What to Inspect When You're Expecting (to buy a house)

Today I had a 3-hour inspection for my house - which I now feel comfortable calling mine because I know I definitely want it. I was worried that the inspection would tell us that the house was a disaster and I'd have to back out of the sale. But it went very well and I learned a lot about my house, the history of California building codes, etc.

Inspections are daunting because it is the job of the inspector to tell you exactly what is wrong with your house, from the outside in. When I purchased my last condo in Cambridge, I knew what I was getting into because I bought it from my brother. And even then the inspection was terrifying! You leave with a laundry list of things to fix, repair, or just hope they won't explode while you sleep. Walking into this situation I know nothing about the house's history (although I think I can get some juicy gossip out of my neighbor who has lived next door for 40 years). But luckily, there was nothing unexpected or of major concern. And with a good inspector, they will be honest about what is urgent, what is good to address down the line, and what would be good for living in comfort. My inspector was all of these!

There are a lot of cool historical details about my house. There are built-ins in the kitchen and bedroom closets, beautiful glass door knobs, cool architectural details on the ends of the roof (I forget what she called those). The house has redwood siding, which sounds very fancy to me as an East Coaster. There are some areas which need work, but for a 90 year old house, she said it's doing great. I have copper plumbing, my electrical was done properly, and the roof was well constructed and doesn't need to be replaced. Those were my major concerns and there's nothing to be concerned about.

One problem I was glad to hear about was the foundation under the bathroom needs some repair. Which means...bathroom renovation!! I was going to hold off on this until Phase 2 of my home repair, since it wasn't urgent. But all structural repairs get put in Phase 1 so yay! Here's my inspiration:

I love the dramatic color of the clawfoot tub, the hexagonal tile on the floor, and the subway tile on the walls. What a way to start the day showering in this room? Time to start pricing projects out...Closing day seems so far away!