Home inspection plays a very important role in the real estate process. When you are buying or selling a home, you rely on a home inspector to provide an accurate and reliable inspection of a property. A home inspector will tell you about the condition of the home and help you avoid buying a home that needs major repairs. It is the perfect way to get an in-depth and impartial opinion of your next home before you buy it.
What to Expect
Typically, you will hire a home inspector either immediately before an offer is made on a home or as a contingency to a sale. Additionally, home inspections are ideal if you want to evaluate your home’s condition or diagnose potential problems before they become serious issues.
Home inspectors perform the following duties:
-Evaluate the physical condition of a property, including the structure, construction and mechanical systems.
-Identify the items that should be repaired or replaced.
-Estimate the remaining useful life of the major systems (such as electrical, plumbing, heating, air conditioning), equipment, structure, and finishes.
Although inspections are primarily visual, inspectors may use tape measures, survey instruments, metering devices, and other equipment, such as concrete strength measurers, to aid in their inspection. They keep a log of their work, take photographs, and file a formal report.
The inspection usually takes two or three hours (depending on the age and size of the home). You should be present so you can ask questions and learn about areas that need additional work. All of the findings will be presented in a formal report that details the condition of the home.
A Close Look
The main purpose of the home inspector is to provide an objective viewpoint on the condition of a specific home at the time of inspection. The inspector does not evaluate the cost or value of the property, but provides a close examination of the following:
Structural Components: Foundations, floors and walls.
Exterior Components: Siding paint, windows, decks, garage doors, etc.
Roofing: Coverings, flashings, chimneys, etc.
Plumbing: Piping, fixtures, faucets, water heating and fuel storage systems, etc.
Electrical: Wiring, main service panels, conductors, switches, receptacles, etc.
Heating: Equipment, safety controls, distribution systems, chimneys, etc.
Air Conditioning and Heat Pumps: Cooling and air-handling equipment, controls and ducting, etc.
Interior: Partitions, ceilings, floors, railings, doors and windows, etc.
Insulation and Ventilation: Attics, walls, floors, foundations, kitchen and bathrooms, etc.
They will additionally perform the following services (sometimes for an extra fee): mold sampling, radon testing, asbestos evaluation, pests/wood destroying organisms, carbon monoxide testing, lead testing, and more. These services are not always available.
Make sure to protect your investment. Get a home inspection before you buy your next home!
http://www.realestatelicense.com
http://www.homeinspectioncourse.com
Heather Brunson
http://www.articlesbase.com/education-articles/protect-yourself-with-a-home-inspection-106908.html
Do I need to have an electrician come in to add GFCI protection to outlets or is something you can do yourself
We recently sold our home and the inspection report came up with three outlets that are not GFCI protected. We’re looking for a cost effecient way to take care of it.
You can do it yourself just wire it the same way as the old one.
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done it
For three outlets I would just have an electrician do it. Part of an afternoon’s and maybe a couple hundred bucks if they have to run the wires.
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Not hard to do. If you can follow instructions and know how to turn the power off, you could do it. All you need to do is watch how you take the old outlet out and put the new one in the same way. which the instructions should tell you too. If in doubt get someone that knows how to do it but beware of friends that say they know and really don’t.
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You can do it — just make sure to turn off the breaker to those outlets while you are doing it.
I searched "installing GFCI" and several sites popped up with instructions — here’s one of them
http://www.easy2diy.com/cm/easy/diy_ht_index.asp?page_id=35720244
Good luck and hey, turn off the breaker !!!
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Fixed a bunch of stuff myself …..
Hire an electrician, that is the cheapest safest way. If you are interested, this website tells you how to do it:
http://www.cornerhardware.com/howto/ht067.html
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You can add the GFCI receptacles yourselves. This, of course, depends on your local building codes. Most states allow the homeowners to do the electrical repairs yourself. However, I highly recommend checking with your local building codes department.
Go to Home Depot or Lowe’s and get the GFCI receptacles and an electrical tester if you don’t have one. I prefer multimeters, but you atleast need something that measures voltage and a GFCI plug tester.
Go home and turn off the power to the circuits you are going to work on. Verify that the power is off before beginning any work.
Remove the receptacles that you need to replace and install the GFCI’s.
The GFCI has a "line" side and a "load" side. The line side is the incoming power to that receptacle. The load side is the outgoing power to other outlets further down the circuit. Proper placement of the GFCI is critical to protect downstream devices.
The bare copper wire terminates to the green ground screw on the GFCI. The white wire terminates to the silver colored screws and the black wire terminates to the brass colored screws.
If you need further assistance, please visit -
http://electricalblog.gilchrist-electric.com
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Montana licensed unlimited electrical contractor and master electrician with over 20 years experience.
you can do them yourself unless you don’t feel comfortable in doing it
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I would get an electrician to do it. You know it will be done correctly.
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you can replace them. read directions in the gfci box.not that complicated
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master electrician