What Your Charleston, SC Home Inspection Should Cover

There are many things to look for in a home inspection. This is certainly an area in your investment that you should not pinch pennies on. The average home inspection in Charleston is anywhere from $350 to $450 depending on the size of the house, and if it’s on a crawlspace or not (you’ll be charged more for the crawl space since it’s more work, and home inspectors certainly don’t like crawling around under there).

Here are the things you can look for during your home inspection in Charleston, while the home inspector is snooping around:

Siding: Look for dents or buckling, and especially tearing if it’s vinyl siding.
Foundations: Look for cracks or water seepage. Does the lot slope away from the home? Important for water runoff.
Exterior Brick: Look for cracked bricks or mortar pulling away from bricks. Does the brick have loose mortar?
Insulation: Look for condition, adequate rating for climate.
Doors and Windows: Look for loose or tight fits, condition of locks, condition of weatherstripping. Are there broken seals in the windows?
Roof: Look for age, conditions of flashing, pooling water, buckled shingles, or loose gutters and downspouts.
Ceilings, walls, and moldings: Look for loose pieces, drywall that is pulling away.
Porch/Deck: Loose railings or step, rot
Electrical: Look for condition of fuse box/circuit breakers, number of outlets in each room. Make sure that all 3-way switches are operating properly.
Plumbing: Look for poor water pressure, banging pipes, rust spots or corrosion that indicate leaks, sufficient insulation. Keep in mind that polybutulene plumbing have the plastic fittings that may burst! There was a class action lawsuit against these plastic pipes and fittings.
Water Heater: Look for age, size adequate for house, speed of recovery, energy rating. Could there be a tank-less hot water heater instead? A gas one sure would be nice…
Furnace/Air Conditioning: Look for age, energy rating; Furnaces are rated by annual fuel utilization efficiency; the higher the rating, the lower your fuel costs. However, other factors such as payback period and other operating costs, such as electricity to operate motors. You can also check the date of the HVAC by looking at the serial number. Each manufacturer is different, but you can get a good idea by looking at the last two digits, or the first four.
Garage: Look for exterior in good repair; condition of floor—cracks, stains, etc.; condition of door mechanism. Is there wood rot around the base of the garage? What did the CL100 Inspection say?
Basement: Look for water leakage, musty smell. There aren’t many homes with basements with homes for sale in Charleston, SC due to the water table and it being the lowcountry.
Attic: Look for adequate ventilation, water leaks from roof. Any animal activity?
Septic Tanks (if applicable): We see many septic tanks along the beaches and in the rural areas of Charleston, South Carolina. Adequate absorption field capacity for the percolation rate in your area and the size of your family.
Driveways/Sidewalks: Look for cracks, heaving pavement, crumbling near edges, stains.

Make sure you choose a home inspector that you can trust. Don’t just pull one from the phone book, ask your Charleston Realtor who they would recommend as they’ve worked with hundreds of home inspections!