keep an eye on for deferred maintenance. All of this will be detailed in our easy-to-read report, which will be delivered in HTML and/or PDF format. From that report, you will be able to see the items we discussed, with narrative, images, and video for reference.
Included Components
At Ease Home Inspection Services thoroughly inspects and reports on the following and more:
Structure/Foundation
- Foundation walls
- Basement floor
- Crawl spaces
- Sump Systems, including the sump basket, sump pump, sump cover, and extension piping.
- Floor structure (posts, beams, joists, etc.)
- Basement insulation
- Signs of basement moisture/water intrusion
Roofing
I place my ladder on the house and climb up on the roofs to inspect them. I feel this is the best way to inspect them. Some common-sense exceptions would be unsafe roofs, moss covered, wood, slate, or standing seam metal roofs, snow-covered, etc.
If I cannot walk the roof, I will send up a drone or pole camera to get the best view possible.
- Gutters and roof drainage systems. I’m a big proponents of gutters.
- Flashing (and improper flashing) is typically reported.
- Skylights, roof vents, plumbing vents, and other roof penetrations are inspected.
Plumbing
- DWV – Drain, waste, and vent pipes
- Water supply pipes
- The visible portion of the water service pipe, which is the water supply pipe that brings water into the home
- Water heaters
- Water heater vents.
- Clothes washers and dryers
- Floor drains
- Sinks
- Toilets
- Tubs
- Showers
- Gas lines.
- I document the locations of the main gas and water valves.
Electrical Systems
- Exterior electrical components
- Service drop
- Service entrance conductors
- Service entrance cables
- Service mast
- I remove panel covers of main panel and any sub-panels to inspect the wiring inside. For the record, this is not something that is required in Pennsylvania but just one example of where I exceed industry standards
- Service grounding and the grounding electrode conductor. The service ground and proper bonding are the two most important items that keep an electrical system safe.
- Interior electrical components, including the majority of outlets, switches, and lights.
- Ground fault circuit interrupters
- Arc fault circuit interrupters
- Smoke and CO alarms. I recommend they be changed if over 10 years old
Heating and Cooling
- Installed heating equipment such as furnaces and boilers.
- Furnace filters are inspected and clients are shown how to change the filter.
Ductwork - Registers are all checked for operation with an infrared camera.
Vent connector, vent and visible portion of the chimney. - (ERVs) Energy Recovery Ventilators or (HRVs) Heat Recovery Ventilators
- Central and through-wall cooling equipment
- Temperature difference testing is used to determine if cooling equipment is operational
- Condensate drain.
Built-in Appliances
Dishwasher, garbage disposal, range hood, range or oven, cooktop, microwave, trash compactor, bathroom exhaust fans, garage door operator, and other built-in appliances.
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