Northern Virginia Home Inspections

Home inspections in Northern Virginia are completed on homes ranging from million dollar homes to those that are more modest. Regardless of the size, all home inspections in Northern Virginia involve a similar process to detect and identify deficiencies.

I recently scheduled a Northern Virginia home inspection on a home that was built in the late 1980’s. It was bank owned, so I advised the client to ensure that the utilities were active so that I could complete a full inspection. I arrived at this Northern Virginia home inspection and proceeded to inspect the exterior. Neither hose bib worked, which was an indicator that the water was not active. I checked to see if the water had been shut off at the street and it had.

When my client and his realtor arrived at the home inspection in Northern Virginia, I told them that the water had been shutoff at the street and I was not able to activate it for the Northern Virginia home inspection.

I finished the home inspection and told them to call me when the utilities were on and I could come by and check everything again. I do have to charge for the time of the return visit, I explained. They wanted to avoid that cost and told me that they would not need me to return to this Northern Virginia home inspection to check the water or gas. Although the return fee was not dramatic, they did not want to spend the money on a return visit. I spent some time explaining why it is important to have the water and gas checked. Finally, I agreed that I would come by in between other Northern Virginia home inspections and evaluate the water and gas for free. As soon as they let me know that the utilities had been activated, I would do my best to go back and check the home.

There were several items in this Northern Virginia home inspection that led me to believe that there could be issues. The finished basement involved adding a bathroom as well as a kitchenette and was obviously not completed by professionals.

This past week, I was advised that the water and gas had been activated. I returned to the Northern Virginia home inspection to check the utilities. The gas had not been activated yet – not off to a good start. The water on the other hand, was active to the home. Inside the home, the main water was still shut off. When the main water was activated at this Northern Virginia home inspection, it did not take long to realize there was a problem. The main water shutoff was accessed through the basement bathroom. Before even getting to the main level of the home, water began pouring from behind the bathroom wall. It is a good thing that I insisted on coming back to check the utilities.

On another recent Northern Virginia home inspection, I encountered a similar problem. This inspection was on a Northern Virginia home that was over 10,000 finished square feet. That being said, we encountered the exact same problem. The owner had relocated and had shut the water off to be sure there weren’t any leaks when the home was vacant. When I arrived for the inspection, the water was not active. The realtor called and the listing agent came and turned the water on. I progressed through the home inspection, checking each room and each system as I went. It wasn’t until I reached the study bathroom that I noticed the leak. Initially, the leak looked like no big deal – maybe it was coming from a dried out wax ring around the toilet. No such luck. I shut off the toilet, but the water kept coming. On the way to the basement, I noticed water streaming down the wall below the study bathroom.

It turned out that the staging company that had been hired to prepare the home to put on the market had hung a picture on the opposing wall of the study bathroom. The nail pierced a plumbing supply line. The water damage was relatively minimal – luckily, it was caught before too much time had gone by. It just goes to show you – you really can’t judge a book by its cover!