What is a 4-Point Inspection?
Almost 50% of all home electrical fires are due to hazardous wiring conditions. That equates to almost $500 million dollars each year!
In the fallout of Hurricane Irma, and more recently Hurricane Ian, more and more people are seeing their homeowners insurance premiums skyrocket. Even worse, as insurance carriers are leaving the state, homeowners are getting dropped from their policies and are left scrambling to find a company that will cover insure their home at a reasonable rate. Commonly, their insurance agent will request an updated 4-Point inspection report that they will use to determine what discounts you may be eligible for in order to secure the cheapest rate.
In short, a 4-Point inspection is a general assessment of your home looking for any major hazards in a homes 4 major systems: Electrical, Plumbing, HVAC, and the Roof Covering. Depending on what Florida Building Code your home was built under, there could be any combination of construction methods used that could determine what discounted rates you are eligible for, if any.
I’ll cover the major home systems a licensed inspector will look at during their inspection, and why:
Electrical:
Although it is very uncommon to see homes in Southwest Florida wired with aluminum, it is still possible if your home is older than 50 years. What is more common are the hazardous conditions that are generally seen when electrical work is completed by a unlicensed professional. Double taps are probably the most common hazards, and are typically seen when there is no longer additional space on the bus bar for another breaker. Instead, what discount electricians and unlicensed handypeople will do is tap a second circuit into a breaker that is only intended for a single ‘conductor’ or wire. Although remediation can be as simple as having a qualified electrician replace, add, or modify the existing breakers, having two conductors present in a breaker made for a single conductor can create a small electrical arc that can damage the breaker, leaving your home at risk of an electrical fire should the damaged breaker fail to work as designed.
Other common issues are having oversized breakers or having a hazardous model of electrical panel. Oversized breakers are a result of the wire size being a smaller gauge than designed for a specific breaker amperage which can allow the wire to overheat and potentially create a flame. Hazardous panels are load centers that are well documented to have issues with their proprietary breakers failing, sliding off the bus bars, or just having a weak connection, which any of these can lead to conditions that may lead to a fire, electrocution, or even death.
Always have your electrical system reviewed by a qualified electrician if you suspect electrical issues in your home.
Plumbing:
Corrosion, scaling, active leaks, and hazardous piping are a major portion of what an inspector will be looking at when evaluating your home. Your inspector will be documenting the age, material, and condition of your existing plumbing system in your report, and will be required to note any areas that are at risk of causing water damage to your home.
Besides corroded piping and fixtures around the home, another common issue present in homes especially in East Naples going down to Marco Island is the presence of Polybutylene piping. Polybutylene or ‘PB’ is a form of flexible waterline that was popular in new homes built in Collier and Lee County up until the mid 1990’s, with some contractors continuing to install the piping in unlicensed residential projects into the early 2000’s. Identifiable by its trademark gray color, this piping was found to react poorly to the chlorine added to city water supply and over time the chlorine would react with the pipes to become brittle and would frequently break open- destroying walls, flooring, and sometimes entirely flooding homes.
Water heaters are another primary focus of the plumbing portion of the inspection, and the inspector will be making sure the appliance is free of leaks, corrosion, and other physical damage. In Southwest Florida, you can generally expect to get 12-14 years out of a standard 80 gallon dual-element electric water heater. That isn’t to say your water heater can’t function for longer, but typically the internal components of this type of home water heating system can be worn out by the constant expansion and contraction of the heating process. You could have a plumber maintain and replace parts in your water heater to maximize its lifespan, however most licensed plumbers will not warrant work done on water heaters over a certain age and will recommend they be updated to a more efficient unit should any repairs be necessary.
HVAC:
If you have lived in Florida for any amount of time, odds are you have experienced a failed air conditioning system. For renters, this can mean an aggravating process of going back and forth between property management and contractors. For homeowners, this could mean a repair bill of hundreds of dollars due to water damage of an overflowing condensate pan, to even thousands of dollars should an air handler or condenser need to be replaced.
Your inspector will be checking the system for any physical damage, rusted pans, leaking condensate lines, system malfunction, or any other concerning areas that a homeowner would want to be made aware of.
Roof Covering:
The Roof Covering portion of a 4-Point inspection is often the most straight forward. At the inspection, your inspector will evaluate the age, physical condition, and expected remaining lifetime of your roof covering. Starting on the exterior, your inspector will take aerial photography of the geometry and covering material of your roof, noting any areas where there might be pooling water, cracked or otherwise damaged tiles/shingles, or damaged ridge caps. From here, the inspector will move on to the interior inspection of the home ensuring there is no staining or otherwise damaged areas to the ceiling and underside of the roof decking, taking extra care to examine areas where there is damage to the exterior roofing material.
