If you’ve ever doubted getting an infrared building inspection, then this should change your mind!

*Building inspection company misses obvious leaks*

(Above: The infrared photo in the centre shows a leak tracking the lighting wire. Only seen using our infrared equipment).

Out of all the thermal imaging inspections I’ve carried out, this one takes the cake. Recently I received a call from a first time home buyer. The call went something like this… “We settled on our home just 10 days ago, and there is already water coming through the ceiling in the ensuite bathroom?”. So around to the house I went with infrared camera in hand. (The dark spots in this photo are leaks as seen through our infrared camera… keep reading).

When I arrived, they showed me a report from a ‘reputable’ franchised home inspection company. The home was given the all clear. The first thing I noticed when I arrived was cracks in the plaster cladding… but there was no mention of that in the building inspection report either. The interesting part was that he did a ‘moisture test’ during the inspection! (There was a photo in his report showing this).

To cut a long story short, there were leaks in the home everywhere, under windows, on the ceiling, around skirting boards and below flat roofs. This place was a home buyers nightmare come true. In this particular home, there were 7 leaks detected, and one of them was creating a bulb in the gib board ceiling which was also missed by the house inspection company.

So what’s the come back on the building inspector?

Probably nothing… half the report was disclaimers. Maybe he doesn’t include leak detection in his building report… not sure about that one. The bottom line is the home owner purchased the home based on the clean report from the home inspection company. Unfortunately they didn’t know about thermal imaging prior to signing the dotted line.

If you’re considering buying a home, atleast give us a call for a free quote, so you don’t end up suffering the same stress as the family above! Please remember that once you’ve paid over your money for the home, you can’t turn back… and quite often it’s the homes that look great that are the problem homes.

You should also read this thermal imaging article  before calling. Also, NZ buyers should consider a METH TEST when buying.