Spring at last! With the turn of the season, you might have a new house (or first home) in your sights, but the very damp autumn/winter in many parts of the country has left plenty of properties looking worse for wear. 

With wet, gloomy weather, exterior maintenance often slips – but in property inspection land, this is great! It gives your property inspector the perfect chance to suss out any problems or red flags that might not have been as visible in sunny, dry weather. And when it’s all documented in a comprehensive report, you’ll have in your hands a heads-up about future costs and repairs.

Here are some of the things your property inspector will be checking:

How’s the roof?

Lichen and moss can build up on roofs over time, and if left unchecked, they can cause damage. Winter is also the time any leaks are likely to become obvious, so your property inspector will be on the lookout for visible damage, signs of leakage, breakage, rust and corrosion. Read more about roofs here.

Are gutters and downpipes flowing?

How have the gutters fared over winter? Gutters and downpipes are perfect gathering places for windblown debris, leaves from overhanging trees, and gunk. Chances are, they’ll be overflowing, slimy, growing a bit of grass, and needing to be cleaned out. Are they still structurally sound, and draining, or are they a clogged-up disaster? 

When it comes to buying a home, you’ll want to be sure that no water will get backed up, blocked, or overflow, which can lead to water damage to the structure. While gutters can be fixed, it’s a potential repair you’ll want to know about. Find out more about gutters in our blog.

What’s the condition of the cladding?

Your property inspector will pay close attention to what’s on the exterior of the house and how it’s holding up. Cladding is expected to perform as a weathertight material to keep structures insulated and dry. But nearly every type of cladding is likely to degrade someday, especially if it hasn’t been maintained well. The siding, brickwork, weatherboards, and especially plaster cladding can be damaged by harsh winter weather. Your property inspector will be looking for cracks, holes, anything loose, as well as moss, lichen and mould that might have built up. It’s especially important to get rid of this, as it holds and absorbs water. If there are any issues, it’s best to address them and repair them as soon as possible to prevent further damage. Want to know more about cladding?

How is the section looking?

With floods fresh in people’s minds, it’s always good to scan the section to get the lay of the land. Where is the house situated, and what sort of section is it on? Is it elevated, on the high side of the street, or down the bottom of the hill, a long driveway, or in a dip in the road? Is the backyard looking swampy, and are there obvious places where water can pool? Or is it high and dry with good drainage? If it’s prone to water ingress or potential damage it can be a very expensive problem to fix, so do your homework and get the experts to check it out.

Image credit: Unsplash

Say no to mould

End-of-winter mould can be a big issue for many homes, and while the presence of it in bathrooms, basements and other areas isn’t necessarily a disaster, it can be a sign of poor or no insulation, bad ventilation, water leaks and moisture. Mould is not something you’d want to live with – and it’s something you’ll want on your checklist.

Get peace of mind

Getting a property report at the end of winter is actually a great idea. Knowing the condition of your potential new home is hugely important before taking your purchase any further – and it’s usually a small price to pay to ensure that you’re getting something you can live with, and in! Get in touch to get the property inspection process started – Email: dane@thepropertyinspectors.co.nz  or call: 027 2939 808.

Image credit: Pexels

If you’re in the market for a new home or thinking about moving from a rental to owner-occupied, you’re likely to be familiar with the Healthy Homes Standards. These were brought in to ensure a better standard of dwelling for tenants and focus on key areas like adequate insulation, heating, ventilation and draught proofing. 

But, healthy homes aren’t just for renters! Wouldn’t it be great if you applied the same requirements and principles across the property you’re looking at purchasing? Does your potential purchase come up to scratch? Is it warm, dry, and properly insulated? What, if any, is the heating source? Is there adequate ventilation and are the drains working?  

When you get a property report back from us, we’ll let you know if your dwelling is ‘compliant’ so there are no (expensive) surprises when you move in! 

Insulation – the money saver

Let’s start at the top with insulation. It’s such an important factor in any building that we wrote a whole blog about it. Good insulation acts like a blanket to keep your home warm in winter and cooler in summer. But if it’s not up to scratch, or non-existent, you’ll soon find out with chilly floors, cold rooms and often, condensation, mould, and damp issues. An uninsulated or barely insulated house will also suffer from poor thermal performance, with heating costs and power bills soaring as a result. So, it’s important for any property inspection to include this in the report.

The heat is on – or is it?

Next, what’s your source of heating going to be? When winter hits, you’ll wish you had planned ahead for this one. When you visited the open home, you might have been delighted to see a heat pump installed… but we’ll be checking to see if it’s heating the whole place or just a part of it. Is the heat (or cooling) going to the right places or simply blowing air into the corner of the lounge while leaving the bedrooms freezing? If not a heat pump, what other, if any sources of heating are there? After all, you’ll want to know how expensive it’ll be to keep your home warm.

