If your building has Stucco or EIFS exterior siding and it was not installed properly, there is risk of water intrusion and subsequent damage. Damage behind coverings cannot be determined during a visual inspection. Since Building and Home Inspections are strictly visual and non-destructive, a determination of what is behind the siding cannot be made and as such is excluded from the scope of a Standard Home Inspection. Please reference the ASHI Standards of Practices and the Pre-Inspection Agreement for further details in this regard.
Just like when you go to a Doctor for a Physical Examination, the Doctor may recommend that you have additional tests performed to determine your health, etc. Building and Home Inspectors may also recommend to you additional tests such as a Stucco Inspection performed by physically “probing” through the siding of the building to explore what may be going on behind the surface. There is more work required for this type of investigative Inspection. Since the stucco inspector will be drilling holes through the exterior siding (of course he will need to seal the holes shut afterwards with caulk) permission must be obtained from the owner of the building to permit such work.
Of course, you wouldn’t expect someone just to come to your door and start drilling selective holes into your house, would you? The stucco inspector will need to get access to selected areas of the house where the inspector, based on his experience and knowledge and education and may need to use ladders to be able to appropriately “probe” for evidence of damage and/or moisture behind using specialized equipment for this purpose. These locations will then be described in a report which will be issued after the “testing” as you can read from these Articles.
Because there is additional work involved, beyond what can be accomplished by a Standard Home Inspection, of course, there will be an additional fee for this work.
