Arlington Home Inspections

Arlington home inspections range from newly built infill type homes to 1950’s ramblers to newly built homes on the foundations of homes from the 1950’s.

Each Arlington home inspection is unique and your home inspector should be aware of the potential issues that are common in the different types of construction. Homes that are newly built, from the ground up, have very different systems and materials than a home that was built in the 1950’s. That much is obvious, but the methods associated with using those materials are also important to note. A home that has been built new on top of a foundation that was initially put in place in the 1950’s has a completely different set of concerns.

Is the foundation designed to withstand the likely increased weight of a newer larger home? A home inspection in Arlington is never the same as the last!

I recently completed an Arlington home inspection on a home that was constructed on an existing foundation. This practice is pretty common, especially in Arlington.

Any home that is built on an existing foundation should first be evaluated by an engineer. The various forces exerted by a structure on the foundation must be considered. The existing foundation may need to be reinforced to ensure that it can withstand the forces that will be exerted by the new home. Knowing that this Arlington home inspection was to be completed on a home that was built on top of an existing foundation, I asked the buyer’s agent to ask for the engineering on the foundation so that we could review it together at the home inspection.

When I arrived at this Arlington home inspection, the buyer’s agent told me that the seller did not have engineering for the basement, but was confident that there would be no problems. More often than not, this is probably true, but an engineer should determine that is the case, not a home inspector and certainly not a contractor.

I went on to complete this Arlington home inspection. The next three hours resulted in minor concerns – doors that did not latch, windows that were too tight, and a leaking faucet. My major concern remained the foundation. Foundation problems are never small problems, especially in this area of Virginia. In this area of Arlington, the distance between homes was very small. The concern is that, were there an issue, there was no longer adequate access due to the new home.

I advised my client to call a Virginia certified engineer out to the Arlington home to verify that there would be no problems. My client asked me to return to be part of that inspection. When we met the engineer, he was not able to completely verify that the foundation was adequate because the ENTIRE basement area in this Arlington home inspection was finished. Without some access to the foundation walls and slab, it was hard to ensure that what was hidden behind the drywall would adequately support the home.

At the conclusion of this Arlington home inspection, my client decided that he could not move forward on this home without some sort of guarantee that the foundation was adequate. The seller was able to identify and fund a bond policy that would cover any sort of structural defect, including the foundation. With that peace of mind, my client moved forward and is enjoying their new Arlington, VA home!

This Arlington home inspection presented a condition that required that I refer my client to a Virginia engineer. Even this engineer was not able to certify this Arlington home inspection.