8 Reasons to Get a New Jersey Home Inspection

1. It Can Provide the Buyer an Option Out
A quality New Jersey Home Inspection can expose critical information regarding the overall condition of the property and its systems. This educates the buyer regarding any immediate or future out of pocket expenses for the home. If a buyer isn't comfortable with the findings of their New Jersey Home Inspection, it can provide the last opportunity to reverse the offer to buy.

2. A Buying Advantage that Provides Security
A NJ Home Inspection can also detect safety issues like the existence of radon or mold. Be certain your offer states that if these hazards are detected you have the option to cancel your offer to buy. Home inspections are even more critical if you are buying an "as-is" foreclosed property or short sale. Dwellings that have been secured often harbor hazardous mold problems which can be costly to remove and may pose significant health hazards.

3. Identify Illegal Additions
A New Jersey Home Inspection can reveal rooms, garages or basements that have been updated without a permit or fail to satisfy local New Jersey building codes. Illegal room additions affect insurance, taxes, usability and property value.

4. The Power to Negotiate
A NJ home inspection report provides an opportunity to ask for repairs and/or request a reduction in price from the seller.

5. Accurately Forecast Home Owner Costs
A New Jersey Home Inspection can estimate the age of major systems in the home like plumbing, heating and cooling, and critical equipment like furnaces or air conditioners. A New Jersey Home Inspection can provide accurate details regarding the current condition of the property and estimate how long finishes have been in the home. Each component in the home maintains a pre-determined life-cycle. Understanding when these components and systems are near the end of their product life-cycle and may need replacement can help you make important financial decisions and choices.

6. Clearly Understand Your Limit Home inspections help buyers understand how much additional money or effort they will need to spend to realize their dream. If you are unwilling to repair issues like leaky gutters, imperfections in sheet rock or plaster, or unsightly blemishes to the exterior, maybe you need to continue looking at other properties available.

7. Fully Understand How to Protect Your Investment
A qualified New Jersey Home Inspector can be a valuable educational resource. Your New Jersey Home Inspector can suggest specific tips on how to maintain your home which will save you thousands of dollars in maintenance.

8. Don’t Forget to Look at the Bigger Picture
A New Jersey Home Inspection can help you understand the significance of what may be the biggest purchase you and your family will ever make. Sometimes we fall in love with a property and are unaware of issues that can potentially make a dream home an uncompromising money pit.

Unwanted Water in your New Jersey Basement

As a New Jersey Home Inspection Company, Educated Home Inspections of New Jersey understands that the unwanted entry of water into the basement of a home is one of the most significant concerns to be addressed during a New Jersey Home Inspection. The consequence of poor property drainage can result in wall and floor damage to finished rooms, rugs and other items stored in a basement by the homeowner.

Structural damage will occur as well resulting in weakened and/or compromised building foundations. Water or excessive moisture in the basement of a New Jersey home generally encourages the growth of mold and mildew which can manifest itself in a multitude of health and wellness issues for the occupants of the property.

The perimeter drainage area surrounding the foundation of a New Jersey Home can have a profound and very important impact regarding water entry into the structure. There should be a slope or gradient with a minimum of one to four inches per foot tapering away from the groundwork partitions.

This soil gradient should be supported with a specific soil density that is accomplished through compacting soil compounds around the structures perimeter. A common problem found when proper gradient slopes are not observed after building a structure is for the soil that had been excavated previously to begin to slowly return to its original position around the foundation as it naturally settles and slopes back toward the house.

Caution needs to be exercised when adding soil to improve drainage, so as to not bury wood siding and framing materials. A minimal clearance of 6 to 8 inches between the soil surface and the wooden surfaces of the exterior structure is recommended to minimize insect and excessive moisture damage to the home.

If it is not possible to properly grade the perimeter of the property without burring exterior components of the structure, a qualified drainage professional should be contacted to further examine your drainage alternatives. It is critical to fully evaluate any and all drainage issues to protect the value of the property. Being aware of drainage problems prior to the purchase of a home is the best way to protect you from a number of potentially costly issues caused by improper drainage.

Down spouts channel rainfall from your roof to the sewer access point. Unfortunately, quite typically they are clogged or not effectively directed away from the structure. Down spouts and gutters really should be cleaned often.

Basement windows are a typical source of excessive moisture entry into a basement. Many basement windows are level with the grade of the property or beneath soil gradient levels. Snow, ice, and excessive ground water can seep in very easily. Basement windows that are near or at floor level and/or below grade should have window wells mounted allowing excessive ground water to drain out under or away from the window areas.

Driveways, walkways, and patios should slope away from the structures foundation walls. It is very common to find cracks in foundation walls that readily allow water to enter a structure. When obvious or oftentimes subtle issues are discovered during a New Jersey Home Inspection, professional repair options will be provided to correct drainage deficiencies found on the property.

Throughout our NJ Home Inspection we observe the drainage as it impacts the structure of the property noting both major and minor drainage deficiencies and providing tangible recommendations for corrective action. For additional information on New Jersey Home Inspection please continue to browse our site or Contact Us today via email, phone, or website submission for answers to your Home Inspection questions.