While it is never a good idea for home inspectors to “jump to conclusions,” our experiences can lead us to sometimes “predict” with reasonable accuracy what we might find.
For example if we find large areas of missing shingles on a roof it is not too much of a leap to suspect there might be some leaking and possible damage on the interior of the building–especially if there is evidence that the shingles have been missing for a long time.
Another example is when we are walking around the exterior of a home that we know has a crawl space but there are no crawl space vents showing. Missing crawl space vents will (and should) set off alarm bells for most home inspectors in my neck of the woods. It is possible that it is a type of crawl space that is constructed in such a way as to not require venting–but they are rare enough that an inspector’s alarm bells should be going off anyway.
I saw a crawl space the other day that should be setting off everyone’s alarm bells–inspector or not.

I do not need to go in this crawl space to know that at the very least it is going to be “interesting.”
Better check the tide tables.
By Charles Buell, Real Estate Inspections in Seattle
If you enjoyed this post, and would like to get notices of new posts to my blog, please subscribe via email in the little box to the right. I promise NO spamming of your email
Leave a Reply