21Tips Inspecting A House For Sale 

GETTING READY FOR THE DIY INSPECTION  

Tip 1. Record your inspection
Get yourself organised and assemble a folder where you can put in details from each property you inspect, along with the real estate agents details and marketing material. Allow yourself a page for notes as you go through the home 

Tip 2. Why you need a torch
If you are going to inspect a property you will need to wear old clothes so you can have a look under the home and in the roof cavity as the out of sight areas can also be the most expensive to fix. This can be a dirty and dangerous venture especially if there is illegal or old wiring involved. Any people opt for a professional inspection if they are serious about purchasing. 

Tip 3. Professional Inspections before you sign
Never purchase a home without a professional inspection. You can make your offer subject to a satisfactory inspection as part of the sale contract. Any refusal should sound waring bells.  

THE OUTSIDE OF THE HOME 

Tip 4. Check the garden
Check the condition of fences and gates; especially examine the base of gate posts and fence posts, the bottom “plinth boards” and at the junction of rails and posts for rot, as these are the areas of the greatest deterioration.

Look for large trees too close to the house. These could cause structural subsidence and cracking, particularly in brick or brick veneer home with timber floors.

Make sure the water run-off from the garden doesn’t flor, or pond, underneath the house, causing excessive damp conditions which in turn can become a health hazard especially for peapole with asthma.  

Tip 5. Outbuilding – are they legal?
It is important to make a thorough check of outbuildings and ensure they have appropriate planning and building permits as an illegal shed or car-port could be expensive if you are required to pull it down.

Check the structural condition and water-tightness of rooms and walls of garages and sheds. Look for water stains on timbers and metal sheeting.

Look for fire-hazards, loose or broken power points and badly wired electrical fittings.  

Tip 6. Outside walls
Carefully inspect the outside walls to ensure that they are straight. In timber houses, sagging weatherboards could mean timber stumps have rotted, or concrete stumps or brick piers have subsided.

Check for rotten weatherboards, windows, doors and veranda posts and don’t be fooled by the quick paint over to disguise rotting timber.

Minor cracking in brickwork of older houses can generally be ignored, but large cracks or bowed brick walls could mean the footings have subsided meaning an expensive under-pinning job may be required.  

Tip 7. Mortar
Thoroughly check the condition of the mortar between the bricks. If it has been eroded away it should be cleaned out and re-capped by a bricklayer.

Be on the lookout for different coloured mortar. This indicates a repaired brick wall. This could either be a responsible repair or a patch-up. Check to see if this mortar is cracking again.

Where houses are brick clad to the ground, make sure there are plenty of sub-floor ventilators beneath floors. Inadequate ventilation and dampness are the major causes of many sub-floor problems.  
 
Tip 8. Water stained eaves
Look for buckled, badly fitted or water stained eaves, which may be an indication of roof or gutter problems. This could be the cause of timber rot and dampness on the interior of the home.

When checking the guttering and downpipes look for telling rust signs and water laying in guttering indicating potential for rust problems. 

ON THE ROOF 

Tip 9. A wavy roof line
A wavy roof line may indicate a structural problem. Make sure you look for broken roof tiles and loose ridge and valley tiles allowing bird and possum entry as well as water leaks.

Check that corrugated iron sheets are in good condition and are well nailed down. Ensure that valley and eaves guttering are free from holes and rust. Even small holes can create large leaks and cause major damage to plaster, wiring and become a health hazard being a source of dampness in the home.

Make no mistake, roofing problems, which are often not inspected, are costly with extensive replacement often necessary.

Make sure that flues and chimneys are structurally safe and the flashings around them are secure against water penetration. 

UNDER THE FLOOR 

Tip 10. Beware the rattling glasses
If you walk into a dining room or down the hallway and the flowers shake on the table or the glasses rattle in the sideboard you are probably into a major costly re-stump.

Look under the floor fro props or bricks holding up the floor instead of stumps, piers or dwarf walls. Check for subsiding stumps or brick piers, or whether excessive wedging has occurs between these structural supports and the floor bearers. If these structural supports need to be replaced, the cost could be quite high.

Tip 11. Timber stumps
With timber stumps, look for with the heaviest water stain and gig away up to 100mm of the soil below ground level. Check for rot by scraping the stump and seeing how much breaks away. This can indicate the appropriate life expectancy of the stumps.

Inspect timber framing and floors generally for rot, mould and evidence of borers. Borers attack in some species of pine may be Anobiid borers. These will eventually destroy the timber and should be treated immediately.

Check to see that the earth is not excessively wet. Dampness problems accompanied by inadequate ventilation encourage rot, borer and termite attack. Look carefully for termite “shelter tubes”.

Termites build mud shelter tubes, between 5mm and 50mm up stumps or piers and brick walls to connect their nests in the ground to the timber on which they are feeding. If you are in any way unsure about borers or termites, the house should be checked by an expert.  

