When and Why to Get a Home Inspection in Winter

If you’re buying or selling a home, getting a home inspection is a crucial step to ensure that the property is in good condition and avoid any surprises down the line. But when and how often should you get a home inspection? And why is winter a good time to do it? In this article, we’ll answer these questions and more.

When to Get a Home Inspection

Here are some situations when you should consider getting a home inspection:

  • Before closing a deal: Whether you’re the buyer or seller, it’s a good idea to get a home inspection before closing a deal. This can help you identify any issues that may affect the value or safety of the property and negotiate a fair price.
  • Before bad weather: It’s also a good idea to get a home inspection before the onset of bad weather, such as winter storms or hurricanes. This can help you prepare your home and prevent any damage or safety hazards.

Why Winter is a Good Time for Home Inspections

Here are some reasons why winter is a good time to get a home inspection:

  1. Easier to pinpoint issues: In the winter, the cold weather can challenge the integrity of many features of your home, making it easier to spot issues that may be harder to catch in the warmer months. For example:
  • Pipes can freeze over, which can cause them to burst or fail. A home inspection can help you identify any issues with your pipes and prevent costly repairs or water damage.
  • Insulation can be tested with ease in the winter, as you can easily detect drafts and air leaks that may be harder to notice in the summer. Repairing these issues before the colder weeks of winter set in can help you save energy and money on heating bills.
  • Snowy days can provide inspectors with a new point of view to see how structurally sound your home is. For example, you can analyze the strength of your roof and detect whether your windows are doing their job at keeping the moisture out of your home.
  1. Snow offers a new point of view: Since snow sticks around for a while, it provides inspectors with a few great opportunities to see how structurally sound your home is. For example:
  • Snowy days might be the only times of the year when you can examine how well your house is doing in some areas. You can analyze the strength of your roof and detect whether your windows are doing their job at keeping the moisture out of your home.
  • Snow can reveal issues that you may not have noticed before, such as a sagging roof or excess condensation on your windows.
  1. Shows you how to prepare for a deal: Getting a home inspection done early in the winter can help you prepare for even colder months. For example:
  • You can quickly learn where your home falls short and take measures to prevent the winter weather from leaking into your house. Utilizing preventive maintenance can help you learn early whether something’s going to be a problem so that you can plan for any issues.
  • As a seller, creating a checklist for home improvements to make before the worst of winter rolls in might help you stay organized. Go through your list item by item and improve the quality of your home.
  1. More convenient: In the winter, you have things like stoves and fireplaces fired up pretty often, whereas you’d have to fire them up in the heat to get them inspected in the summer. Lack of use might skew the results. Since you’re using things like your furnace regularly, maybe even daily, you’ll have a better understanding of what appears normal.

What a Winter Home Inspection Can’t Do

While winter home inspections can be great for finding issues you never knew existed, they can’t work for everything. Here are some limitations to keep in mind:

  • Winter inspections can’t replace year-round preventive maintenance. You’ll need to get other parts of your home inspected throughout the year if you’re concerned about them.
  • Winter inspections may not be able to climb onto the roof or check the drainage, as these areas may be hazardous or inaccessible due to snow or ice.
  • Winter inspections may not be able to detect some pests that go dormant in the winter.

Conclusion

Whether you’re buying or selling a home, home inspections are an essential part of a deal. Choosing to conduct a home inspection in the winter could reveal issues on the seller’s end that they need to fix right away, or it could benefit buyers by understanding what they’d be getting into with a particular home. If you can see yourself in that house for winters to come, don’t neglect to have an inspection conducted in the winter. At Know Before You Buy Home Inspections, we offer comprehensive and reliable inspections that give you peace of mind and help you make informed decisions. Contact us today to schedule your inspection and get started on the path to a safer and more secure home