by 
My home inspection today started off just like any other inspection of a new home. Arrived 15 minutes early, met the owner and like some nervous nellie’s she followed my every move. Were at the garage when I performed a pressure test on the overhead door opener. This is done by standing at the door and when the door gets to about my wrist I give it some resistance. Sometimes the opener will quickly reverse other times it take a bit more resistance. How much more resistance to give it before quitting is a function of good judgment. Ever get that feeling of “something’s wrong” Yeh, that’s right, something just didn’t feel right just before it reversed. With nervous nellie standing there I didn’t want to examine the door just yet.
Anyway, on with the inspection of the exterior, the metal paneled garage door down. I notice that there’s a damaged top panel at the garage door and point it out to the owner who says “that was never there before” and gives me a look. I couldn’t say that it wasn’t there before as the garage door was up when I arrived.
Now its time to start taking a good look at the door. I notice that the door has windows at the upper panel; gazing at the rest of the neiborhoods garage doors I see that no one else has this type of panel. The owner admitted that she installed them herself to let in more light. The attachment point of the opener was where the damage was and you could not help but notice the small amount of metal it was attached to after her modification.
Now I can’t say for sure if I damaged the door with the pressure test or if the door had already been damaged when I arrived and the test just confirmed or made worse the damage. This could explain the “something’s wrong” feeling during the pressure test. I do know that I’m going to closely look over any door with a row of windows in the top panel and I’m sure as heck going to start my inspection with the door down from the exterior.
Copyright © 2005 by Bob Kille. To read other home inspection related articles or to view home inspection software and book publications by Mr. Kille, click on this link. www.inspectorsuccess.com