5 Reasons Why You Can’t Do A Home Inspection Yourself

Regardless of the size of your budget or your home, a full inspection by a licensed professional is crucial to making well-informed decisions about big purchases and how to keep your home safe. You can’t see what can’t be seen.

There are several things to look at when buying a home, but if you’re not careful, you can miss something that costs hundreds of thousands of dollars to replace.

When you want to be sure you’ve made the best choice possible, turn to a home inspector.

Here are the top five reasons why you can’t do a home inspection yourself:

1. You won’t know what you’re looking at
   Do you know the difference between a siding nail and a roofing nail? How about an attic vent and a dryer vent? A chimney cap and a flashing top? There are lots of things that your eyes can’t see.
2. You’ll miss things in the dark
   Most home inspectors use flashlights to illuminate dark places like crawl spaces, attics, basements, and underneath houses, where they look for mold or signs that water is rotting wood.
   There’s no substitute for natural light when inspecting the outside of a property, but you need more than sunlight to inspect the inside of a house. There’s no way to see down into the basement of an older home from outside.
3. You don’t know the rules
   You may think you know what’s wrong with your plumbing, but you don’t understand the codes. Some rules tell a professional exactly how many plumbing fixtures can go in a single bathroom and what kind of venting is required for a gas range.
   You’d need to understand these requirements and abide by them to pass inspection. A licensed inspector will follow these rules and ensure they’re being followed by subcontractors on a project or even an entire neighborhood.
4. You won’t know what to look for in the future
   Just because it looks fine now doesn’t mean it’ll look fine next year – or even tomorrow if a storm or heavy rain is coming.
   A good inspector will tell you how to take care of your biggest problems and what to keep an eye out for.
   Even if you don’t plan on buying or selling any time soon, it’s worth ensuring your home is in shape for the long haul.
5. You won’t know the numbers
   You need an inspector for guidance on how much a new roof will cost or what it’ll take to replace your water heater, but if you want a ballpark figure of how much all of this will cost, you’ll need an appraisal.
   Unless you’re under training or have experience in these things, you won’t know enough to provide an accurate estimate.

It’s simple, DIY inspection can’t substitute for a professional home inspection.

For a well-informed and stress-free home-buying experience, do yourself a favor and hire an inspector.

Hire Our Professional Home Inspection Services in Jacksonville, FL, and Other Areas in Florida

At 330 Home Inspection, we have the experience and expertise to help you pinpoint any potential problems before they occur and help you make informed decisions when you buy or sell.

Visit our website, call us at 904-697-6502 or contact us through our online form today.