All About Greenville SC Real Estate

6 Types of Home Inspections You May Need

Property Line Inspection

Property line surveys help you distinguish the difference between your house and your neighbor's house. Other reasons you might need a property line inspection include building a fence to separate you from your neighbors if you happen to own a dog, adding a pool to your backyard, and making updates and improvements that are actually on your own property. 

After you have completed a property inspection, you will get an official document that will define your piece of property as yours. If the land was accidentally improperly divided a long time ago, you may need to trace through several property inspections in order to find the original dividing lines.

Getting a property inspection is important if you want to purchase a plot of land or have plans to sell your home later. A professional surveyor will be able to see which parts of the property are yours or landmarks distinguishing the two properties. However, you may still want to be present to make sure that they are doing the measuring properly. 

Roof Inspection

Inspections of your roof should be performed right before winter hits. Once winter hits, the cold winter will set in and compromise the new shingles on your roof; new shingles cannot seal properly when it's too cold out. And of course, your roof needs to be inspected after major weather events such as hurricanes or hailstorms, to make sure everything is still intact. 

Pest Inspection

Any dust or dirt in your yard can serve as a hiding place for opportunistic pests that want to live there.

Keep your gutters, garage, and any other outside buildings free of clutter and debris. If there are any hanging tree limbs on your home's roof, be sure to cut them away because you don't want any random insects or pests making their way into your home. Vent openings need to be covered with a wire mesh so that no unwelcome guests come in. 

Radon Inspection

Higher levels of radioactive gas in your home can cause lung damage or possibly even lung cancer over an extended period of time. Some companies may provide radon testing over the course of 90 days to about a year to see what the annual average is of radon particles in your home. 

General Inspection

During a general inspection on the buyer’s side, certain areas will need to be evaluated. General inspections are typically only done in a visual manner. Therefore, only the roof, the plumbing, the electricity, and the heating and cooling systems will be inspected. In other words, the inspector will not be able to break open any walls or do any digging to complete the general inspection.

Structural Inspection

Unlike with the general inspection, getting a structural inspection can be done by professionals that are willing to dig deeper into the structure of your home. It is not a purely visual job. They will check for any structural elements that are off, as well as if your home conforms to the building codes in your area.