IN THE ROOF SPACE 

Tip 12. Look for sagging roof framing
Look for sagging roof framing, cracked or broken tiles, rusty iron roofing and leaking ridges or valleys. A defective roof can be a very costly repair item.

Check for shoddy or damaged electrical wiring. Do not touch under any circumstances.

A pungent odour or rat-like droppings could indicate the presence of vermin. Possums can damage ceiling and wiring. If possums have been living in the ceiling for some time it is important to check the extent of their impact on wiring and plaster, especially in relation to dampness and urine stains. It is illegal to poison them.

Note whether the ceiling has been insulated and with what material.   

INSIDE THE HOME
These checks should be carried out in each room of the house.  

Tip 13. Underside of concrete floors
Although the underside of concrete floors cannot be inspected check if there is any exposed perimeter to ensure that the plastic waterproofing is not exposed, but protected by fibre cement or a similar covering. Concrete slabs not protected in the right way can cause severe and expensive problems especially with dampness through inadequate drainage. 

Tip 14. Timber Floors
At regular intervals, jump lightly on the floor to detect any rotten floor boards, borer infestation or looseness in the floor framing. While this test may be a guide, it by no means guarantees that any timer stumps or floorboards are in good condition.

Check to see if the floors are level, or there are gaps between the flooring and skirting. If stumps or piers are sinking, floors will always fall away from fireplaces or brick walls.

This is an invaluable check in houses which have been recently renovated, but not structurally upgraded.

Put a marble on wooden floors and see if it rolls to one corner.

Tip 15. Concrete Floors – look for signs of dampness
Look for signs of dampness, such as lifting or buckling floor tiles and rotten carpet. Dampness in concrete slabs can be hard to trace and expensive to remedy.

Ducted heating systems under concrete floors can be susceptible to water leaks. Lift the floor vents and check for evidence of water or rusted ductwork. Water penetration can render the heating system entirely useless and make it a health hazard through the distribution of moisture through the home.

If cracks in the concrete are millimetres wide, they could indicate a significant expensive structural problem and you should run a mile. 

Tip 16. Walls 
Check that walls are straight and true. Deviation could be either warped framing timbers, or the onset of structural problems – re-check footings or stumps.

Look for cracks and general movement and be particularly wary of fresh painted or wall papered areas. In these cases, look for evidence of recently filled cracks, a sign of sub-floor structural problems.

Carefully inspect brick walls for signs of dampness. This may be evident through the presence of white or brownish deposits. Rising dampness may also cause skirting and architraves to rot, and paint and wallpaper to lift. Rising dampness or salt can be particularly expensive problems to cure.

Tap solid brick walls for a hollow sound or change in tone. Both could indicate a plastered or rendered over patch-up of a significant rising damp problem.

Look for cracks beside chimneys and look for doorways and windows that aren’t square, or a re jamming, which usually indicates structural subsidence. Lightly tap walls and tiled surfaces with the handle of your screwdriver. A hollow sound could mean loose plaster or tiles.  

Tip 17. Ceilings  
Check that ceilings are straight and true, and look for cracks or signs of movement at the cornices. These could indicate roof or wall framing deficiencies, possible illegal wall-removing.

Look for water stains and mould growth which could indicate excessive condensation or roof leaks.  

Tip 18. Windows and Ventilators  
Make sure that the windows can be opened and check for broken window panes. The sash cords in older double hung windows may be broken or need replacing.

Check for excessive condensation and mould growth on windows and walls. Locate the source of musty smells. The cause could be: inadequate ventilation, sub-floor dampness, roof leaks, lack of insulation or often a combination of these. 

Tip 19. Electrical Systems 
Check that the light switches and power points work.

Test all power points with the tester. This will indicate outlets that are correctly wired. The most common problem is power points that are not earthed.  

Danger Watch
Look for signs of burns around switches, fittings and fuses as wiring in many older homes is quite sound, provided that it is left intact. If additional power points or lights are required, the entire electrical system may need replacing.

If you are at all in doubt about the condition of the electrical system, you should have it checked by a licensed electrician. Also ask for the electrical certificate if new work has been carried out.  

Tip 20. Plumbing System  
Check all plumbing fittings for crack or leaks. To test the water pressure in hot and cold taps it is worthwhile turning on several taps simultaneously to ascertain if there is any appreciable pressure drop.

Partially fill the bath or laundry tubs and observe whether or not the water drains away properly. A sluggish flow or gurgling in the pipes could indicate that the sewer drains are damaged or blocked.

Look for damp ground in the vicinity of the drains which could be caused by cracks or leaks in pipes, needing replacement. Check for dampness and soft soil where downpipes meet the ground as down pipes may not have been plumbed to stormwater but the need to be, to avoid structural and dampness problems.  

Tip 21. Examine the house for appropriate room layout  
Examine the house for appropriate room layout, orientation to the sun, views, relation to neighbours, traffic noise, and if not optomal, whether the house can be improved at an affordable cost.  
 
extracted from “21Tips Inspecting A House for Sale” by Ron Smith