The Deals and Duds of Westchester's Real Estate

Jul 31, 2008

12:16 PM

Home Inspection Horror Stories

Whether you're buying new construction or an existing home, an inspection by a certified home inspector is a must. And oh the things they’ve seen. I asked six home inspectors, “What are some of the worst things you’ve encountered during a home inspection?”

"A house in Cortlandt Manor looked decent on the outside, but upon viewing the crawl space beneath the house, every support beam was
eaten almost entirely through by powder-post beetles. The entire
house was structurally unsound. This was a deal breaker.”
George Grap
United Homesteads
New Rochelle

“A couple was looking to buy a house in Tarrytown. There was a horrific odor coming from the basement, which was locked and only the landlord, who was out-of-town, could open it. Finally he returned and opened the basement and we discovered the source of the smell. The sewage pipe was not connected to anything, and there was three feet of standing water in the basement. Only it wasn't water, it was raw sewage. The whole place was over-run by bacteria. Suffice it to say, that deal fell through.”
George Grap
United Homesteads
New Rochelle

“As we were doing an inspection in White Plains, the main water feed burst in the basement because it was in disrepair. The basement began to flood and there was no way to shut the water off from the inside. It wasn’t until the fire department and water department responded that the water could be shut off.”
Mike Sudano
Prochek Home Inspection
Danbury, Connecticut

“Another ‘enlightening’ experience occurred in Mount Vernon. We noticed that the owners had excavated the crawl space beneath the home to create a full depth basement. The problem was they excavated below the footing of the home, comprising its stability. We proceeded to exit the home quickly.”
Mike Sudano
Prochek Home Inspection
Danbury, Connecticut


“The one that comes to mind is the first time I did an inspection with my full-face respirator on because the smell was so horrendous. It was in New Hyde Park, Queens. Nobody was living in the house. No humans anyway. But there were cats, lots of cats. When the job was over, I asked for an extra hundred dollars for dangerous working conditions.”
Daren Koniuk
Homestar Inspection Services
Bayside, New York

“I got up into the attic of a house and fortunately it was a pretty big attic so I could easily walk around. There was just insulation—nothing stored, no flooring. I was walking with my flashlight and I saw a snake coiled up. It was big; stretched out it must have been 6 or 8 feet long! I was surprised to see it because snakes are cold blooded and in an attic in the middle of the summer; it must have been 100 degrees. It was stone house with vines on the outside, so it was easy for the snake to get in. I'm pretty familiar with snakes, so I knew it was a black snake and nothing dangerous. They are actually beneficial as far as eating mice and things, but they do scare you.”
Bill Hughes
Habitat Home and Building Inspection
Hopewell Junction, New York

“There was a house in Westchester where the water in the well smelled horrible and we put up detection equipment, left it there for 48 hours, and found that there was so much radon that the house was unsafe to live in. I informed my clients to get it remedied.”
William A. Bart
Big Apple Home Inspection
Massapequa, New York

“A house in Forest Hill, Queens, had so many termites I could almost hear them chirp. I went over to the piano and it was caved in from all the
termites. There were so many, the house had to be demolished.”
William A. Bart
Big Apple Home Inspection
Massapequa, New York

“In a two million dollar house in Briarcliff there was an unprotected pool heater directly outside the window to a child’s bedroom. The carbon monoxide from the heater is of course very unhealthy to breathe in. I hear, “We’ve never had a problem” a lot from parents, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t still a threat.”
Jeff Molloy
Check Mark
Mount Kisco
 

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