Recommendations will be as varied as the stains themselves. But they generally will (or should) be noted. This protects everyone involved in the transaction/inspection.
I will note stains on basement floors around floor drains that might be consistent with water backing up out of the drain or flooding of the drain due to poor drainage. The same goes for high water marks in crawl spaces and around the yard. Staining or mud that indicates ponding in front of the garage door or stains that extend under the garage door will also be documented. This is very important, as it helps to make the inspection a little broader than the quick snap shot in time that we were actually at the inspection.
Pointing these things out is not so much to be “predictive” of concerns as it is to inform of what “might” happen–we as inspectors cannot usually determine what has been fixed and what has not. Even if it has been fixed, for example, it would be a good reminder of why keeping the driveway drain clean is so important.
On a recent inspection flooding of the driveway drain was obvious. If the inspection had occurred 5 hours later there would have only been “evidence” of flooding because the plumber showed up to clean out the drain during the inspection.
By Charles Buell, Real Estate Inspections in Seattle
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Drains are not part of a typical home inspection because it takes a long time (at least 10 minutes) of running water into each drain to ensure its functionality. That being said I’ve seen home inspectors spritz 2-3 gallons of water into a driveway drain and tell the buyer that the drains work fine. I always note the presence of drains (esp. in basement stairwells)
and I note the drains were not tested but should be cleaned and tested by a licensed plumber!