Prudent Additional Inspections When Considering the Purchase of a Home

Posted on: October 24, 2007

While scheduling a home inspection is common place these days, sometimes it isn’t enough. Depending on the age, care, floor plan, and location of the home, you may need one or more of these types of inspections. Often the home inspector will recommend additional inspections if there is sufficient evidence of issues that he is not licensed to inspect.

Oil Tanks. Often homes were built with furnaces that ran on oil. The tanks for the oil were usually installed underground which can create an environmental hazard. Just because a home does not currently use an oil furnace does not mean one is not buried in the yard, but you do have resources to check before having an environmental company search for an unseen oil tank. It is important to find out about buried oil tanks before purchasing the home because it could be a costly mess to clean up.

Oregon’s Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) regulates the land quality including oil tanks. Their website has a database of Leaky Underground Storage Tanks (LUST), and it’s the first place to start. You can search by address, county, and series of categories. For instance, I searched for sites that have not received a “no further action” letter from the DEQ in Multnomah County. I was surprised to see an extensive list of residential properties. This a good place to check if your home was built before 1985 or so, just to be sure. The DEQ Facility Profiler is a great mapping system to check the neighborhood before you buy a home. Enter the zip code and you will see a map with purple dots representing LUSTs, blue dots for clean-up sites, and more.

If your home is within the Portland city limits, you can check to see if an oil tank permit was filed. Go to PortlandMaps.com and enter the address; when the information for the property appears, click on the Storage Tank button on the right side of the medium blue ribbon to see any permits filed on the property or nearby.

A visual inspection is the first line of defense. When you are touring the yard, you will want to look for a vent pipe about 1 ¼” in diameter or a fill cap around the patio or driveway. When inside the house, you can look for oil lines around the furnace. Signs of oil lines can also be found in crawl spaces, or poking out from the walls and floor; concrete patches in the walls or floor near the furnace can also alert you to look into the matter further.

Homeowners are required to disclose if an oil tank is buried on the site if he/she knows about it. If an unused oil tank is buried on the property it will need to be decommissioned before the home is sold. This starts with a soil test to confirm the tank is not leaking hazardous waste into the soil. Universal Applicators, Inc. has a very informative site about decommissioning oil tanks.

I recommend reading the DEQ’s informative website for homeowners, buyers, and sellers with answers to frequently asked questions.

Radon Testing. Radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer in the United States. It comes from the natural (radioactive) breakdown of uranium in soil, rock, and water that gets into the air you breathe. Your greatest risk for exposure is at home where you spend most of your time. Cracks in the foundation or basement walls can expose you to this gas. Radon is easy and inexpensive to test for; a short-term test is accomplished simply by leaving an activated radon testing unit in your non-ventilated home for two to ninety days. You can read all about radon on the EPA site. This test is rarely taken these days, but on rare occasions may be required by mortgage lenders.

Sewer Scope. Properties built before 1970 should have a sewer scope performed to make sure the pipe is not damage or obstructed. This can be one of the most costly repairs a homeowner will face, and the inspections run from $85 to $150 depending on the contractor. The inspector utilizes a video camera inserted and run along the sewer line from the house to the street. You will receive a video tape from the inspection company to review.

Furnace. Often a home inspector will advise a homeowner to have the furnace serviced; it is should be performed every couple years, but it often slips through the cracks. A home inspector will run the furnace and visually inspect the installation. If the furnace is significantly aged or installed improperly, an inspector will recommend a furnace repair technician additionally inspect it.

Other components of the home that can pose some serious repairs and may warrant additional inspections include plumbing, electrical, siding, and roofing.

Written by Heidi Aspinwall, Broker for portlandrealestate.com.