Kentwood grew up in the post-war decades and it shows in the housing: a great deal of 1950s through 1970s ranch and tri-level stock, with later subdivisions layered in around it and continued infill since.
Houses of that era are well built and entirely liveable, but they are now old enough that almost nothing in them is original by accident. Furnaces have been replaced, often more than once, and not always sized correctly for a house whose windows and insulation have also changed. Electrical services that were adequate for a 1960s household are frequently carrying a modern load, sometimes through a panel that has been added onto rather than upgraded. Original galvanized supply lines, where they survive, restrict flow long before they leak. We work through all of it and tell you what is original, what has been updated, and what was updated badly.
Basements deserve real attention in Kentwood. Decades of settling, grading that has shifted as landscaping matured, and downspouts that discharge too close to the wall combine to put water where nobody wants it. We look at the evidence rather than the finished surfaces.
Kent County falls in EPA Radon Zone 2, with a predicted average indoor level between 2 and 4 pCi/L, so a radon test is a sensible addition to any Kentwood inspection.
We have conducted over 25 home inspections in Kentwood, Michigan, and here are some of the things we have commonly found.
Roofs: On average, the roofs we inspected in Kentwood were gable roofs with an average remaining life span of ten years. Roughly 80% of the homes inspected in Kentwood had gutters. (Wow!)
Plumbing: In Kentwood, roughly 30% of the homes we inspected had galvanized plumbing. Most water heaters we inspected were about 10 – 12 years old.
Electrical: About 30% of the homes we inspected in Kentwood had at least one or more open ground outlets. Less than 10% of the homes in Kentwood still had knob and tube wiring.
Foundation: Less than 10% of the homes we inspected in Kentwood had structural, foundation, or asbestos concerns.
HVAC: The average furnace we inspected in Kentwood was between 7-10 years old, and roughly 20% of homes we inspected had air conditioning with an average age of 20 years old.
