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Shut-Off Valves Are Described, Not Tested

Two lines in the report are worth more than the rest of it combined, and both of them are locations rather than findings.

The one-paragraph answer

InterNACHI requires an inspector to describe where the main water and fuel shut-offs are. Describing is not operating: the standard does not require them to be turned, so an inspection does not establish whether they actually work.

Source: InterNACHI Home Inspection Standards of Practice.

PresalePipe is a referral service, not a contractor or a home inspector. We connect homeowners and buyers with independent contractors. Contractors are required to hold whatever credential their state or municipality demands. Every state page sets out who licenses plumbers there and where to check, so you can confirm before work begins. We carry out no inspections and no work, we do not set prices, and we never charge homeowners anything — the contractors in our network pay us when we route them a call.

What the standard asks for

InterNACHI requires the inspector to inspect the main water supply shut-off valve and the main fuel supply shut-off valve, and to describe the location of both.

Source: InterNACHI Home Inspection Standards of Practice.

Why the word is describe

Because operating a valve that has sat untouched for thirty years is how you discover it does not close — or does not reopen. An old gate valve can seize, and the packing on one that has not moved in decades can weep once it does.

So the report tells you where it is. Whether it works is a separate question that somebody has to be willing to own.

The test worth doing anyway, with a contractor there

A main valve that will not close is not an emergency until the day it is, and that day is always the day something has burst. Establishing it while a contractor is in the house is the whole point of doing it deliberately.

Write both down

Main water, main fuel. Photograph them. The report will name the locations, and the report will be in a folder somewhere when you need them.

Inspection report in front of you?Read us the plumbing lines and nothing else — we do not want the document. We will route you to a contractor covering your area who can quote the items on it, and you are never charged by us. Inspections are the theme here; calls of every kind are routed.

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