The above photograph was taken by Mr Inspector, a qualified building inspector in Melbourne (Diploma Building Surveying) who assists home buyers and owners with extremely detailed defects inspection reports, for use either before they purchase a home or for those preparing to sell their homes.

Part of a pre-purchase building inspection in Melbourne involves inspecting the home for Safety Hazards and reporting on each individual hazard and recommending rectification methods. The photograph above was taken during a building inspection in Elwood and depicts a chimney that has been blocked.  This is OK if you know it is blocked but for the unsuspecting home buyers who comes in a lights a fire it could cause excess smoke damage internally or the cover to ignite and cause an external fire.

Some homes have had the chimney’s removed from the ceiling upward but left the fireplace intact – this is a extreme hazard if one does not know about it.  Lighting a fire in this circumstances could easily cause a roof fire and we have seen many fire damaged roof frames during our building inspections in Melbourne.

If you require advice or assistance from a qualified house inspector in Melbourne, please call us and we will be able to assist.