April. Our biggest concern with our new house was the roofs integrity. It's a considerable size roof and we didn't want to have to replace a roof of this size for many years. We asked many question such as; is it vented properly, is it a tear off, how many years are approximately left on this roof? Have the soffits and gutters been installed properly, is the flashing still good... And more? The inspector assured us this roof was in good condition and had a good 10 years to go. After walking the entire roof and sticking his head in the attic, he stated it was excellent craftsmanship and again, it had a good 10 years left on it.
The 3rd night in our house there were 3 leaks in our brand new ceilings. We called a couple of companies to come out to quote a repair and were astonished at their suggestionsAll the companies mentioned as they pulled up to the house from 100 yards away they could see the roof was not installed properly. And that it was installed at the same time but by two different roofers using different methods, one of the terms we heard was "racking" and it was done wrong! They each counted 15 nail heads popping, poor/no venting, flashing was old and needed replacing, gutters and soffits were not installed correctly and more. All suggesting roof didnt need repair it needed replacement.
We paid this man who owns a home inspection franchise and who clearly states he is a licensed builder since 1999 on their website $300 to inspect our house. It does not appear he knew anything about what he was doing.
We were clear in our concerns and did our homework as far as what to ask. Not to mention we each have owned several other homes in our life time and have replaced other roofs. At no point did the inspector say, roofs are not my specialty or I am unable to answer questions about flashing, venting, soffits, etc He in fact commented on the fantastic new soffit/gutter job and said it was top notch before we asked. I know I know I know, inspectors have no code they follow or licensing by the state, but they should!!! I know in the future, I will hire a plumber, a roofer a furnace guy and an electrician and pay them each their hourly rate to check out any future house we buy. I cant even begin to touch on our plumbing nightmare in this same house. We have not even lived her 8 weeks and we are looking at over $15k for a roof and another $15k or so in plumbing fees and then the water damages.
Do we have any recourse with this inspector? I am of the impression since he does hold some type of license for building he should have been able to guide us better, despite his iron clad contract.
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