Surveys and Inspections: What Each One Examines

TThe general inspection

A general inspection is a visual, non-destructive examination of the accessible parts of a building. The examiner looks at roof covering, drainage, foundation and visible structure, heating and cooling plant, plumbing, electrical service and distribution, and the condition of finishes where they reveal something underneath.

Its limits are the important part. Nothing is opened up. Anything behind a wall, under a floor, buried in the ground or inaccessible on the day is outside the scope. A clean report means no visible evidence of a defect, which is a weaker and more useful statement than no defect.

The correct use of a report is triage. It sorts findings into things that must be addressed now, things that will need money within a few years, and things that are simply the normal condition of a building of that age.

BBoundary and plat surveys

A survey is about ground, not buildings. A boundary survey establishes where the legal edges of a parcel actually run and whether what stands on the ground agrees with the record. A plat is the recorded map of how a piece of land was divided into lots in the first place, and it is the document a boundary survey is measured against.

Surveys matter when a fence, a garage, a driveway or a projecting roof appears to sit across a line, when an easement is recorded but its position is unclear, or when anything is to be built. An encroachment discovered before closing is a negotiation; the same encroachment discovered afterwards is a dispute with a neighbour.

SSpecialist examinations in a cold climate

Regional conditions produce their own standard tests. In the upper Midwest the recurring subjects are moisture, radon, heating plant and the consequences of frost.

Basement moisture is the most common finding, and its severity ranges from condensation to a drainage failure requiring excavation. What distinguishes them is whether water is arriving under pressure from outside, which staining patterns, efflorescence and the behaviour of the ground beside the wall will usually indicate.

Radon is a soil gas that accumulates in enclosed lower levels, and it is measured rather than inspected: a test runs over a period of days in closed-house conditions. It is a routine part of a purchase in much of the region, and where a result is high, the remedy is an established piece of mechanical work rather than a reason to abandon a house.

Heating plant deserves separate attention because its failure is seasonal and expensive. Age, service history and the condition of the heat exchanger and venting matter more than the brand on the cabinet.

OOlder housing stock

Buildings from the early twentieth century carry a predictable set of questions: knob-and-tube wiring or its partial replacement, galvanised supply piping nearing the end of its life, original single-glazed windows, cast-iron waste stacks, and insulation that was added later and unevenly.

None of these is a defect in the sense of a fault. They are the ordinary condition of a house of that age, and they are best understood as a schedule of future spending rather than a verdict on the building.