Let me give you a short answer on this topic, and then I will go into the why’s. The short answer is YES, absolutely you should get a pre-drywall inspection. At Bent Nail, we offer a discount if you schedule the following three inspections as a package: PreDrywall Inspection, Pre Move-In Home Inspection, and 11-Month Builders Warranty Inspection. Who has time to dig through your house to see what is wrong at the end of the first year? Builders know that it will be difficult for you to dedicate the time to take advantage of this warranty; that is a topic for another blog.
When looking for a Knoxville Home Inspector, there are four reasons you should hire Bent Nail General Contracting and Home Inspections to do your Pre-Drywall Inspection.
- We are an independent third party. We are not worried about the cost to the builder to repair something or the delay in the schedule it will cause.
- We can see more of the electrical, HVAC, and plumbing systems before the drywall is hung.
- We make the time to do a thorough inspection of the home. We look for anything, and we look at everything. The city code inspectors only view your home for code compliance of their specific trade.
- A Pre-Drywall Inspection can help the process of getting into your home smoother. We can find issues that can be corrected before the drywall is hung and finished. Issues found after move-in can take longer to repair as the drywall has to be opened up.
Main Reasons To Get A Pre-Drywall Inspection
When you think about your house, probably 80% or more of the electrical wiring and plumbing are behind the drywall. All of the wall framing and any framing between the floors is covered up as well. We all know a home inspection is invaluable in helping you to understand your home’s condition. The same is true with a Pre-Drywall Inspection. It is our one time to get an accurate view of all the electrical wiring and plumbing.
Let me show you some examples of what we have found during a home inspection and things we would have captured. Below is a beam that was found during a Pre-Drywall Inspection.
The pictures above show a laminated veneer lumber (LVL) beam that starts in the garage wall and runs across the front porch. This beam supports the front of the second story and the roof. As you can see, the LVL beam on the left has water damage and is delaminated. You can see that both LVL beams have already started to deform from the second story and roof weight. This house had already passed framing inspection, and the builder was ready to hang the drywall. When this beam was called out, the buyer was told that it was not a problem and the beam would support the weight. To make a long story short, the builder brought the manufacturer representative on site. The gentleman looked at the beam and said, “That isn’t good. It needs to be replaced”.
Here is another example of what we found while doing a Pre Move In Inspection. Take a look at the pictures below.
As you can see from the picture with the window, the window’s drywall is sloped at the top. In the second picture, the drywall sags in multiple areas. The ceiling is bowing in, and the tops of the windows are not even close to level. There was a 1 ½ inch difference in the window height from one side to the other. Can you imagine hanging window blinds when the window top is that unlevel? In the second picture of the ceiling drywall, yes, that wave or bowing is there. Once we called the defects out, the builder returned and fixed the issues. This delayed their closing by weeks. The builder had to remove the drywall, correct the framing, re-drywall, and then repaint the room – all while the carpet was in the room. What a mess. If a Pre-Drywall Inspection had been done, we would have called out the unlevel framing, which could have been fixed before the drywall was hung.
How Long Does A Pre-Drywall Inspection Take?
Depending on the size of the house we will schedule 2 to 4 hours to be onsite looking at your new home. This doesn’t include the time to finalize the report we send you.
I hope these examples have helped you understand why a Pre-Drywall Inspection is essential. One of our goals is to be a resource to Knoxville, Oak Ridge, and the surrounding communities.
As always, if you have a question, whether you use Bent Nail Home Inspection services or not, you are always welcome to call us. We will be happy to help you in any way we can.
Have a great day,
Lee and Kadee