What home inspection services to get when buying a home? When buying a house near Portland, OR there are specific inspections and tests you should get.
What are home inspections?
Home buying can be stressful enough without worrying about hidden problems. That’s why every house purchase should include an inspection by trusted professionals. Your realtor can help you learn the things you need to know when buying a house and the inspectors will tell you the things you need to know about the house you want to buy.
Home Inspections are activities usually performed when buying a house. After making an offer on a house a buyer has a 10 day inspection window. During this window a number of home inspections should happen. Even new homes need inspections, it’s the best way for the buyer to beware. Here we highly recommend the most common of the Portland home inspection services; find out why below.
- The general Home Inspection
- A sewer scope
- A Radon Test
- An Oil Tank Search
Depending on the results of the different home inspections the buyer may back out of the deal or try to negotiate a change in price due to new information. Because buyers don’t want a house that has major problems when they move in or try to sell, home inspections are vital to making an informed decision.
So what is a home inspection? What are they different kinds of inspections you should get?
The General Home Inspection
The general home inspection is performed by a ‘home inspector’ who is hired by the buyers. It involves the inspector going over all parts of the home. During this inspection the general home inspector will test and check on many aspects of the home. They will traditionally go around the home, onto the roof if accessible, into the attic and crawlspace, and in every room. Testing fixtures, outlets, appliances, and checking for deterioration or problems.
The home inspector can find problems not easily visible that may cost significant amounts of money to fix. Problems that the sellers might be unaware and problems that might affect the future sale of the home. It much better to find a critical problems before you own a house then when you are trying to sell it.
Highly Recommended Additional Home Inspections
But the structure and performance of the accessible home is only part of what you should do. Other tests that are always recommend when building or house buying in the Portland area are:
- A sewer scope
- A Radon Test
- An Oil Tank Search
Get a Radon Test
Radon testing is very important to the health of people in the Portland area ,but especially along the Columbia River and in the Willamette Valley. Radon causes lung damage and even cancer! Testing and mitigation are easy.
Get a Sewer Scope
Sewer scopes can reveal problems that might cost $5,000, $10,000, or even more than $20,000 to fix. A total sewer line replacement can sometimes cost more than that too. Sewer scopes are a valuable part of any home purchase. We offer sewer scoping services for homes in the Portland area for $150.
Get a Tank Sweep
Oil tank searches help you discover if there is a UST or underground storage tank on site. These tanks that cost $1,000-$5,000 to decommission if found. In extremely bad situations the cost can exceed $50,000. Houses with second tanks are present in the area, so always get a tank search if one hasn’t been done.
Niche Home Inspections
Test that not all houses need include:
- Mold Testing
- Lead Test
- Abestoes Testing
- Well Inspections
- Crawlspace Inspection
A lead test can be done for paint, water, air, or soil. Lead paint can be present in the drinking water of pre-1988 homes and in lead paint from 1978 or earlier. Dust from scraping the paint and siding can be dangerous. Lead in the water can occur from many soldering agents used
New homes are not immune to problems. Oil tanks are sometimes found across property lines, under the home, or in the yard of new constructions. Radon gas can be high almost anywhere in the area. Newly installed sewers can have problems.
Old homes can have asbestos insulation or siding and lead paint in addition to the normal radon, sewer, and tank problems. Radon testing in Portland and the areas is a need for home buyers. Performing a sewer scope is a necessity for every home. Home that were built before 1980 (or who have neighbors that were) should get an oil tank search.
Oregon has high humidity which can assist in mold growth. Perform a mold test if you identify any dark or black spotted areas. And general home inspections in Portland, Oregon and Vancouver, Washington area should be done for any potential home before closing.
Why get a home inspection in Portland, Oregon?
If you’re buying a home you want to get a home inspection from a high quality home inspector. Even though Jack at Rush Locates has seen many home inspectors he has also seen a great variety between different inspectors. Between the things they find, or miss. A seller was once talking to Jack at Rush Locates about how his home inspector was only inspecting for one hour.
Read reviews and take into the website information before making a decision. By getting a good home inspector around Portland (where the real estate market is still hot) you can help your future self a great deal.
A home may have trouble selling for asking price or even at all in the future if a home inspection misses any major problem. Things like cracked foundations, lack of any foundation, powderpost beetles, or other major damages can cost tens of thousands of dollars to fix. If this is the case it’s much better to discover issues before buying a building.
Although we don’t perform general home inspections ourselves we work with a few highly trained inspectors and can help you get a high quality home inspection in Portland, Oregon or the surrounding area. Call or email us today!
Specific to Portland Home Inspection services
With a Portland home inspection we highly advise the oil tank search and radon test. While this is true for all cities surrounding Portland; but homes in other states may not need to perform these inspections.
Commercial Inspections
If you’re representing a commercial building or company then you probably want an in-depth environmental consulting firm to help you. There are a number of companies who can help you do things like a phase 1 or phase 2 environmental site assessment. Be sure to read reviews and check licenses for a big project like this. Get yourself the top of the line, the apex of quality, the alpha environmental company, the best of the best, to help you.
Rush Locates will help you get in touch with a company to perform a geopotential survey or geophysical. Finding help with ground penetrating radar for a construction or commercial project or even x-ray scanning of concrete. Geophysics and magnetic surveys? Then we can help you!
You can start these types of Portland environmental services with an over-the-phone consultation. If you’re looking for help then give Rush Locates a call or send us an email.
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