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Plumbing Inspection in Lopez Island, WA
Lopez Island turns over at about the national middle: 16% of its owner households arrived in 2018 or later. Common enough that most people know somebody who has had a report, rare enough that few have read the exclusions in one.
The one-paragraph answer
16% of owners in Lopez Island bought in 2018 or later, an ordinary rate. Ordinary is where the usual mistake happens, which is assuming the inspection covered the plumbing: the buried lateral is excluded by both published standards.
Source: US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates, table B25038.
When Lopez Island moved in
Enough houses change hands here for inspections to be routine, which tends to make people incurious about them. The scope is where the surprises are, and it is published rather than hidden.
| Owner households in Lopez Island | Share of all owners |
|---|---|
| Moved in 2021 or later | 2% |
| Moved in 2018–2020 | 15% |
| Moved in 2010–2017 | 27% |
| Moved in before 2010 | 57% |
Source: US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates, table B25038 (tenure by year householder moved into unit), 2023 release. Universe: 1,464 occupied housing units, of which 1,158 are owner-occupied. This counts when the CURRENT occupant moved in, so it measures recent moves as a share of the housing stock — not a rate of sales per year.
What the inspection will not cover
Water conditioning systems are excluded by ASHI outright, along with lawn irrigation, fire suppression and clothes washer connections. None of that is an inspector cutting corners; it is the published boundary of the service.
Source: InterNACHI Home Inspection Standards of Practice; ASHI Standard of Practice.
What it is required to cover
Both standards cover the interior drain, waste and vent system, and ASHI asks for the predominant material of the service, distribution and DWV pipes to be described. A report naming one material is describing the majority of the house, not every run in it.
The covered list in full. Most people read the exclusions and stop; the two only mean anything against each other.
What to do about it
If you are selling, establish it before somebody else does. The same finding is worth more to a buyer who discovered it than to one who was told.
Before you accept a report, read what it did not have to cover against what it did. Then decide whether the drains outside need their own visit.
Other Washington towns we route in
- Duvall 23% of owners moved in since 2018
- North Bend 29% of owners moved in since 2018
- Mukilteo 21% of owners moved in since 2018
- Coupeville 30% of owners moved in since 2018
- Olga 10% of owners moved in since 2018
Checking a plumber in Washington
Checking a credential in Washington
Washington licenses are issued by the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries, which publishes a public search you can use before work begins.
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. We take Lopez Island requests that never appeared on any inspection.
Call (888) 764-3501