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Home inspection
Home Inspection in Severna Park, MD
Whether the house sits on Round Bay's shoreline or an inland Severna Park street, the inspector documents every system from the roof to the crawlspace before you commit.
Read client reviews Licensed and insured inspectors Serving Severna Park and all of Anne Arundel County
What we check in a Severna Park home
The inspection follows the same 12 areas, from the roof down to the grounds, within the agreed scope and safe access available. It is visual and non-invasive: finishes are not removed, and personal belongings are not moved. Select an area to see what is checked.
- Range, oven and wall oven run normally
- Dishwasher, disposer and microwave run
- Kitchen exhaust fan and the dryer vent exit
- Service entrance, meter and main disconnect
- Panels, breakers, grounding and bonding
- Sampled outlets and switches; GFCI, AFCI, smoke and CO detectors
- Siding, flashing, trim, eaves, soffits and fascia
- Every exterior door and a sample of windows
- Walkways, driveway, stoops, porches, decks and railings
- Foundation walls, slabs and the basement
- Any accessible crawlspace
- Signs of movement, water penetration and wood touching soil
- Vehicle door and opener on their normal controls
- Auto reverse and photo eye safety sensors
- Walls, ceiling, floor and the fire door into the house
- Grading and drainage at the foundation
- Retaining walls and vegetation against the house
- Downspout discharge, walkways, driveway and steps
- Heating and cooling run on their normal controls
- Energy source, method and thermostat location noted
- Visible ducts, filter, condensate drainage and equipment condition
- Floors, walls, ceilings, stairs and railings
- A sample of doors and windows opened and closed
- Accessible attic: insulation depth, ventilation and framing; fireplace and damper
- Sink, faucet, drain and disposer run
- Dishwasher connection checked for leaks
- Cabinets, drawers, counters, floors, walls, ceiling and exhaust fan
- Main water and fuel shut-offs located
- Water heater, its venting and TPR valve; pipe materials
- Every toilet flushed; every sink, tub and shower run
- Coverings, flashing, vents, skylights and chimney
- Gutters, downspouts, eaves and rake
- Roof structure from inside the attic where accessible
- Visible framing, beams, posts and joists
- Masonry walls and the chimney structure
- Settlement signs: cracks, out of square openings, unlevel floors
Every inspection follows a written standard of practice. Need additional testing? Explore radon testing, termite inspection, mold testing and water testing, then confirm your selected services and timing when booking.
Add a package to the inspection
Three packages built around the home inspection. Package prices are for the add-on services only and are added to the inspection price. The savings are against booking the same services one by one.
Home Essentials
The perfect starting point
Home Advantage
Most popular for homebuyers
Home Enhanced
The ultimate peace of mind
Warranties must be requested when you book, not after the inspection. Radon and thermal imaging can also be added on their own. Read more about each package.
What a home inspection actually involves
No jargon, no surprises. Here is the whole visit, start to finish, so you know what you are booking before you book it.
You book, we confirm
Online or by phone, in a few minutes. Your agent can book for you. Add radon, termite or a package at the same time, and we confirm the appointment with you before the visit.
The walk-around
Roof, siding, grading, decks, the garage and the grounds first. The inspector photographs what they find as they go, so the report shows you exactly where each item is.
Systems and accessible spaces
The inspector checks accessible electrical, plumbing, heating and cooling components and operates equipment with normal controls when conditions allow. The report identifies areas that could not be inspected and any recommended follow-up.
The walkthrough and the report
You see the main findings in the house itself. The written report follows online with photos, priorities and what to do about each item.
Round Bay to Ben Oaks
Severna Park grew up along the Severn and the Magothy well before it had a name on a town charter; the Severna Park Museum traces one of its oldest commercial corners to Dawson's Corner, where Baltimore and Annapolis Boulevard meets McKinsey Road. Waterfront lanes and the inland streets around them were built up in different decades, so a house's distance from the water rarely predicts its age.
Docks, bulkheads and low floors
A house on Round Bay or Linstead on the Severn often sits close enough to the water that the first floor's height above it matters as much as its square footage. The inspection reads the grading and surface drainage around the foundation, checks the crawlspace or basement for framing and any sign of past water at the sill, and looks at gutters and downspouts to see where they actually discharge. A dock or bulkhead attached to the house gets a visual look at its connection point, though the dock structure itself falls outside the inspection.
Anne Arundel County's own wet season septic testing program notes that the water table typically peaks in February, March and April, the same months a low-lying Severn shoreline crawlspace is most likely to show dampness first.
Additions on larger renovated lots
Chartwell and Ben Oaks hold larger houses that have often been renovated more than once, so the inspection separates original construction from later work. That means tracing which framing and electrical runs are original, whether a finished basement was added after the house was built, and how a rear addition ties into the existing roofline. Attic access gets opened to check insulation depth and ventilation, and accessible doors and a representative number of windows in the renovated space are operated like the rest of the house.
Anne Arundel County runs the Land Use Navigator, a free online search covering both permit and licensing records for any address in the county, Severna Park included, with no account required.
Home inspections around Severna Park
Severna Park sits in Anne Arundel County, and the same inspectors cover the whole county. Every place below has its own page.
Severna Park home inspection, no fine print
What Severna Park buyers ask before booking a waterfront or inland inspection.
Severna Park is not an incorporated town. Who actually issues my building permit?
Anne Arundel County does. Severna Park is an unincorporated community, so there is no separate town hall or town building department; permit applications, inspections and code enforcement all run through the county. The county's Land Use Navigator lets you search what has already been permitted at a specific address before you buy, which is useful context alongside the inspection itself.
Our Round Bay lot has a steep drop to a bulkhead. Does the inspection cover the seawall?
No. A bulkhead, seawall or dock is a separate structure from the house, and it falls outside a home inspection. What the inspector does cover is the ground between the house and that drop: grading, surface drainage, and whether a retaining wall closer to the foundation itself shows movement. If the bulkhead's condition matters to you, a marine contractor or engineer can evaluate it separately.
Our Chartwell house had its basement finished years after it was built. Anything to flag?
Tell us when the finishing happened if you know it, since that helps frame what the inspector is looking at. The inspection still covers the finished basement the same way it covers any room: framing behind accessible finishes where visible, the electrical circuits serving it, and how it drains. What it cannot do is see behind closed-up walls, so a renovation's quality is judged by what is accessible, not by assumption.
Does a shared community beach or trail easement near our lot affect the inspection?
Not the inspection of the house itself. Community beach access, a trail easement or a shared pier are governed by whatever covenant or association applies to that section of Severna Park, separate from what a home inspector evaluates. Tell your agent about any shared-access agreement so it is accounted for in the transaction; the inspection stays focused on the structure, systems and grounds of the house you are buying.
Should a waterfront Severna Park home get radon testing along with the inspection?
It can be added either way. A home near the water is not automatically lower or higher risk for radon than one a mile inland, so proximity to the Severn is not a reason to skip it or add it. Radon testing runs as its own add-on alongside the inspection, with its own equipment and its own result, so it does not change what the standard inspection covers. Ask about adding it when you book if you want both done in one visit.
Explore Our Inspection Reports
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- Repair, Safety & Maintenance