Don't beleive home inspectors

[Dick M.]

I do electrical work for flippers, I can't believe the things home inspectors come up with. The owners say go ahead and do it, its cheap, but they (the inspectors) are just wrong! The most common thing is they want way too many GFI's, Basement sump pump and washer outlets don't need to be GFI protected if they are single (as opposed to duplex) outlets! Detached garages don't need GFI protection for outlets! Just my pet peeve and I had to vent....

[Aaron McGinnis]

The inspector had a point about arc-fault circuits in that not having them doesn't meet current code (At least, not in Georgia)

Of course, you could argue that the house is grandfathered because it predates code.

I spend plenty of time rebutting inspectors. It's one of the huge reasons I love to get everything inspected by the county/city and certified with a CO... when the inspector bitches about GFI or whatever thing isn't a problem, I can point to the CO and say "This meets code. I'm not in the business of fixing problems that aren't actually problems"

I've had inspectors claim that air registers "Aren't blowing"... when I check it out, they had the register closed. A piece of paper and a quick video showing the paper getting blown about solved that problem!

Another thing I like to do is to leave the inspector something to find. I always, ALWAYS leave something simple and cheap to fix that the inspector can point to in order to justify his fee. Smoke detectors are a good one (Although if you're getting permits, lack of smoke detectors will cause you to fail a final inspection from the city 'round these parts)

Other good ones - wire an outlet backwards. Leave off a screen cover from a crawl space vent hole. Don't seal external spacing around the crawl space (Fix with great stuff in about 2 minutes after the inspection)

Like others, I've found that if you don't leave something from the home inspector, they will resort to pulling stuff out their, ahem, 'hats' that may or may not actually be true... and usually isn't a problem... and could sometimes cost thousands to 'fix' just to make the inspector happy.