Sealing the deal

Ventilation and draughts are another biggie that can make the difference between a cosy home and a cold home. Mechanical ventilation systems like DVS can help in this regard, but so can opening windows for fresh air flow. The issue is when windows and doors don’t close in the frames properly or have degraded seals which leach cold air into your indoor spaces – brrr. Another plus of well-sealed windows and doors is noise reduction from noisy neighbours, roads, etc. With a pre-purchase building inspection, you’ll know what you’re getting into.

Image credit: Pexels

Book peace of mind 

With the variety and age of housing stock in New Zealand, unless you’re buying brand new, you’ll almost never meet all the ‘requirements’ set out in the Healthy Homes Standards. But a comprehensive pre-purchase inspection is a great place to flag any future areas to upgrade or prioritise. When it comes to opting for the best ‘healthy home’ you can, you’re worth it – and your family’s worth it. It just pays to do the leg work first! Give our friendly team a call on 027 2939 808 and book a report for real peace of mind.

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Prospective homeowners might have a new concern to factor into the search for their next purchase – the risk of flooding and whether a property has been flooded before. With that in mind, knowing where to find that information, along with a comprehensive property inspection, will equip you with the facts before you buy.

Read on to find out how to determine if a property has flooded or might be at risk of flooding in the next climate event.

Check the council files for property information

A property’s LIM report is a good place to start. In it, you can see if the house has been identified by council as being at risk to natural hazards, including flood.

A flood hazard means flood water will pool in low points, or water could be fast moving down a slope. If you are Auckland-based, the council has a Hazard Viewer – click on the ‘flooding’ tab to see if there is a flood hazard on, or near your property. Core Logic has an NZ floodmap for a full picture of the flood risks nationwide.

Things to look for at the property

1. The lay of the land

When you’re visiting the property take time to assess the lay of the land. Where is the house situated? Is it down in a valley or is it on a hill? Does it have a long driveway that runs down towards it? If yes, could this act as a path to funnel lots of water towards the property? 

2. What’s around the property?

If there are neighbours, where are their houses in proximity to yours? Are their houses sitting above you and does yours end in a natural valley or low-point? Remember their stormwater, services, and run-off have to go somewhere.

3. What kind of foundations does it have?

Different eras of homes bring a variety of foundation construction. Is it a concrete slab or is it sitting on piles? – because each will operate differently during a flood event. Houses on piles are generally preferable in flood-prone areas because you’re higher off the ground. Plus it’s usually easier for your property inspector to access the space to look for any pooling of water, damp or damage. Tip: We’ve got comprehensive information about types of foundations on our website.

4. How’s the ground level around the house?

When a house is built low to the ground, e.g. on a concrete slab, or with little clearance from the earth, moisture ingress can cause havoc by wicking up into walls, causing damp, mouldy conditions. High moisture levels inside a home can be an indicator that the home is damp, even when water has drained away.

And don’t forget to check the exterior of the home for gardens, lawns or banks of dirt up around the exterior cladding  – basically, anything up against the house that could become more saturated in heavy rain and hold moisture.

5. Check the groundwater controls

While most homes will have drainage such as stormwater and strip drains, they only work when they are clean and clear. Check for silt, leaves and other debris which might block them and stop water getting away from the property. Also note where the drains are in relation to the house – are they at the low points of the section or driveway? Is the driveway shaped to funnel water away from the dwelling or is it a likely gathering point in heavy rain? Does the lowest part of your section bypass the drain so water may pool having nowhere to go (and cause issues) further down?

6. Are the gutters and downpipes up to scratch?

Old, leaky gutters and downpipes might cause rainwater to spill out onto the section, adding to issues with water pooling when it’s teeming down.

7. Suss out the garage and internal walls

Garage floors are often concrete which is a good place to see any staining around the walls where water might have come in. On internal walls, if there’s been flooding or high moisture, there could be signs of mould or damage to carpets and cladding. 

Image credit: Canva

It can be an expensive problem to fix

If a house has been in a flood, damage might have been repaired so it can be hard to work out if a property has suffered water issues and how serious it was. Remediation of issues in a flood- prone property can become very expensive. There are also things owners can do to mitigate future problems, such as changing the fall of a driveway, building retaining walls, adding more surface water controls and drainage – doable but costly! 

With lots at stake around the purchase of any property, it pays to do plenty of due diligence with checking council files, and making sure you get a qualified property inspector on the case! 

Get in touch to discuss a property inspection now – phone your friendly property professional Dane on +64 27 2939 808.