Home Inspections in Charleston, WV
Our inspections are independent, FREEDOM from sales pressure. Unwavering integrity is our promise.
Buying a home in Charleston—whether it’s a historic brick property in the East End, a mature family home in Kanawha City, or a hillside property in South Hills—requires an inspector who understands legacy building trends and the unique challenges of the Kanawha Valley landscape.
Common property defects in Charleston Area
Foundation & Structural Movement: Properties built on Charleston’s steep terrain are vulnerable to foundation and structural movement. We commonly find bowing foundation walls and other structural movement indicators. You should watch out for settlement cracks at door and window openings, sloped floors, binding or out-of-square doors, and previous repairs. If you do notice these during the showing on a house you are in contract with - consider scheduling a Structural Engineer alongside the Home Inspection. We will report on any observations we find, but the Engineer will determine what, if any, repairs are needed. This gives you the best information to move forward with.
Basement Moisture: With the hillside homes we inspect we often see negative grading where the soil and terrain are sloped towards the house. These are often accompanied by the lack of drainage or aged drainage. This combination will lead moisture into the basement or crawlspace. Our team is trained and ready to identify these risk factors and further identify if moisture intrusion is occurring under the home.
Active Knob-and-Tube Electrical Systems: Many character homes across downtown Charleston and Edgewood have older and outdated wiring/electrical. This can be uncovered visually in some cases where we can see knob and tube. Other times if the ungrounded wiring is concealed, we discover the outlets are not grounded. These would have been the old two prong outlets replaced by modern 3 prong outlets, which creates a hazardous environment without also updating the wiring. Our team is trained and our process is designed to identify these issues.
Exterior Moisture Sources: Charleston has older homes that commonly have aged roof, windows, and siding. These are common points of moisture intrusion we see on the inside. When you attend the inspection, you will notice our inspectors carefully examine every room as we move room to room throughout the home. We are looking for a few things, but the main purpose is to find moisture stains.
Why Freedom Home Inspections?
Modern cloud-based interactive reports, same day delivery, streamlined no nonsense scheduling. Choose FREEDOM from sales pressure and unwavering integrity.
You deserve an honest inspection when you are signing a 30-year mortgage and spending hundreds of thousands of dollars.