Any good home inspector will perform an attic inspection when doing a complete inspection of your home. Attics often include air conditioners, electric systems and insulation. An attic inspection is essential because problems can be big-ticket items to fix.

During an attic inspection, your home inspector should check all of the wiring in the attic. If there are junction boxes in the attic with live wiring, they should have covers on them.

Attic inspections should also include checking the insulation in your attic. One of the biggest problems in the attics of homes can be poor insulation. You pay for heat and air conditioning, and you don’t want it escaping out through attic cracks without any insulation.

Home inspector Jamie Dunsing says he often finds homes with the wrong type of insulation installed in the attic. In one attic inspection he found a 16-inch wide insulation in a 20-inch joist cavity. That’s four inches where heat and air conditioning were leaking out of the home.

Attic inspections can reveal problems in other parts of the house as well. For instance, if the insulation isn’t properly installed in the attic, heat can be leaking out of the house. This could cause snow to melt on the roof above the attic and it could deteriorate the roofing.

A good home inspector will also look at all of the systems installed in the attic during a routine attic inspection. For example, the air conditioning unit in the attic should be tested during the inspection, but also opened up. During an attic inspection, the home inspector knows what to look for in a good system and he can spot trouble before it becomes an expensive problem. Just because you don’t use your attic doesn’t mean it’s not an important part of your house. When having a home inspection, you should make sure an attic inspection is included in the deal.

Published: July 29, 2008