Vent: That home inspector who said my attic had 'plenty of vents' was dead wrong

Bought a house in Mill Woods last fall and the inspector told me the roof vents were fine. After 4 months I noticed ice dams forming, went up there myself and found maybe half the soffit vents were actually cut through. The rest were just plastic grilles nailed to wood. Paid a roofer $1,200 to fix it right. Anyone else have an inspector who missed something obvious like this?

3 comments

3 Comments

kaiharris25d ago

That's frustrating, and honestly it seems like this kind of thing happens way too often now with home inspectors. I've noticed a pattern where people just skim the surface instead of actually checking things, like when a mechanic says "looks fine" without even hooking up a diagnostic tool. Real life is full of folks who do the bare minimum and call it a job well done, and a bad inspection can cost you big time. You did the right thing catching it yourself before the ice dams did real damage to your roof.

finleyh8925d ago

The bare minimum is the standard now for a lot of these trades. Last year I had an HVAC guy come out for a "tune-up" and he literally just swapped the air filter and left after ten minutes. Charged me a hundred bucks. Same thing with home inspectors - they walk around with a clipboard for an hour, point out a loose outlet cover, then miss the cracked heat exchanger that costs you five grand in January. A buddy of mine had an inspector miss a French drain that was completely clogged with roots. First big rain and his basement flooded. You really can't trust anyone to do the deep work unless you're standing over them asking questions.

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simonh7425d ago

Hire your own guy for a second opinion before you close. I've done it twice now and it saved my ass both times. First time the first inspector missed a bad sewer line and the second guy caught it with a camera scope. Cost me 150 bucks for peace of mind but saved me 8 grand. Second time a roofer came out with the inspector and found three layers of old shingles under the new ones that were supposed to be a tear-off. Get specific people too, not just whoever the realtor recommends. Ask for a licensed engineer if the house is older than 30 years, they'll actually crawl under the house and check the foundation instead of just poking at baseboards.