5 Home Features to Check Before Buying in Colorado

Check five features before you buy a home in Colorado: the roof (age, hail damage and ventilation), the furnace and air conditioner (age and altitude sizing), the foundation (cracks and drainage on expansive clay), the plumbing and sewer line (material, water heater age and a sewer scope), and the attic insulation. These five produce the largest repair bills on Front Range homes, and every one of them shows up in the inspection period written into the Colorado contract.

Fresh paint and new quartz counters cost the seller $5,000 to $15,000. A new roof, furnace, sewer line or foundation repair costs you $8,000 to $40,000 each. Look past the finishes and check the systems first.

How the Colorado inspection period works

The Colorado Real Estate Commission contract gives you an Inspection Objection Deadline and an Inspection Resolution Deadline, negotiated in the offer. Denver metro buyers set the objection deadline 7 to 10 days after the contract date. Inside that window you order the inspection, read the report, and deliver a written objection asking the seller to repair, credit or reduce the price. If you and the seller do not sign a resolution by the resolution deadline, you terminate and receive the earnest money back.

Colorado does not license home inspectors. Hire one who carries errors-and-omissions insurance and belongs to ASHI or InterNACHI. A general inspection on a 2,000 square foot Denver home costs $400 to $650. Add a sewer scope ($150 to $250) and a radon test ($150 to $250). Our guide to hiring one is Find a Good Home Inspector Before Buying That Denver Home, and the Denver home buyer verification checklist lists every document to pull during the same week.

1. The roof: age, hail and ventilation

The Front Range gets more insured hail claims than any metro in the country, and UV at 5,280 feet bakes shingles 25% harder than at sea level. A three-tab asphalt shingle roof lasts 12 to 18 years here, not the 25 the package says; an architectural shingle lasts 18 to 25; a Class 4 impact-resistant shingle lasts 25 to 30 and cuts the insurance premium 5% to 30%. A standing-seam metal roof lasts 50 years. Replacing an asphalt roof on a 2,000 square foot home costs $12,000 to $22,000 in the Denver metro; metal costs $30,000 to $50,000.

Check these before the objection deadline:

• Age and permit. Ask the seller for the roof installation date and the permit. Denver, Aurora, Arapahoe County and Douglas County all keep roof permits online. A roof older than 15 years with no hail claim on file is a roof the insurer will ask about.
• Hail damage. Look for bruised or bald spots on shingles, dented gutters and downspouts, dented soft metal on vents, and cracked skylights. Hail season runs May to September; a home under contract in July that took a storm last week deserves a second look at the roof.
• Insurance history. Request a CLUE report from the seller. Two hail claims in five years raise your premium or cost you coverage.
• Ventilation. A hot attic cooks shingles from below and traps moisture in winter. Look for intake vents at the soffits and exhaust at the ridge. Homes with metal roof ridge vents move air along the full length of the roof; a roof with only two box vents on 2,000 square feet is under-vented.

Read The Roof Report: What Every Colorado Home Buyer Should Inspect Before Closing for the full checklist.

2. Furnace and air conditioner: age and altitude

A gas furnace in Colorado lasts 15 to 20 years; a central air conditioner lasts 12 to 15. Replacing a furnace costs $4,500 to $8,000; a furnace and AC together cost $9,000 to $16,000; a cold-climate heat pump that does both costs $12,000 to $22,000 before Xcel Energy rebates. Efficient HVAC systems are the largest lever on a Front Range utility bill because heating runs from October to April and cooling runs June through September.

Altitude matters. Gas appliances lose about 4% of output per 1,000 feet, so a furnace installed at sea-level ratings runs 20% short in Denver and 25% short in Castle Rock. Ask the inspector to confirm the furnace was derated for altitude and to check the heat exchanger for cracks, which is the failure that forces replacement. Then check:

• The data plate. The serial number gives the manufacture year. A furnace from before 2008 is in its final years.
• Swamp coolers. Many Denver, Lakewood and Arvada homes built before 1990 cool with an evaporative cooler on the roof. It works on dry days, fails on humid July afternoons, and costs $6,000 to $12,000 to replace with central air. Budget for it.
• Ductwork. Hot or cold rooms at the far end of the house mean undersized returns or leaking ducts. Sealing costs $1,000 to $3,000.
• Combustion air and CO. A furnace in a closed closet with no combustion air is a carbon monoxide risk. Colorado requires a carbon monoxide alarm within 15 feet of every bedroom in any home sold.

