The Importance of Home Inspections
Home inspections can serve a number of purposes. They can help sellers evaluate the market value of their home, help buyers ensure a wise purchase and even help current homeowners stay safe within their home.
Inspections can cover a number of different areas and identify asbestos. The most common inspections include:
- Roofing inspections
- Maintenance inspections
- Insurance inspections
- Asbestos inspections
- HVAC inspections
Some of these inspections offer financial peace of mind. Home inspections are important for prospective buyers who want to make the right investment and for sellers who want to list their home for a fair price.
Home inspections are also important for ensuring safety once a family has moved into a home. Asbestos, carbon monoxide leaks and malfunctioning smoke alarms are just a few of the life-threatening health risks that inspections can detect before they become a major threat.
Asbestos Inspections for Older Homes
Asbestos is one of the most serious concerns – especially in older homes. Asbestos inspections can identify asbestos-containing products within the home and determine how to handle them. This helps homeowners avoid potential exposure to asbestos, a major health hazard that can lead to asbestos related cancers and other serious diseases.
Asbestos inspections take several hours. During this time, inspectors will thoroughly search the home for older construction materials that may contain asbestos. These products – which include flooring, roofing, siding, insulation, adhesives and more – are present in many homes that were built before the 1980s. Because asbestos in these products is rarely visible to the human eye, inspectors will take samples and send them to a laboratory for further investigation.
If these inspections reveal asbestos in the home, homeowners should leave the products alone to avoid disturbing the fibers. They should then contact a licensed abatement company to determine whether or not the products should be encapsulated, fully removed or left in place with an asbestos warning. These remedial measures will reduce the likelihood that the home’s residents accidentally expose themselves to the carcinogenic fibers.
Author bio: Faith Franz researches and writes about health-related issues for The Mesothelioma Center. One of her focuses is living with cancer.
