Window inspection as part of a home inspection

A home inspection (bedek bayit) is a thorough, wide-ranging check. It looks at every detail of the home, the space shared with neighbors, and the surroundings, giving buyers a clear picture of a property's condition that they could not easily get any other way.

That matters not only when you buy, but later too if you decide to sell: an objective assessment often turns up issues that lower the property's value, and with sums running into the tens of thousands of shekels or more, that is worth knowing in advance.

Among the many things the engineer and the team check are the windows. Together with the doors, windows are the apartment's openings, and they matter well beyond appearance: sealing, insulation, acoustics, light and air, safety and protection all depend on them.

What a full window inspection covers

• The window must be fully watertight, with a hidden sealing detail behind the visible silicone bead.
• Closing and locking: it should open and close cleanly, without sticking, and hang straight and true.
• Size: the law sets specific window dimensions relative to the size of the room and the apartment as a whole. It covers every type of window, as follows.
• Interior windows: where a room's only window faces another room rather than the outside, its area still has to meet a minimum percentage of the floor area; the standard is stricter for service rooms such as bathrooms, toilets, the laundry room and closets.
• In a kitchen, the top of the window frame must sit at least two meters up.
• The inspection also checks how much of the window actually opens: the clear opening has to meet what the law requires.
• Markings: every window must carry the marking the standard calls for, showing the manufacturer, the model and other relevant details, usually as a sticker on the glass. The marking has to be there, even if it sits somewhere out of sight, and it applies to every window type; safety glazing calls for particular attention.
• Cleaning access: the window has to be installed so that it, and every part of it, can be cleaned easily and safely, without putting whoever cleans it at risk.

The engineer sums up the findings in a single report that serves as documentation for the new owners. Under the Sale (Apartments) Law, that report obliges the contractor to fix the defects within a reasonable time, typically one to two weeks.