A printable home inspection checklist is the inspector's intake: the list of systems and components the standards of practice say shall be inspected, in the order the house is walked, with room to record what was found. The version on this page follows the ten sections the InterNACHI standard names, from the roof to the doors, windows and interior, and under each it lists the items to inspect, the things to operate, and the readings to take, so a finding is recorded against the system it belongs to while the inspector is standing in front of it rather than reconstructed from photos that night. It prints as a PDF and it is free; Intakez Pro is the same checklist walked on a phone, with the findings counted into the report.
The ten sections, in walking order
Roof: covering, gutters, downspouts, vents, flashing, skylights, chimney and penetrations, structure from the accessible openings. Exterior: cladding, trim, doors, windows, decks, steps, railings, grading and drainage, vegetation against the house. Basement, foundation, crawl space and structure: visible foundation, floor structure, moisture and water penetration, ventilation. Heating: the equipment by normal controls, the distribution, the fuel supply and shut-off. Cooling: the same. Plumbing: the main water and fuel shut-offs, the water heater, supply and drains, every fixture run, every toilet flushed. Electrical: service drop, panel, breakers, wiring method, receptacles and GFCI protection, smoke and carbon monoxide alarms where installed. Fireplace: firebox, damper, hearth and clearances. Attic, insulation and ventilation. Doors, windows and interior. The checklist keeps that order because the report will.
What a printable checklist records, and what it cannot
A checklist records that a component was inspected, operated or tested, and what the inspector observed. It cannot record why a finding matters, which is the narrative the report carries, and it cannot count itself: a paper checklist with forty ticks and six circled defects still has to be turned into a summary that says forty inspected, six deficient, two of them safety items, and the crawl space not entered because of standing water. The free PDF gives you the first half. The intake on a phone gives you the second, because every finding is entered as a deficiency, a safety item or a note against its system, and the summary is the count.
Where the professional version differs from the buyer's
A buyer's checklist is written for the person walking a house before an offer; it lists what to look at and stops there. The professional home inspection checklist is written against a standard of practice: it names what shall be inspected, what shall be operated, what is excluded and what has to be reported when a system is present but not inspected. That last line is the one most often missing from a free checklist found online, and it is the one a complaint turns on. The PDF on this page carries a not-inspected reason line under every section.
From the printed checklist to the report
The order of the checklist is the order of the report, which is why it matters that the checklist follows the standard and not the inspector's habit. When the findings come off the checklist into the report template, each already sits in its section with its photo and its severity, and the summary page counts them. The report template guide on this site sets out those sections; the sample report shows the finished shape; and the home inspection tools worksheet costs the kit the checklist assumes you carry.
Roof and exterior: the items, the method and the reading
Roof covering by type, its condition and the visible wear; the flashing at every penetration, wall junction and valley; gutters and downspouts and where they discharge; vents, skylights and the chimney above the roofline; the roof structure from the accessible attic opening. Beside each, the method: walked, from the eave on the ladder, from the ground with binoculars, or not inspected and why, because the standards let the inspector choose the method and require the report to say which. Outside, the cladding and trim by material, the windows and doors from the exterior, the decks, porches, steps and their railings, the driveway and walks where they affect the house, the grading against the foundation and where the water goes when it rains. The reading on this page is the one moisture meter figure most exterior sections carry: the base of the cladding at the worst-looking corner.
Structure, heating, cooling and plumbing: what is operated
The visible foundation, floor structure and framing from the basement or crawl space, with the moisture reading at any stain and the standing water or the reason for not entering recorded. The heating equipment operated by its normal controls in the season it can be, the distribution followed to a register, and a supply temperature read; the cooling equipment the same, with the temperature split across the coil written down. The plumbing walked from the main shut-off to the last fixture: the water heater by type, its venting and its relief valve discharge, every faucet run, every toilet flushed, every drain watched for flow, the visible supply and waste lines by material, and the fuel shut-off located. A checklist line that says operate rather than inspect is the line that makes two inspectors' reports comparable.
Electrical, fireplace, attic and interior: the tests with an instrument
The service drop and entrance, the panel with its cover off where it is safe to remove and the voltage tester says so, the breakers and their labelling, the wiring method and the grounding, and a sample of receptacles in each room tested for polarity and ground and the GFCI protection tripped where the standard expects it: kitchens, bathrooms, garages, exteriors, unfinished basements. Smoke and carbon monoxide alarms noted where installed, and their absence noted where they would be expected. The fireplace's firebox, damper and hearth, and the clearance to combustibles. The attic's insulation depth, ventilation and any evidence of moisture, from the hatch. Inside, every door and window operated, the stairs and railings, the walls, ceilings and floors for the signs of what the outside sections predicted.
The not-inspected reason line, and the three reasons it is used most
Under every section the printable checklist carries one line the buyer's version never does: present but not inspected, because. In practice three reasons fill it. Access: a locked room, a crawl space with standing water, an attic hatch painted shut, a panel cover that would not come off safely. Conditions: snow or ice on the roof, a system shut down for the season, a pool covered. Occupancy: stored belongings against the walls, a tenant's furniture over the floor, a pet in the room. Each is legitimate and each has to be written down at the time, because the standards require the report to state it and because the buyer's question, eight months on, is never about what was inspected. The count of sections where the line was used is one of the four figures the report's summary opens with.
Questions people ask about printable home inspection checklist
Is the printable home inspection checklist free?
Yes. It prints from this page as a PDF without an account. Intakez Pro is the same checklist walked on a phone with the findings counted into the report, and it is the subscription, not the checklist, that costs money.
Which standard does the checklist follow?
The ten sections of the InterNACHI Home Inspection Standards of Practice, in that order, read alongside the ASHI Standard of Practice for what the report must then state. Where a state has its own required form, Texas for instance, the state's form governs the report and the checklist is walked to feed it.
Can I add my own items to the checklist?
On paper, in the margin; in Intakez Pro, as your own lines under any section, saved so they appear on the next house too. Nothing in the standard stops an inspector inspecting more than it requires; it stops them reporting less.
How many items are on the checklist?
It depends on the house, which is the honest answer and the reason the summary counts items inspected rather than assuming a number. A modest single-storey house with one heating system and one bathroom walks to roughly a hundred and thirty lines; a two-storey with two systems, three bathrooms, a fireplace and a detached garage passes two hundred. The checklist on this page prints the full list and the inspector marks what the house has.