Whether you’re a first-time homebuyer or a seasoned homeowner, one thing remains true: home inspections are absolutely essential. These inspections are like a safety net, ensuring that any potential issues with the property are uncovered and addressed before making any final decisions. 45th Parallel Home Inspection will help ensure you know the main concerns about the home you’re buying–or the home you already own–with our comprehensive Vancouver home inspection services.
Vancouver Home Inspections
Whether Buying or selling, it's important to know the health of your home
By conducting a thorough home inspection, our trained inspectors will look for structural defects, potential faulty electrical wiring, or subpar plumbing. Armed with this knowledge, you can feel empowered to make informed decisions and negotiate a fair price that reflects any necessary repairs.
Even if you’re not planning on selling anytime soon, regular home inspections still play an important part in protecting your home. First and foremost, regular home inspections can help identify potential issues before they become major problems. This can save you a lot of money in the long run, as catching issues early on can prevent them from escalating into costly repairs. Often, the most costly repairs are only discovered in the areas of the home least visited, which are, on the roof, in the attic, and in the crawlspace.
If you are planning on placing your Vancouver home on the market, a full home inspection is imperative to help identify issues that should be corrected prior to hitting the market. You do not want to have to make decisions about negotiations in price or repairs from bids that are outside of your control. By having your home inspected before going up for sale, YOU control the process of major repairs.
For example, in obtaining roof replacement bids, the estimates can vary greatly, so having this done before the home sale can allow you to shop roofing contractors at your pace and select the contractor’s bid that makes the most sense. Often in the fast and furious contingency period of the Vancouver home sales market, there is little time to do research and find contractors for estimates when there are only a few days remaining in the sales contingency period. You don’t want to lose a good sale, nor do you want to overpay in negotiations due to lack of response time. Do yourself a favor and be in charge of the process.
Regular inspections can also help improve the overall safety and livability of your home. Inspectors will check for potential hazards such as water intrusion, pests, or structural issues that could affect the health and well-being of you and your family. You can potentially boost its market value–and give yourself peace of mind, by ensuring that your home is in good condition and addressing any necessary repairs or updates.
EIFS Inspections for Your Vancouver Home
An EIFS inspection, short for Exterior Insulation and Finish System, is a specialized inspection to thoroughly check the EIFS both on the surface and below the surface at the structural wall level. EIFS issues, if present can cause issues like water damage, mold, decay, and insect infestation. Think of EIFS as a special type of siding for your home. It uses foam insulation on the exterior of the home and is covered by multiple thin layers of mortar and a textured finish. Some people refer to it as ‘Synthetic Stucco’.
45th Parallel is one of the few certified EIFS inspection companies in this area. Having an experienced EIFS inspector is critical to determine if the EIFS system is performing properly, or has hidden issues. 45th Parallel Home Inspection will carefully scrutinize your Vancouver home’s outer layer and perform a visual inspection to identify any obvious issues. Following the visual inspection, moisture probing at select locations is performed to check the wall below the EIFS for elevated moisture levels, and for signs of decay.
By uncovering these problems early on, we help you avoid unexpected and costly repairs down the line, allowing you to make smart, informed decisions about your home. Vancouver gets approximately 50 inches of rain per year, so a watertight exterior wall cladding is critical to prevent significant damage to the home’s structure.
Stone Veneer Inspections in Vancouver
Finding hidden problems behind your home's cladding
Stone veneer has become a very popular choice for new home construction, adding a level of sophistication that elevates a home’s curb appeal. However, despite its many benefits, it often faces a serious issue. We’ve witnessed it firsthand – the disregard for proper installation practices. As with the EIFS and stucco, if water gets behind the stone veneer, damage and costly repair may not be far behind.
Regular inspections play a vital role in identifying any potential issues with a home’s structure–whether you’re selling your Vancouver WA home or planning on staying put in your existing home. A thorough adhered stone veneer inspection can uncover improper installation, such as missing flashings, insufficient clearance (over roof, ground, driveway, and walkway), and moisture-related problems. Maintaining the veneer’s durability with regular inspections ensures it not only enhances the home’s appearance but also helps to catch any developing moisture problems so that they can be repaired and minimize damage.
Stucco Inspections for Vancouver Homes
Stucco is an attractive cement-based wall cladding popular with older upper-scale homes. Traditional hard coat stucco consists of three layers of mortar that end up about ⅞ inch thick and are usually applied over either plywood or older dimensional lumber. Under the stucco is a water-resistive barrier and metal lath that secures the stucco to the wall. Stucco masters would have usually customized the mortar mix for the local environment and weather in Vancouver to give the stucco maximum life.
Often, older Vancouver stucco installations have water intrusion issues and damage underneath because of gaps where the stucco meets trim and windows allowing water to enter and cause damage over the years. A stucco inspection consists of a visual inspection followed by selected locations being moisture tested by placing small ¼ inch holes and inserting test probes at the site to determine the moisture content of the wall and to probe for decay. Protect your existing home with a stucco inspection, or if you are buying a hard coat stucco home, have a full stucco inspection prior to purchase as a solid investment to avoid costly repairs later on.