3. Foundation and structure on expansive clay

Expansive bentonite clay runs under Denver, Aurora, Centennial, Parker, Castle Rock and Highlands Ranch. It swells when wet and shrinks when dry, and it moves foundations by inches over decades. Foundation repair on a Front Range home runs $8,000 for a few piers to $40,000 or more for a full underpinning. Signs to check:

• Cracks. Hairline vertical cracks in poured concrete are shrinkage and are normal. Horizontal cracks, stair-step cracks in block, and cracks wider than a quarter inch are structural and need a structural engineer ($400 to $700 for a written letter).
• Doors and windows. Doors that stick in one corner of the house and windows that will not latch point to movement.
• Floors. Bring a marble. Slopes of more than 1 inch over 20 feet mean settlement or heave.
• Drainage. Soil should slope away from the house at least 6 inches over the first 10 feet, downspouts should extend 5 feet, and sprinkler heads should sit 5 feet from the wall. Bad drainage is the cause behind most clay-soil movement.
• Basement floors. Heaved basement slabs and cracked floating slabs in Douglas County homes are a clay signature. Look for gaps at the bottom of basement walls and framing.

Read Foundation Red Flags When Buying a Home in Denver before the inspection so you know which cracks matter.

4. Plumbing, water heater and the sewer line

Plumbing problems hide until they flood a finished basement. Check the material, the water heater and the line to the street:

• Supply pipe material. Galvanized steel in pre-1960 Denver bungalows corrodes shut; repiping costs $8,000 to $15,000. Polybutylene (gray plastic, 1978 to 1995) fails at the fittings and some insurers refuse it. Copper and PEX are what you want.
• Lead service lines. Denver Water is replacing lead service lines in Denver homes built before 1951 at no cost to the owner. Ask whether the line at the address has been replaced.
• Water pressure. Run the shower and flush a toilet at the same time. Pressure below 40 psi or above 80 psi needs a regulator ($350 to $600).
• Water heater. A tank water heater lasts 8 to 12 years in Colorado's hard water. Replacement costs $1,800 to $3,000 for a tank and $3,500 to $6,000 for tankless.
• Sewer scope. Order one on every home built before 2000. Clay tile lines in Denver, Englewood, Littleton and Wheat Ridge crack and let in tree roots. A spot repair costs $3,000 to $6,000; a full replacement to the main costs $8,000 to $20,000, more when the line runs under a street.

Look under every sink, behind the toilets and at the ceiling below each bathroom for stains. The warning signs are listed in Hidden Water Damage Warning Signs Colorado Homebuyers Should Check Before Closing.

5. Attic insulation and ventilation

The Denver metro is climate zone 5, and the current code calls for R-49 in the attic, about 14 inches of blown cellulose or 16 inches of fiberglass. Homes built before 1990 have 4 to 8 inches. Topping up an attic costs $1,500 to $3,500 and cuts the winter gas bill 10% to 20%. Check:

• Depth. Look for the insulation depth markers or measure against a truss. Less than 10 inches is a negotiation item.
• Ice dams. Icicles along the eaves in winter or stained ceilings near exterior walls mean heat is escaping into the attic and melting snow from below.
• Airflow. Attic ventilation and insulation work as one system. Soffit intake plus ridge exhaust keeps the attic close to outdoor temperature so shingles last and moisture leaves before it molds the sheathing.
• Bath fans. Confirm each bath fan vents outside, not into the attic. A fan dumping steam into a Front Range attic in January frosts the underside of the roof.

Do you need a radon test?

Yes. Most of the Front Range is EPA Radon Zone 1, and roughly half of Colorado homes test above the 4.0 pCi/L action level. A test costs $150 to $250 during the inspection period. If the result is above 4.0, ask the seller to install a mitigation system ($1,200 to $2,500) as part of the inspection resolution; most Denver-area sellers agree. Details are in Radon and the Denver Home Purchase: What to Know Before Inspection Week.

What repairs and costs look like at a glance

How to use the inspection to negotiate

Put the big items in the objection: roof, furnace, sewer, foundation and radon. Ask for a price reduction or a seller credit at closing rather than a seller-managed repair on anything over $2,000, because you choose the contractor and the quality. Skip the $40 items; a list of 60 small defects gets a no. Your lender must approve any credit, so tell them the amount the same day. The step-by-step is in Making an Offer on a Colorado Home.

On financing, get the pre-approval done before you tour, because the inspection window is too short to start a loan file. Mike Oswald, VP of Mortgage Lending at Rate, NMLS 261003, Equal Housing Lender, issues pre-approvals for Kenna Real Estate Group buyers and prices seller credits and repair escrows into the loan. You are free to use any lender. Start at the Colorado mortgage pre-approval guide and the Colorado home financing guide.

Where to go next

• The Colorado home buyer's guide
• First-time home buyer guide for Colorado
• Top 10 inspection red flags that kill Denver home sales
• Explore homes for sale in Denver
• Littleton area guide
• Meet the Kenna Real Estate Group agents

Talk to the Kenna Real Estate Group

The Kenna Real Estate Group at Keller Williams DTC walks every home with you before you write, orders the inspection, sewer scope and radon test inside the Colorado deadlines, and writes the objection that gets the roof, furnace or sewer line paid for. Call or text 303-955-4220. A live person answers. Not a robot, not a phone tree. Start now and search every home for sale in Colorado.