Buyer, beware of these issues that could be lurking beneath the surface
You’ve found your dream home and are considering putting in an offer. But wait—there’s a whole lot more you should consider beyond what color you’ll paint the bedroom. Is the foundation sound? Has the home previously been infested by termites?
There could be some expensive home repairs waiting for you in your new dream home, so know the signs before you get your heart set on a property.
All professional home inspections start with the foundation for a good reason. The house that sits above it relies on a solid base to support all the wood beams, stone flooring, cabinetry, and roofing that rests on top. You’re in for some major headaches if the foundation starts to fail.
Homeowners often neglect the foundation until it becomes a major financial issue. However, it’s important to keep an eye on things like accumulated moisture flowing around or under your building, obvious surface cracks on the foundation, and out-of-balance sightlines to this critical infrastructure of our homes. Foundation repair can cost anything from $4,000 to $10,000, depending on the severity of the problem.
Typically, a foundation repair contractor can remedy foundation problems without catastrophic consequences for your bottom line, particularly for one-story buildings. Two- and three-story structures can get more difficult and costly to fix fast, so you’ll want to outline any major issues you may need to address before pulling the trigger on your dream home.
However, these issues should be fairly easy to snuff out. Hiring a home inspector also will alleviate any surprises if you’re purchasing an older home. If you’re just interested in keeping up with home maintenance, they’ll be able to brief you on other potential problems like insect infestation before they get out of hand.
The basic design of most houses begins with the cinder block or concrete foundation and transitions to wood framing, which is where problems begin if you have a hungry insect population in your area. Often hidden until the structure starts to sag, these pieces of wood are prime breeding grounds for termites and wood beetles.
A local pest control company can mitigate infestations with measures like bait stations and granular insecticides. However, if the current owners have not kept up with the potential for invasion by these destructive little critters, it can cost quite a bit of money to replace the boards that encircle your building down the line. Treating a home for termites will run between $1,200 to $2,500—or more if the house requires tenting.
While shopping for your dream home, keep an eye out for unusual collections of wood dust, pin-sized holes, and the obvious sightline sag of your linear structure, as any of these issues signal potential termite or insect problems.
Modern building codes for water heaters require a metal pan and drainage to catch water if the container fails at any point in its lifetime. The idea is to have a method of removing the 40 to 60 gallons of water inside the water heater from your house so that it doesn’t cause catastrophic water damage to everything around it if it fails.
Older homes, many of which might have been manufactured well before this piece of regulation went into effect, often don’t have a pan and drain system installed beneath their water heater, setting up the potential for seriously expensive home repairs later.
A quick visual inspection will tell you if you should contact a local general contractor. They can map out a plan to shore up this first line of defense and prevent potential ruin to your hardwood floors or carpeting system. Neither hardwood nor carpet can withstand the soaking of hot water that occurs when a water heater fails, and you’ll have to replace both if a major leak occurs.
If the water heater is on a second floor—or if it fails while you’re away from home—the damage can be that much more severe. For a proper installation, you’ll need to run a drain line from the pan to the exterior of your house. A new hot water heater installation can range anywhere from $550 to $10,000, but you’ll also need to consider any damage the water might cause to your floors.
Roof flashing, the metal seams that protect the side walls or windows that interface with the roofline, is a hard-to-spot failure point that stays hidden until you detect moisture seeping in from the outside. The metal can rust or corrode, and the nails that hold it to the house can break down from moisture and wind. This, in turn, opens up holes around the nailheads, creating a direct channel into your home.
If the roofing is a more modern installation, there’s likely another level of protection beneath the flashing in the form of polymer-modified bitumen. This material provides a robust level of defense against this type of wear.
Hail strikes, often invisible to the untrained eye, are also stealthy roof killers, with punctures creating just enough of a crack in the roofing shingles for moisture intrusion. If there’s unexplained damage to the roof in the middle of a large open section, hail or some other debris is likely the culprit.
A good home inspector will spot water intrusion from a damaged roof immediately. A roof replacement will cost you around $14,000. If you’re dead set on buying the house, you should request a credit from the seller if the home needs a new roof.
Moisture is the leading cause of expensive home repairs. The lurking danger of water does everything from initiating rust to creating the environmental conditions for rot and insects.
Houses are designed to keep the weather outside. If there is a failure point in that system—or if the original specifications weren’t up to the challenge of your area—serious havoc can occur from water damage.
When you’re house-hunting, pay attention to any surprises like a wet basement or stained ceiling, which can be the difference between a moderate repair that most professionals can tackle and one that requires a substantial loan or insurance claim to fix. Water is the enemy of any home, as it costs the average homeowner between $1,213 and $5,168 to repair water damage.
Mold in a home can be a big problem. Not only can a large amount of mold trigger allergic reactions and health issues in humans and animals, but it could also be a sign of bigger water damage in the home. It can be difficult to figure out what type of mold you’re dealing with and in what amounts, so if you’re concerned about the presence of black spores behind a wall or in your potential new home, you could always hire a professional mold inspector separate from your home inspection to get the whole picture.
Mold might be treatable with a simple bleach and water wash if the contaminated area is 10 square feet or less, according to the EPA. Large amounts of mold or black mold, however, can potentially taint your investment and living situation. Don’t hesitate to sound the alarm if you sense there might be mold present in the dream home you’re considering buying.
The average cost to remove mold runs around $2,228, though mold remediation can range from $1,119 to $3,354 (or $10 to $25 per square foot).