Vancouver Sewer Line Inspections
What's lurking in your sewer line? We'll tell you
Regular sewer line inspections are crucial for homeowners for several reasons: they can help catch potential issues early and prevent major problems like blockages, leaks, or backups. This can save you from costly repairs or replacements down the line. Over time, sewer lines, especially older cast iron and concrete lines, can get clogged due to various reasons such as tree root intrusion, debris buildup, or cracks in the pipes.
Inspections help detect these blockages or damages before they cause serious issues. If you have experienced drainage issues in your home or backups, a main sewer line issue may be the culprit. We can help and try to pinpoint the source of the issue and scope of needed repair.
A well-maintained sewer line ensures your wastewater is taken away from the home, keeping the water flowing during showers, laundry, doing the dishes, and flushing the toilet. I think we can all agree that if any one of these systems gets backed up, it can bring the household to a standstill. With regular sewer scopes, you can avoid any of those untimely and unexpected episodes. Periodic sewer line inspection is recommended for older homes and those that have experienced previous sewer line issues.
Other Home Inspections in the Vancouver WA area
As a full-service home inspection company, 45th Parallel Home Inspection offers a variety of additional services as well. We provide Radon testing in the home, perform re-inspections to check agreed-upon repair items in a home sale, give your home an overall home health check-up in rarely visited areas, and other services to make sure your home is in good condition or to find items needing repair.
A detailed report, with pictures and explanations of what we’ve found, allows you to truly understand any potential problems facing your home. It’s been our experience that taking a proactive approach and getting a professional home inspection report will save you money in the long run.
We urge our home inspection clients to participate in the home inspection process and absorb all they can about the home while in their contingency period for a home sale. Being present and engaged during the process adds valuable insight beyond the written report. The same is true when we inspect the home for the homeowner: the more information you have about your home, the better off you’ll be.
If you’re interested in getting a home inspection report of your Vancouver home or want to do your due diligence on a home you’re thinking of buying, please don’t hesitate to reach out to 45th Parallel Home Inspection. We firmly believe there is no such thing as too much information when it comes to such a huge investment.
FAQs About Troutdale OR Home Inspections
Common questions and answers for home buyers and sellers alike
A stucco inspection involves performing a visual inspection, followed by invasive probing to check for elevated water content and decay in the wall structure behind the stucco. A detailed report is provided outlining the findings of the visual and invasive inspection portions.
If owning a home containing stucco, a stucco inspection can help you avoid costly repairs by catching problems early before they become major issues. If purchasing a home having stucco, it can help identify issues including costly necessary repairs before you purchase the home allowing you to negotiate repairs before purchase.
It depends. We do many inspections that have repairs that can be handled with a few thousand dollars because they are maintenance items or small repairs. Sometimes, we find issues and recommend the complete removal of the stucco and damaged wall structure below and re-siding the building.
The most expensive repair we have heard following our inspection process is approximately $300,000. Yes, that is three hundred thousand dollars. Those customers really got their money’s worth with our inspection. We estimate that almost every stucco inspection uncovers more in the cost of repairs than our inspection costs, making it a very good investment.
It depends. It starts at about $800. That would be for a situation where there is a smaller section of stucco such as on the front of the home only, one story, and not many windows. We evaluate every house to determine how much time it will take to perform the inspection, write the report, and provide a quote. It typically ranges from $800 to $3000 for most homes. It can be more depending on height, size, complexity, decks, number of windows, and other openings.
For larger commercial buildings, depending on the same factors of size, complexity, number of windows and openings, and height it generally starts around $2500. We will review and provide a quote.
Traditional stucco is made from cement, lime, and sand, and is applied in 3 layers totaling about ⅞ inch thick. EIFS (synthetic stucco) is a very thin ⅛ inch finish coat over prepared insulation boards for added energy efficiency. While looking like hard coat stucco at a glance, it is very different and much more fragile compared to hard coat stucco.
We use specialized tools like moisture meters and moisture probes to measure moisture content and assess the condition of your walls. Sometimes, Infrared cameras are helpful, but any moisture content or decay can only be verified with physical probing of the wall structure under the stucco.
A typical stucco inspection can take anywhere from three hours to all day, depending on the size and complexity of the home. On larger homes or commercial buildings, it can take multiple days.
At 45th Parallel Home Inspection, we are committed to providing you with comprehensive and accurate inspection reports. Our expertise in home inspections can help protect your home investment. Contact us today to schedule your inspection.
Get answers from an Inspection Specialist
Give us a call today to answer any questions you have regarding home inspections, Radon testing, or sewer line inspections.
We're Certified Inspectors
Schedule an Inspection Today
We are ready to schedule an inspection for you. Click the button and you can choose your date and time and do everything online. Or give us a call and we can schedule it for you.