Annual Home Maintenance Inspection

Why Regular Home Maintenance Inspections Matter

Your home is one of your biggest investments, and keeping it in top condition is crucial for safety, efficiency, and long-term value. A home maintenance inspection helps identify potential issues before they become costly problems, ensuring your property remains in excellent shape year after year.

At Unified Inspection Services, we see all kinds of problems in the homes that, if addressed earlier, would be a substantially cheaper fix. For example, toilets that are leaking around the base of it is typically due to a faulty wax ring. These are recommended to be replaced every 10 years and they only cost $10-20 bucks. Subfloor and cracked tile repair, if you have a crawlspace, can cost thousands of dollars to fix depending on the issue.

So lets go over what UIS looks for during a Home Maintenance Inspection

HVAC and Air Filters

For such an easy fix, this item is probably the most neglected chore we see in most homes. Air filters not only provide for cleaner air in the home, but it’s also designed to protect the air handler and ductwork.

We also recommend having a yearly checkup and cleaning on your AC system. What the HVAC technician typically does is pressure check the system and clean the fins with a normal hose on a medium setting. NEVER use a pressure washer or high pressure setting on your hose to clean off the outside unit’s fins.

Check out our blog post about air filters HERE

Roof and Gutter

The scary part about roofing systems is that home owners typically don’t know they have a problem until it’s a very expensive problem. When we do inspection walk-thru’s with our clients, if there is anything on the roof that is a problem, they usually freak out.

We like to make sure we inspect the roof, look for a deficiency(s), educate the owners on how it may have happened, then work with the home owner on resolving the issue. This approach usually takes the “edge” off of the finding due to that the owner now knows exactly what’s wrong.

At UIS, we typically like to walk the roof if it’s safe and won’t void the warranty, which is becoming a problem as of recently. We use drones with thermal capabilities and ladder inspections to help us get eyes on to find the problems. We also look under the roofs by scanning the ceilings and take a peek into the attic as well.

Plumbing Systems

Plumbing is another system that can cause some major damage to a home if it’s ignored. Like in the toilet wax story above, pipes over time can start to show signs of aging that can ruin cabinetry, flooring, and walls due to the destructive properties of water.

Another common thing we find, and is also completely ignored typically by home owners, is water pressure. Water pressure that’s too high can damage plumbing and appliances. Water pressure that’s too low can cause drain systems to clog up quicker and, let’s face it, it’s harder to take a shower with low water pressure.

Water heaters are also part of the plumbing system and this is typically an easy item to keep up with, as long as it’s done yearly. This typically needs a discussion with the homeowner as to the specific situation of it and is it just better to leave it alone or to have a plumber flush it. These are the types of discussions UIS has with it’s clients.

Electrical Systems

Power systems are probably the trickeist ones to figure out when there’s a problem. Especially when lights are flickering and there are other issues going on. With this one, we just check the general servicing of the different electrical components and work to identify common major items with the type of home, age of home, and other potential factors that could show electrical problems.

Common problems are:

Open Grounds
Double-tapped breakers
Light Switch issues
……and More

Foundation and Structural Integrity

This is a “welcome to Arkansas” conversation for sure. Many homes in the area have some type of foundational issue that isn’t an issue, or can get a foundation company rich. What we mostly find is the foundation could be because of a list of 3 common issue, to which you’ll need to follow us on Facebook for or go see this PAGE on what we see during those inspections.

But as a homeowner, one of the best ways to preserver your foundation are by doing 2 things.

Make sure water drains away from the home
If there are any trees close by, watch for root damage and lifting of the home.

Appliances

There’s nothing more frustrating that appliances that decide to take the forever nap right in the middle of a 3 hour roast cook. So, the devices we use tests the output of the devices and can be very eye opening to the readings that come of your oven, for example

If you hear the fridge making weird noises, or the dishwasher sounds like the pump is clicking, just pay attention to the warning signs of what may be happening.

Or just let us do a Home Maintenance Inspection for you 🙂

How to get a Home Maintenance Inspection Done

Go to Schedule an Inspection and follow the prompts and select “Maintenance Inspection” in the services drop-down. You can automatically schedule a time on the calendar to pick a time that works best for you. As always, feel free to call Bryan at (479) 763-7620 or bryan@unifiedinspection.com.