If you're under contract on a Wasatch Front home and the home inspector flagged something structural — or if the house is on a slope, on the bench, or older than 1980 — there are a handful of things specifically worth checking before you close. Some of them are things home inspectors regularly miss. Here's the targeted checklist.
1. Foundation: cracks, but the right kind
Walk the basement (or crawlspace) walls slowly. You're looking for:
- Horizontal cracks running across the wall
- Stair-step cracks at corners
- Visible inward bowing
- Cracks wider than 1/8 inch
- Active water staining or efflorescence
Vertical hairline cracks are usually nothing — see our expansive clay post. The four types above are worth a structural engineer's eye.
2. Floor levelness
Drop a marble in the middle of each main room. Watch which direction it rolls. Differential floor movement is one of the most reliable indicators of foundation distress, and it almost never shows up on a standard home inspection report because the inspector isn't looking for it the same way. Sloping is normal at small scales (a 1/2 inch over 20 feet in an old house is fine). Steep slopes or recent changes are worth a real evaluation.
3. Drainage and grading around the foundation
Walk around the outside of the house. The grade should slope away from the foundation in every direction. Downspouts should discharge at least 6 feet from the foundation, ideally further. Sprinkler heads should not spray the foundation. Window wells should have drainage and not be full of debris.
Most foundation problems on the Wasatch Front are downstream of drainage problems. If the drainage is bad, the foundation is on a clock — even if it looks fine today.
4. Retaining walls (if any)
Bench and hillside lots often have retaining walls. Check:
- Visible cracking or movement
- Lean (use a level on the wall face)
- Drainage at the base of the wall (weep holes, daylight outlets)
- Whether the wall is over 4 feet (and thus required to be engineered)
An unpermitted, unengineered tall retaining wall on the property you're buying is your problem after closing, not the seller's. A pre-close evaluation is worth the few hundred dollars.
5. Decks (especially attached and elevated)
Look at the deck-to-house connection from underneath if you can. Is there visible flashing? Are the bolts/screws corroded? Is the deck pulling away from the house at the top? Is the band joist behind the ledger soft from rot? See our deck winter post for the failure modes.
6. Garage door header (if there's living space above)
If the house has a garage with a wide opening and living space above (a common Utah configuration), look at the header above the garage door. Is there visible deflection? Are there cracks in the wall above? This is one of the common older-construction weaknesses.
7. Roof line
Stand across the street and sight along the ridge of the roof. Is it straight? Sagging ridge lines indicate undersized rafters or load issues that aren't going to fix themselves.
8. Older homes: chimneys
Tall, unreinforced masonry chimneys on pre-1980 homes are a seismic concern. They tend to be the first thing to fall in an earthquake and they often damage the roof on the way down. For Wasatch Front buyers, this is worth knowing about — see our seismic post.
What's worth calling us for
If the house has any of: a sloped lot, a retaining wall over 4 ft, visible foundation cracking that isn't obviously cosmetic, sloping floors, an attached deck with corrosion or questionable connections, or pre-1980 construction with no documented seismic retrofit — a focused structural inspection is worth the $400-$600 it costs. We can usually be on site within 48-72 hours and get you a written report before your inspection contingency expires.