Despite the temperatures and time of the year people do still need to buy homes and move during the winter. Winter presents specific challenges for home buyers and for home inspectors as well.
Roofs are always a concern for home buyers. Roofs can be costly to replace or even to repair. The challenge is that often the roof is snow and ice covered making it not only not visible it also makes it unsafe to walk it. Many inspectors do not walk on 2nd story roofs because of the height alone is a safety issue. Aside from the roof surfaces being too slippery to walk there still needs to be dry firm location to place the bottom of the ladder. If placed on a slippery location the bottom of the ladder has a very good chance of sliding out resulting in serious injury or death to the inspector. Therefore roofs are often not able to be fully inspected during a winter home inspection.
Another challenge for winter home inspection such as those living in Ohio is testing the air conditioner. The home inspection schools teach that the air conditioner can not be tested when the outside temperatures are below 60 degrees. As a result of this, once cooler weather arrives in the fall, through the winter and into early spring air conditioners are not tested by home inspectors in the colder locations.
These are normal things that are typically excluded by home inspection companies all over the United States and Canada. When excluded from an inspection it does not mean that the inspector is being lazy, he or she is being safe and following training. There is a Dayton and Columbus Ohio home inspection company that solves these situations, Habitation Investigation.
Habitation Investigation and its home inspectors will test air conditioning units down to 20 degrees. They have a way to do it. They can not able test for the amount of temperature drop naturally however they can confirm that the unit starts up and that it begins to exchange heat between the interior and exterior of the home. This provides the valuable information needed.
Regarding roofs, Habitation Investigation has a 5 year roof leak warranty that provides coverage even if they could not actually see or climb on the roof. When the inspectors inspect the attic spaces and the ceilings in the home this provides information that is sufficient for the warranty company to provide the coverage. When the attic spaces show no active leaks and the ceilings under the roof are free of active leak indications then the coverage is placed.
When it comes to Central Ohio home inspections and winter time, Habitation Investigation is hands down the right choice for home inspections.
Jim Troth is a Manager of a multi-inspector company, Habitation Investigation, in Ohio and the former Education Coordinator for InterNachi Ohio. He attributes the growth to excellent customer service and referrals from satisfied clients. The company provides home inspections in the Central Ohio Columbus and home inspection in the Dayton Ohio areas, Hilliard, Powell, Pickerington, Pataskala, New Albany, Delaware, Gahanna, Westerville, Galloway, Grove City, Worthington, Dublin, Marysville, London, West Jefferson, Mechanicsburg and other cities surrounding Columbus, Ohio. His home inspection company is Habitation Investigation LLC. The website is: https://www.homeinspectionsinohio.com
