Top 5 Home Inspection Issues Every Buyer Should Know! What to Expect & Tips for Buyers

[@johnhaller5851]

There's another reason for the drywall to crack at the wall to ceiling intersection. Wood shrinks along the narrow sides, but not the length. The wall lumber will not move the drywall up and down as the lumber goes from dry to wet, only in and out. The lumber goes a different way in the roof, it goes up and down. Additionally, it's rare for the house to be conditioned while it's being framed, nor for the framing lumber to be at the long-term dryness, so it will naturally shrink as air conditioning removes humidity from the boards. There is insulation between the drywall and roof, but limited by the thickness of the lumber. This is generally not enough insulation. Most homes built in the 1980s and earlier are inadequately insulated in both the walls and ceilings, but insulation is present.

[@homestarsellers]

You've got great insights about this topic! Thank you for sharing your knowledge! Right now, I'm having a lot of questions around timing about buying & selling... Do you have any questions about our local real estate market? I can answer for you... Thanks again for your insights! :-)

[@chrislastnam6822]

@@johnhaller5851 Old houses like mine in Los Angeles have plaster , not drywall. Isn't drywall full of formaldehyde and other toxins and made in China?

[@johnhaller5851]

@chrislastnam6822 There was a time when drywall was being imported from China which did have formaldehyde between 2001 and 2009, but outside that time, there is no longer an issue. Plaster needs skilled trades and is very labor intensive. It's hard to get a flat wall without a lot of practice using plaster and lath.

[@chrislastnam6822]

I have lots of cracks in my 1930s house in Los Angeles but it has survived significant earthquakes .

[@homestarsellers]

I wish North Texas had Los Angeles weather and soil... Unfortunately, we have this awful black clay that expands and contracts with our wet & dry seasons... I was flying in to LA every month to attend coaching sessions with Brendon Burchards and fell in love with the area... ~Bettina :-)

[@garyjensen3414]

Three areas that ALSO must be considered in our area (California, Bay area)--Soil, Earthquake and Windows..We have ADOBE SOIL which has several issues involving movement....Post tension foundations must be considered...Earthquake strapping and shear nailing also needs special attention---and windows..Double pane sealing that fails in the cheaper windows,causing fogging are an expensive upgrades..All three ( if not address correctly) are costly.

[@homestarsellers]

Wow... Sounds like we in North Texas have similar challenges without having the added challenges of earthquakes... Thank you for the added insight! :-)

[@garyjensen3414]

@@homestarsellers The earthquake issue is not as bad as the media makes it..I am 82, born and raised in a earthquake prone area.There have been two major earthquakes in my lie.1957 shook seriously with not much damage, 1989 Loma Preadia quake was the most serious, where "PART" of the Bay Bridge failed and the area where the bay was filled in and built on, had significant damage (That's called liquid faction)..Quakes are not that frequent, but if a person is in the wrong place, it can be very serious..Like anything, we pick our poison..The media has portrayed other parts of the Country as pretty bad..Hurricanes, floods, drought etc .seem quite frequent..Another factor we deal with in California is FIRE!--that has become serious with drought and climate change..Some make that serious --while others dismiss the problem..I am a retired Fireman..The stats show a definite increase in serious fires..Building materials, codes have helped some, but it still is a serious problem..

[@garyjensen3414]

What is the typical energy bill on a recently built 2400 sq foot home in Texas?---thanks

[@homestarsellers]

Really depends on the energy efficient features that have been added to the home... Also, if it's gas and electric or just electric... If we're looking at all electric new homes, you can budget $200 to $220 a month to be safe, which is less than my home built in 2003 :-)

[@AroundHouse]

I'm in DFW and our house was build in 2021 - 2500sqf and we have gas stove, gas water heater and gas heat HVAC and our bill ranges between $80 to $180 a month with a rate of 11c/kwh , Texas has open market for electricity providers so depends what rate you contracted for and the rates are higher now, we locked our rate over 2 years ago and we are up to renewal in May. If the house has only electricity and no gas you bill will be higher during winter.

[@JohnathanBruner-t2d]

I was told that the Lake Granbury, Texas area was a foundation nightmare. Nice video.

[@homestarsellers]

Hey Johnathan, that's a great question. I can ask my inspector about Lake Granbury.. Are there any areas you might know more about or just Lake Granbury? Btw, glad you liked the video! :-)

[@fastsetinthewest]

​@@homestarsellers I was told this by an old time real estate agent. I have no other information.

[@virginiamoss7045]

I've also heard that in parts of Texas there cannot be basements due to the soil characteristics. Also, with water becoming more and more scarce, it seems constantly watering building foundations would be a huge waste of precious water.

[@MAGAMAN]

"There are no drywall nails" That's 100% bullshit. Nails used to be the only way drywall was installed. There are still a few people that still use drywall nails to install drywall, but it's pretty rare these days.

[@homestarsellers]

Thank you for you input:-) You're absolutely right... nails were commonly used for drywall in the past and it's rarer now. Our goal with our conversation with Rob was to share the home inspector's perspective, but we do appreciate you adding more context. It's always great to hear from knowledgeable folks in our community :-)

[@elizabethmelvin6276]

I wouldn’t be placing my bare hand in those foundation holes…rattlesnakes!

[@homestarsellers]

LOL! Luckily, we haven't seen rattle snakes here in the suburbs... You see them closer to the lakes and up in the hills... Also, you'll see more copper heads than rattlesnakes.. Either way, I agree not sticking my hands in any foundation holes!

[@NoneFB]

I tried removing “Just the glass.” The glass was safety glass - it BROKE. I sealed the broken pane with plastic and plywood. First the inside pane, then sweeping up the 300,000 little pieces. ( It went well.) Now I only have the outside pane to go. We worried that that piece too, would break if we tried to move it with suction cups, so we enclosed it and deliberately broke it inside and installed the same plywood and plastic. The main story here is slowly remove the whole frame. Don’t think that you are going to have luck just changing the failed insulated glass. Figure 2 xs 300,000 little pieces.

[@homestarsellers]

Thanks for sharing your experience! Sometimes changing out the whole frame doesn't work because the new frame won't match the house so we hire a professional window company you can go to juanandbettina.com/vendors to find one that has had good referrals or good references, and what they will do is unseal it and put it back together I can totally see how trying to do it yourself, would be very difficult. Congratulations on attempting it! I don't think that that's something I would have even tried to do.👍

[@johnhaller5851]

There's a technique to that. There are plastic pieces holding the glass in, as well as double-sided tape. The latter has to be softened with a hair dryer before it will release. Sometimes the panes will break even when removing the frame by professionals, so putting down a liner inside and outside is advisable just in case. It's difficult to replace the entire window and get a comparable seal in a masonry house, as you can't get to the fins, and end up depending on caulking to seal it.

[@g-manthenurseman7532]

That’s not really a diy project. All the glass guys have the tools and techniques to prevent all that mess.

[@NoneFB]

@ Hi. Oh I did fine.

[@MAGAMAN]

One thing Home Inspectors should know is the difference between Carpenter Ants and Fire Ants.

[@virginiamoss7045]

Yes, they are very different. Fire ants are tiny while carpenter ants are quite large.