House-Inspections conducts House Inspections Melton West Reports and Building Inspections Melton West Reports throughout not only Melton West but all Melbourne Suburbs.
Did you know that the pre-purchase building inspection business is not regulated meaning that there is no need for an inspector to be registered as a Building Practitioner with the VBA
Always make sure that you’re building inspector is a VBA Registered Building Practitioner ask for his details or check with the VBA before hiring him don’t take his word that he is??
One of the common misconceptions is that all House Inspectors are registered; this is far from the truth as the industry is unregulated in Victoria therefore allowing anyone to do pre purchase building inspections.
There are so many good building inspection firms but also some terrible ones so our advice is to always hire an inspector who is registered with the VBA as you will then have some certainty that he will know what to look for.
A house inspector will inspect the roof space and crawl under the sub floor looking for any structural issues within the structure.
Are the piers sound and are the bearers, joists, and stumps ok, is there any signs of termites or trailing’s
Dampness is a big issue with a lot of houses, we conducted inspections using moisture meters to test for moisture and we also use infrared cameras to detect not only moisture but termites as well.
Your inspector will inspect over 1000 items throughout the house.
Exterior Defects
We inspected the condition of the brickwork for any cracks and any mortar defects present.
Are the weatherboards sound and free from any decay, have the flashings been installed according to the standards, any rust on the metal decks, roof tiles ok or are they allowing water to enter the roof space
Do the articulation joints have mastic , balcony’s ,gazebos and outdoor structures have they been constructed appropriately, there so many items that the inspector will look at it makes it very good investment conducting a home inspection is important.
PLUMBING
All pipes are tested, including drains, vents, and waste systems. We examine water ingress and egress, drains are examined for signs of blockages and we examine the site regarding any drainage issues that may exist.
Electrical
We examine all the electrical components to ensure they fit and are operating safely. Conductors, grounding equipment and distribution panels are tested for efficient operation. The location of smoke detectors is noted in the inspection report.
When there is an open for inspection do you take notice of the important things like if everything is working like the heating and air-conditioning.
We were recently asked to do an inspection on a house in Berwick it looked like a nice property from the outside with few defects
The owner had bought the property without doing a pre-purchase building inspection and wanted a report detailing any issues.
This should have been done before he bought the property as he may have been able to renegotiate a better price and saving himself thousands .
There were major defects in the roof space(how many people ever go into the roof space of the subfloor-not many )the long webs on the trusses had been removed by the insulation installers without the owners knowledge.
This was a structural issue and required urgent rectification by a registered builder.
The sub floor inspection revealed that the timber stumps had major rot to the base, and many bearers were not sitting on the stumps they were suspended.
The owner carried urgent rectification works out costing him over $15,000 money he did not have which; he had to borrow from his parents.
If he had only conducted a pre-purchase building inspection with a VBA Registered Building Practitioner, he would have saved himself all the stress and would have been able to renegotiate the price.
Cracks in walls are unsightly, but they may also be a sign of severe structural issues afoot in a house.
So, how do you tell if a small crack will turn into a huge major crack on your lounge room wall as time passes?
The freshly painted walls you admired in the open-for-inspection may conceal a possible structural defect or a fracture.
It is vital to understand whether a wall crack is easily repaired with a little of strategically placed filler along with some paint or if expensive structural repairs in your house are called for.
Underestimate the seriousness of cracks in walls and you may end up with spending thousands to repair
Wall cracks fall into three Major classes:
1/Interior wall cracks for example cracks at the plasterboard or gyprock;
2/Exterior wall cracks like cracks in the brickwork, surface or rendering of walls;
3/Cracks in foundation walls.
All three could be severe and symptomatic of structural collapse. How severe the issue is can only be evaluated by studying:
Most cracks to buildings are caused by moisture levels in soil changing over time so any crack requires to be monitored and recorded over time.
