New Home HVAC Inspection in Whitmore Lake, Michigan

If you are under contract on a house in Whitmore Lake and the inspection report came back with "recommend evaluation by a licensed HVAC contractor," that line is the reason this page exists. Temprasure is that contractor for buyers across Washtenaw County. Call or text with the address and the deadline, and we will get out to the Green Oak side north of the lake or anywhere else in 48189, test everything that can be tested, and send you a plain-language report with photos. For a 1920s–60s lake cottages converted to year-round homes, with 1990s–2010s subdivisions behind them house with equipment of unknown age, it is the most useful money you will spend during the contingency period.

Whitmore Lake houses and what that means for pre-purchase inspection

Lakefront homes on East Shore Drive and along Whitmore Lake Road are the defining housing type: 1920s–60s cottages that were raised, expanded and insulated over the years, with furnaces in crawlspaces, half-basements or closets, ductwork routed through whatever chase was available, and water heaters wedged under stairs. Many have had a second floor added onto a frame that was built for one, and the ductwork rarely followed. Behind the lake, the older streets off Main Street hold 1940s–70s ranches and bungalows on crawlspaces, some of which started on fuel oil. The 1990s–2010s subdivisions off Barker, Spencer and Nine Mile Roads are colonials on full poured basements with builder-grade 80 percent furnaces, single-stage condensers and bypass humidifiers nearing replacement. Outlying homes on North Territorial and Six Mile are acreage builds and farmhouses on propane and wells. High water tables around both lakes keep below-grade equipment at risk.

Flips and former rentals in Whitmore Lake are a category we approach carefully. A house in the Green Oak side north of the lake that has been turned over for sale often has a new thermostat, a wiped-down furnace cabinet and a fresh filter in front of equipment that was never serviced, and an air conditioner that was topped off with refrigerant for the showing rather than having its leak found. Our inspection in Whitmore Lake looks past the presentation: serial-number ages, heat exchanger condition, charge by superheat and subcooling rather than a pressure reading, and the Washtenaw County permit record for any equipment the listing calls new. When a 1920s–60s lake cottages converted to year-round homes, with 1990s–2010s subdivisions behind them rental in 48189 has had a decade of deferred maintenance, the report says so plainly, with photos.

We write more service agreements in Whitmore Lake every year because the math is easy to see once a homeowner has lived through one no-heat night. Two visits a year, spring for the air conditioner and fall for the furnace, on equipment in the 1920s–60s lake cottages converted to year-round homes, with 1990s–2010s subdivisions behind them around Main Street downtown and the Whitmore Lake public beach and boat launch that is often fifteen years old. The DTE Energy on most of the Washtenaw side furnaces get a combustion check and a cleaned flame sensor; the condensers near the west shore along Whitmore Lake Road get their capacitors measured and coils washed. Whitmore Lake is about 26 minutes from the shop, and agreement customers go to the front of the line in a heat wave or a cold snap.

Local details we plan around in Whitmore Lake

• Almost all homes are on private wells, and the water around the lakes is hard with iron, so water heaters and humidifiers need regular attention.
• DTE gas serves most of the Northfield side, but some Green Oak addresses are on Consumers Energy and outlying roads on either side run on propane.
• The community sits on the Washtenaw-Livingston line, so some Whitmore Lake addresses are governed by Northfield Township and others by Green Oak Township, and permits go through different offices.
• Whitmore Lake and Horseshoe Lake dominate the local weather for the homes around them: summer humidity is high, morning fog is common from May through October, and basements and crawlspaces near the shoreline rarely dry out. The lakes also moderate the first freezes slightly, but by January the open ice and surrounding fields let northwest wind blow across unbroken. Snow runs a bit heavier here than in Ypsilanti because of the slightly higher ground and the township's position farther from the Huron valley.