As Home Inspectors, we are routinely asked “How long until this roof fails?” or “Do we really need to paint these walls, or can it wait a year?”.  The answer to these questions is always, “It depends”.  Home Inspectors wield powerful skills to evaluate an insane number of systems and identify defects.  It’s true, not all hero’s wear capes.  We cannot (yet) however, predict the future.  If we did, we probably would be doing other things for a living.

The ultraviolet rays (UV rays) shorten the lifespan of numerous building components.  This is why routine maintenance and oversight is needed.  It is also why we must replace the materials periodically, to keep our building’s envelope intact.  As a guide, you can find the life expectancy ranges for various materials in our blog called How Long Do Building Materials Last?!  In this article, we discuss the timeframes for common building materials all around the home (and include a list specially developed for Florida).  We all know Florida always requires special treatment, particularly when it comes to embarrassment in the news.

So please use this guide as a resource, and don’t ask us to tell you if the windows will make it through Hurricane Season.  The answer, I will tell you right now, will be “It depends, on if we get a Hurricane”.  If you read our article on the Optimum Bones for your New Construction home, you’ll see a bunch of solid performers in this list as well.

Gauging the lifespan of an appliance is a bit of a moving target.  I grew up using the same refrigerator and washing machine my entire life, but see first hand that the ones I bought with computer chips and crazy features are being replaced in half a dozen years.  Use this as a guideline, but make sure you conduct independent research on the make/model of the device you’re buying:

I hope to not set a trend, but I’m afraid cabinetry and millwork is also a bit tough to predict.  If kept free of moisture, most any of these materials will last the life of the structure.  They don’t, however, all respond as gracefully to incidental and more frequent wetting.

Walls and ceilings will also tend to last the life of the building (when kept free of water).  Adding water into the mix makes this component go south pretty quick.

Countertops get used more frequently than most surfaces within a home.  The constant putting things down, picking them up and sliding them around takes a toll on the surfaces over time.  Most should last the life of the structure, but chipping, breakage and the color no longer being trendy/popular are always pressing risks.

Wood and other material built decks have a wide range of variability due to the means/methods in which they are built.  If they fail to leave 1/8” gap between plank boards, the deck will rot prematurely.  If built properly, these values below are solid estimations:

Modern doors come in several materials that last a very long time.  If kept painted and clean, they have a chance to last the life of the building.  If the gaskets/weatherstripping are not, however, rot should be expected in the doors that face the exterior elements (particularly without an awning).

The electrical wiring, when copper is used, lasts a lifetime.  Sadly, the electrical components that have moving parts, do not.  Overall, the electrical systems tend to have a pretty solid track record for longevity.

Structural floor framing should be expected to last the lifetime of the structure, just keep it dry.

One day, maybe fastener manufacturers will have to put lifespan estimates or warranties on their products.  Until then, you can use this list as a guideline.

Flooring is a category where the decisions you make can certainly dictate how often you are replacing the floors.  Those decisions, obviously, are centric to if you decide to have kids or not.  We love our kids, but acknowledge that they are gross farm animals most of the time.

If you get that New Construction inspected and monitored by Red Flag Home Inspection, you can enjoy this type of longevity expectation:

Believe it or not, people still build Log Homes.  They actually make very solid structures.  I don’t know about you, but I grew up playing with Lincoln Logs, so I get it.  I could live in one, but I can’t shake the feeling that it would always feel like a hunting cabin (even if in the middle of a city).

Garage doors are pretty robust items, but the poor openers are doing all of the work.  It’s no surprise that you’ll be replacing it more often.  I miss Sears, they used to sell/install those things.  Bring it back!

Home Technology is constantly evolving.  Luckily, most has gone wireless.  Running wires for speakers and all of these little gadgets would probably be a deal breaker for most.  Luckily these smart little trinkets make that a non-issue.

* Batteries should be changed at least annually.

You may have read our write-up on items NOT included in a typical home inspection. This category is littered with them (HVAC related).  If you are buying a home and the unit is not new or ancient (meaning you have easy decisions to make), consider hiring a HVAC expert to evaluate.

The most common thing that disrupts and damages insulation is water from a roof leak.  Keep the water out, and the stuff will do it’s job for a VERY long time.

You can tell, we picked some solid materials to build our houses out of.  This stuff lasts!

If you are still happy with those 3” baseboards, then you should be set for many years to come!  Seriously, they look great (don’t replace them).

Keep the wood free of wetting, and they will last a very long time.

Oh man, we have done some weird stuff with plumbing materials.  I know there were good reasons to start using Orangeburg pipe, but someone should have known that gluing together sawdust was going to fail.

This doesn’t pertain to Florida very much, but just in case you are in an area affected by Radon:

I probably should have put this way up top, I realize that most of you here are looking for this (sorry to keep you waiting, or was that intentional? You’ll never know):

So many components lasting a “lifetime”!  If mother nature just knew that!

I’m not a fan of laying mulch.  I like to think I got more than 1 to 2 years out of that effort though.

Pools are great.  Hopefully your home came with one, because adding one nowadays is a fortune and it’s hard to get contractors to call you back.  Some of the ratings above apply, due to the materials used.

I have seen some aluminum windows that look like they should be in a museum.  When they get very old, and actually get used to open/close from time to time, it does not do great things to keep the rain out.  If you have a house older than 2000 with aluminum windows, make sure you are budgeting for new windows.

Summary

A word of caution.  All of these life expectancies vary with usage of the facility/item, the geographic area you are in (and the weather), the installation, the maintenance, and the quality of the materials.  This is meant to be a general guideline, and was derived from the Life Expectancy charts provided by InterNACHI website.

Florida based numbers can be found HERE.