I drove out to Tolleson to inspect a brand-new home for first-time buyers. Tolleson, near Goodyear in the West Valley, has a lot of builders working side by side. New homes come with a builder warranty, and the best time to use it is before you move in. That is what a new construction inspection is for: finding the items so the builder fixes them, not you.
Garage and water heater
- The 50-gallon gas water heater had a sediment trap, which is good, but the metal shroud at the ceiling had come loose. That shroud closes a fire barrier opening, so it needs to go back up.
- The garage door passed its safety tests and was balanced, but it was loud for a new door, and a small gap at one side suggests the pad was not poured perfectly flat.
- I verified the Ufer ground connection to the rebar.
- The insulation certificate and the termite pre-treatment tags were posted, which you want to see on a new build.
Plumbing: run the water, find the leaks
On a new home I run as much water as I can, because the more water you run, the more problems you find. In the primary bathroom, water was leaking down through the hole for the drain stopper rod. It was a bad faucet, leaking inside the fixture. At the kitchen sink, the cold water supply had never been turned on. Both are easy fixes for the builder, but only if someone finds them.
I also recommend sealing the tile and grout in new showers before you start using them. Unsealed tile soaks up water right away and gets dirty fast.
A gas smell in the laundry room
While testing the heat, I smelled natural gas. I shut the furnace off and went looking. The source was the laundry room: the gas valve for the dryer was left open, with no dryer connected. That is a real safety problem in a brand-new house, and it is exactly the kind of thing nobody notices until move-in day. The smell cleared once it was closed and aired out.
Attic and HVAC
- An unsupported gas line at the furnace ran about 4 feet with nothing holding it. Gas piping needs to be secured so it cannot get bent and start leaking.
- A condensate breather that could drip onto the attic floor if the line backs up. I would rather see it drain into the pan.
- Good news: blown-in cellulose insulation, proper foil vent tape on the dryer duct and a zoned system with temperature sensors in several rooms. All three zones heated properly.
Electrical and small items
- Several outlets were installed upside down with no switch controlling them. Upside-down outlets let the ground prong slip, so they are best left for lamps.
- Kitchen GFCI circuits reset at the panel, not at the outlets. Know where your resets are.
- A screen door that would not latch, a fridge outlet with no power until a breaker was reset and some debris in windows.
- The smoke and carbon monoxide alarms worked. Loudly.
Outside
The backyard had no landscaping yet, so the sooner rock or ground cover goes in, the less erosion you will get in the first monsoon. I also showed the buyers their tracer wire at the plumbing cleanouts. Do not cut that wire. It lets a plumber trace your sewer line from above ground.
New construction inspections across the Valley
We inspect new homes all over the Phoenix area, from Tolleson and Goodyear to Queen Creek, San Tan Valley and right here in Gilbert. See our new construction and pre-drywall inspections, and do not forget the 11-month warranty inspection before your builder warranty runs out. Every home inspection includes a termite (WDO) inspection at no extra charge, plus a 1-year termite warranty through Firehouse Pest Control in Gilbert if no active termites are found.
Buying a home? Book your inspection online or call 623-399-0079.
Property Inspections Plus is a Gilbert, AZ home inspection company led by Certified Master Inspector Dan Pierce. We inspect homes across the East Valley, the Phoenix metro and the rest of Arizona. See all of our service areas.
