How To Maintain Your Walls, Windows And Doors To Impress The Home Inspector

Home inspection helps in many ways. If you intend buying a previously owned house then a good evaluation is a must. Walls, windows and doors, being important elements of any house, need to be examined with a more critical eye to ensure that you are getting your money's worth. Of course your evaluation will not be enough and before finalizing the deal you will have to employ a professional home inspector for a better evaluation.


Again, if you own a house yourself, then you would also want to come out of a regular home inspection routine with flying colors. So it is imperative that you know what flaws the inspector will be exactly looking for or the areas in which you can make improvements, with regards to your walls, windows and doors.

 

Things to Take Care of With Regard to Walls Before a Home Inspection

All homes have two types of walls load bearing and non-load bearing walls. Load bearing walls are part of the structural frame and any alterations in these walls should be carefully done to prevent any lowering of their structural strength. The non-load bearing walls can be changed in whatever manner you like.

Many defects are unique to the construction materials used in the walls. You can be pretty sure that when the home inspector visits your house, he will be looking for the following things in your walls:

Cracked, bowing, sagging or leaning walls. While parallel cracks are common, cracks at angles, jagged or open cracks call for immediate attention. Minor sagging or softening of the wall material could be due to water leakage and bowed sagging or leaning walls may point to structural defects.

Waves on walls made of wood lath and plaster.

Missing mortar and flaking or cracking bricks.

Wallpaper peeling off pose a potential source of damage for the plaster.

The condition of the drywalls, and especially the taped joints.

Loose, missing or rotting siding and deteriorated paint.

What Will The Home Inspector Look For In Your Windows

A typical window consists of glass, framing round the glass called the sash, framing around the window opening and molding around the frame. If the house is in a cold clime then the windows are usually double or triple glazed.

A home inspector usually carries out the following tests in case of windows:

Looks for broken glass panes, bent sashes, spoilt hardware and damaged window screens. He also looks minutely for broken sash cords in double hung windows.

Checks whether the locks and latches are working properly.

Checks whether seals, caulking and weather stripping adequately prevent entry of the outside air. He is also meticulous while checking the putty around glass panels in old sashes.

Checks windows to ensure that they are protected from the weather elements.

A good home inspector will always inspect the windows from the outside in order to determine the condition of their frames, sills and sashes.

Checks whether the windows open and shut smoothly.

Knowing Where Your Doors Might Falter During a Home Inspection

Doors present a variety of areas in which you might be caught on the wrong foot. And these areas usually do not miss the eyes of an expert home inspector. So before you go in for a professional home inspection, it is always worthwhile to know what exactly the home inspector is looking for in your doors.

You should check your doors minutely. After all they are a provider of physical security and protection from the weather. The first thing that a home inspector looks for in a door is its external condition. To his trained eye, even a cursory glance reveals a lot. And mind you, he will come down pretty harshly on cracked or chipped or dented door surfaces or the paint peeling off.

You should always ensure that exterior doors are solid or panel type and never hollow. They should have good weather stripping and thresholds. The aluminum or wooden sliding doors should have single pane or insulated glass, the latter being more energy efficient.

Check wooden and plastic doors, which are not protected for weather. The outer condition of the frames and sills of the doors should also be checked. These are areas that are often overlooked by the homeowner but never get the miss when getting inspected by a professional home inspector.

The home inspector has an eye for the seemingly trivial things as well. Thus he makes it a point to check whether the knobs and locks on the doors are well fitted and perform smoothly. According to him, the doorstops should be in place and the sliding doors should move smoothly on their tracks.

Get a home inspector to go through the doors, windows and walls of your house. Not only will the glaring and the hidden faults will be bared, but you can also hope to have a few handy tips from him in matters relating to their upkeep.