Last night my area got hit real hard with a severe thunder storm. The power went off early and all the kids were out on the sofa staying close to mom and dad when the rumbling and light show got intense. At one point I had a small river flowing under my front door and some water had managed to penetrate one of the front windows. I awoke this morning to find I had three trees down, the trampoline was upside down and some minor damage to the fascia of one of the sheds in the yard. Over all I would say we got off easy considering the areas to the north and south got hit with tornado’s and baseball sized hail.
I was thinking as the storm came up how many other homes were getting hit hard that might not have been as well constructed as mine and how many of those I might have inspected recently. I have never had a complaint about any of my inspections but I often expect to receive a call from an accusing home owner claiming damage due to a storm such as last nights. Of course no home inspector can for tell the future and for see what a 130km an hour horizontal driving rain might do to a home. I have lived in my current home for three years and have never seen the front window leak as it did last night. In fact I don’t plan to do anything about it as I suspect I may not see it leak ever again. Some times it is difficult to know exactly what to say about a problem we encounter as inspectors. On the one hand it is important not to exaggerate an issue and on the other we don’twant the customer to ignore a potential issue that could create real problems in a storm like the one last night. I personally try not to fill my reports with material that works to limit my liability. I guess I rely on common sense to prevail. So far I have not been burnt by this strategy. The last thing I want to do is fill the report with what if statements that preclude me from events like last nights storm. I do see some reports like this and the client ends up asking what they just read because it was so full of legalese and other garbage that the actual important items get overlooked or understated.
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