Check Out That Garage!
Your garage is an important part of the home inspection process!
When most people think about their home inspection, the garage isn’t one of the first things that come to mind. However, the garage is an integral part of a home inspection. It can give clues as to what might be going on in other parts of the house. Here are some items that are typically inspected in a garage:
Firewalls
Garage door and its parts
Eyebeam system
Fire door leading into the house
Electrical Panel
Hot water heater
Attic
Electric receptacles
Now, not all of these items are always located in the garage, but typically many of them are. I want to take a look at a few of these though for you to understand the importance of them. Let’s start with the fire door leading into the home. This is extremely dangerous if the proper door is not installed or if it does not automatically latch. Why? Because carbon monoxide can leak into the home and cause a series of health issues, some of them deadly.
I recently had a seller of a home I was inspecting tell me that the eye beam system is not that important since he does not have little kids. This could not be further from the truth! If a person (or even animal) were to walk under the garage door as it is closing, and the door does not automatically bounce back up, then that person could be seriously injured!
The attic, an inspector’s worst friend (especially in the summertime in Florida), will let an inspector know if there is adequate insulation throughout the house, if the roof is configured properly, if there are any leaks, what the deck attachment is comprised of (useful for wind mitigation reports and lowering your insurance costs) and if the ductwork is installed properly, among many other things.
The garage is a very important part of the home inspection. It can give clues to the rest of the house and is also a means to determine how well the house is constructed.
