Reston Home Inspections

This weekend, I completed a home inspection in Reston, VA. The inspection was for a 1,600 square foot townhome/villa. This particular neighborhood in Reston, VA contains homes that were built in the late 1970’s. These townhomes are connected on three sides, with just the front of the townhome exposed.

My client had also scheduled to have a radon test completed on this particular home. Radon is relatively common in Reston, VA. I made sure to let him know that I would explain the results as well as some potential repairs or radon mitigation possibilities.

I arrived at the home inspection in Reston, VA about thirty minutes early and completed the inspection on the outside of the townhome relatively quickly. Seeing as though it only had one exposed side, there wasn’t much to inspect. As I was inspected the roof, I noticed that many of the other townhomes had an extra vent pipe in the roof. As I mentioned, this particular home inspection was in a Reston, VA community that was built in the 1970’s. It would not be unreasonable to see an extra vent as a result of some sort of modification to the home. Someone could have decided they wanted a gas water heater and had it added after the fact, resulting in an additional vent.

I moved inside and completed the home inspection. I placed the radon test canisters in the home and explained that I had another home inspection in Reston, VA in a few days. I would retrieve the test canisters then and report the findings in a separate report.

The next home inspection in Reston, VA was just a few miles away, so I swung by and picked up the radon test canisters. I completed the other home inspection in Reston, VA and headed back to the office.

The results of the radon test were nearly double the action limit set by the EPA! I emailed the results to my client and the realtor and scheduled a follow up call with my client.

I completed the report for the other home inspection in Reston, VA and gave my client a call about the high radon test results.

In the meantime, he had done some research surrounding the effects of radon and radon mitigation systems. He had even looked up a few radon mitigation companies in Reston, VA. He had gotten some basic estimates and decided that he was comfortable moving forward without any sort of mitigation required of the seller – in this case, the bank.

I mentioned that we should meet at the townhome in Reston, VA again to be sure that we both had a thorough understanding of the system that would need to be installed. We met the next day and I explained the nature of a radon mitigation system to him. The system itself is very simple and really only consists of a fan and a pipe drilled into the slab. Often times, the slab is also treated to prevent any gas from permeating into the home. The quotes that he had received ranged from $1,500 to $2,600.

We met at the home in Reston, VA and walked through to really consider how that system would be installed in this particular townhome. I quickly realized that this system would be a challenge and would likely cost much more than the quotes he had gathered over the phone.

The HOA did not allow a vent from the front of the home, which was the only exterior surface, other than the roof, that was available for the radon venting system. The system would have to go through the roof. The home inspection had revealed that there was no vertical utility chase that ran from the basement area to the attic, which presented a further problem.

I advised my client to have several of the contractors meet him at the home in Reston, VA to complete their own inspection of the home so that they could offer a more specific estimate of the cost of the system. The average cost exceeded $7,500 and would require building bulkheads and repairing significant drywall.

My client decided to pursue other options in Reston, VA and we have another inspection scheduled in a week.