If you’re like most people, the last time you had your home inspected was when you bought the place. Once you moved in, maintenance probably became a reactive practice instead of a proactive one—you wait until something goes wrong, breaks, or wears out, then you have it repaired or replaced. In Chicago, where many homes are older and have brick exteriors, it is crucial to stay on top of these issues.
When my roof started leaking a few years ago, I had it replaced—an expensive and stressful couple of days. Chicago's notorious weather can be especially tough on roofs, with potentially heavy snow loads, ice, or harsh winds. A few months later, I noticed that a section of shingles had become damaged from past wind and rain storms. Even with proper roof installation, Chicago’s extreme weather can still damage your roof. It wasn’t a huge problem, but it was a good lesson: Just because the work was done correctly and looked good on the day of installation doesn’t mean that weather and sun won’t degrade your roof or hidden problems won’t assert themselves later.
It’s not just the roof—your home is comprised of different systems that work together to keep
you safe, comfortable, and protected from the elements. No matter how recently these systems were installed, upgraded, or replaced, things can go wrong with them. What starts as a minor problem that’s easy to fix (like failed flashing) can develop into an expensive disaster if you’re not aware of it. That’s why you should be doing regular maintenance inspections of your house, especially in the Chicago land area, where weather extremes can accelerate wear and tear.
What's a maintenance inspection?
A maintenance inspection is similar to the home inspection you probably had done when you bought your house, but it’s performed more regularly. It is designed to help you be proactive with your maintenance instead of reactive. In other words, a regular maintenance inspection enables you to spot problems before they become expensive and potentially damaging. Catching these problems early can save you money and trouble.
General maintenance inspections should be done regularly; the International Association of
Certified Home Inspectors (InterNACHI) recommends that homes have a maintenance
inspection annually—12 months of Chicago's unpredictable weather can take a toll on the
exterior of your house, and 12 months of wear and tear on the internal systems can expose
failing components. If your home is newer, however, some professional inspectors believe you can conduct a maintenance inspection every three to five years. First, you should have an 11-month warranty inspection for your new home. Second, remember that your house is getting older all the time and is affected by weather conditions, and an annual inspection would be a good idea.
But if you’ve had or are planning to have any major work done on the house. For example, a
new roof, a new HVAC system, new electrical, or any changes to your home. You should
perform a maintenance inspection on the new work about six months after its completion. That’s enough time for defects to emerge—defects that might not impact the integrity and performance of the work immediately but can become big problems over time. These defects aren’t necessarily the result of poor workmanship—renovations and repairs can fail for a wide variety of reasons, such as:
● Defective materials
● Unexpected climate conditions (Chicago winters, anyone?)
● Invasive animals and insects
● Natural shrinkage and expansion of materials due to moisture or temperature
● Failure of other home systems (Everything in your house is connected. If the foundation
is shifting, for example, your chimney may pull away from your roof, opening a seam.)
Who should do the maintenance inspection?
You can hire a professional home inspector to do a maintenance inspection just like you hire
one when you buy a house, and the cost is about the same—about $300 to $500, depending on the size and complexity of your house. Individual system inspections are less based on the complexity of the system. In Chicago, with its many historic homes and unique architectural features, it might be wise to invest in a professional’s expertise. You can also conduct a DIY inspection if you’re relatively handy and familiar with the basics of your house—or use a mix of both approaches, conducting DIY inspections annually and bringing in a professional every three to five years for a more thorough review of your home’s systems.
Either way, a maintenance inspection of your home should look at the following aspects of the house:
● Roof: The roof should be visually examined to ensure that shingles aren’t missing,
flashing looks good, and gutters are in good shape.
● Exterior: The exterior of the house should be inspected for damage—for example,
cracked siding, crumbling brick or stucco, cracked or missing caulk, or weather stripping.
● Windows and doors: The seal around windows and doors should be examined. All
windows and doors should operate appropriately without sticking.
● Foundation: The home’s foundation should be examined for cracks or other problems.
● Basement, attic, or crawl space: These areas of the house should be checked for
moisture, mold, and the integrity of floor joists or the interior roof structure.
● HVAC: The home’s heating and cooling systems should be tested and visually inspected
for mold, rusting equipment, or other problems.
● Electrical: The electrical panel and all outlets should be tested, and all smoke and CO
detectors should be tested and have their batteries replaced (or replaced themselves if
they are at the end of their life).
● Plumbing: All drains and sinks should be examined for small leaks and potential mold,
and drains should be tested to ensure they’re not clogged. Toilets and other fixtures
should be inspected to ensure they’re seated properly and not leaking under floors.
Conducting these inspections on a regular basis means you’ll be aware of problems before they become obvious, which means you can get repairs or replacements made before real damage is done. Discover a leaking second-floor toilet during a maintenance inspection instead of waiting for water damage to become apparent, for example. You might be able to get the problem fixed before the leak rots away the subfloor, ruins the ceiling below, and requires mold mitigation on top of everything else.
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