Make Sure To Get A House Inspection Before You Finalize The Purchase

Buying a house has a lot of steps. Each step is necessary, and if you skip one, it can cause problems when you go to close the sale. One of the steps is to have a home inspection done. The owner may provide an inspection, but the buyer should have an inspection before the sale is finalized. Depending on what the inspector finds, the buyer may be able to get the seller to pay for repairs or lower the house's price. The inspector will look at a number of things and will either pass or fail the house, depending on their findings. What are some of the things that could cause a home inspection to fail?

Poor Grading

The ground directly around the house should be gently graded so that water doesn't flow into the foundation or basement of the house. If the house has settled too much or enough water has disturbed the grading, it may have developed a negative gradient. A negative gradient means that the ground around the house slopes towards the house, funneling the water toward the foundation. This problem on its own won't necessarily cause the inspection to fail, but it will wave a red flag, and more problems in combination with this will cause the inspection to fail. 

Wiring

The inspector will check the wiring. They will look to see if the house has a circuit breaker or fuse box and what kind of plugs it has. For example, most of the house may have grounded, or three-pronged, outlets, while the outlets in the bathroom and kitchen, as well as any other outlets near water, should have GFCI outlets. Those outlets have an integrated circuit breaker that will trip if something causes an overload. The GFCI outlet can break the local circuit faster than the circuit breaker. The inspector will also check to ensure that all the outlets, both plugs and light sockets, are working without any shorts or overloads in the system. Another thing that will be checked is what kind of wire the electrical system is made of. Ideally, the wires should be made of copper, but they could also be made of aluminum. If the electrical system has shorts, aluminum wiring, the wrong kind of plugs, or is just miswired, the house inspection may fail. 

If you are getting ready to buy a house, make sure that you have a home inspector check the place out. You need to know exactly what is happening with the house before you finalize your purchase. For more information on a home inspection, contact a professional near you.