A recent story in the news tells a sad tale about a man buying a home for his family in Ontario, Canada that turned into such a nightmare, he and his family were forced to move out for their own safety. All because he did not realize his home lacked insulation.
Before getting into the heart of the matter, there are a few differences between what happened to this poor man and his family and what we experience here in Southern California. Homes built in and around Los Angeles often have little to no insulation. Because it rarely snows, builders typically just do not insulate homes here like they do in up north. I have inspected older homes near the beach that have zero insulation, and no one was bothered by it. So if your Southern California house has no insulation, don’t panic that your house will turn into a disaster like the man in this story.
But despite the difference between here and there, the moral of the story rings true even here in the Los Angeles area:
“As first time buyers, Walters admits he was naïve. Because [the home] was only two years old, he moved in without a home inspection.”
And thus this story could have been avoided had he hired a Certified Home Inspector, who would have discovered his home had no insulation.
Don’t make the mistake of thinking just because the house is not very old, or seems recently updated to skip on a home inspection. Unknowns may be hiding in plain sight in the attic, crawl space, electrical panel or on the roof.
Read the original article here:
http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2015/08/19/legal-battle-pushing-vaughan-homeowner-into-poverty.html