The most common issues of the home usually relate to the age of certain components, or to items that require regular maintenance.
The most common big ticket items are usually roof coverings and the age of mechanical items such as water heaters and HVAC units. Roofs are expensive to replace and often any repair or replacement will be done incorrectly by unqualified contractors. It is also usual for people to skip yearly maintenance on the mechanical items and only pay attention to them when they stop working.
Since electrical requirements are updated regularly it doesn’t take long for houses to be non-compliant with current standards. Most are grandfathered in for code purposes, but it doesn’t mean that new safety requirements, such as AFCI protection or carbon monoxide detectors, should be ignored.
Smaller items that are commonly found are lack of necessary insulation levels and gutter issues. Apart from newer homes, nearly every home is under-insulated. Gutter blockages, discharge, erosion and negative grading are the most common issues externally.
In older homes the sewer line is often compromised. Depressions, cracks, blockages and tree roots can cause problems that can be expensive to fix.
The high levels of humidity in Georgia also cause problems with mold and is very often a problem with houses that have a crawlspace.
Every house should be Radon tested. Radon is a radioactive gas caused by the decomposition of uranium in the bed rock. It can become a long term health issue and causes many deaths in Georgia every year. High Radon levels are common in north and central Georgia. The test is relatively cheap and it’s not difficult to mitigate high Radon levels.