This is a concise and comprehensive guide to building defects and building inspection. Whether, as a practitioner, you are employed in buying, selling, managing or maintaining houses or whether, as a layperson, you are buying a property to invest in or live in, this book should help you make sound decisions and, possibly, avoid costly mistakes. House Inspector is a general and accessible book which describes how and why house construction has changed, identifies some of the more common defects, and provides a series of elemental check lists. So, if you are a trainee or general practice surveyor, a maintenance inspector, a housing manager, an estate agent, a planner, or even if you are a private purchaser or investor, this book should improve your knowledge and understanding of potential problems and provide a simple framework for a competent building inspection. *Most chapters include a brief history of the building over the last hundred years to help understand and identify specific construction details, illustrations and explanations of the most common building defects, a simple checklist to help carry out a systematic and thorough inspection.*Photographs and diagrams all in colour*Chapters on all the major construction elements - floors, walls, roofs, heating, drainage etc. as well as on dampness and condensation