Being a new home buyer is an exciting time and a big life change. People put so much time, effort and money into acquiring a new home, but sometimes get carried away and forget to be thorough in home inspection. In all this excitement, we need to stop and ask ourselves important questions about the house — particularly, “Is my new home a safe environment?” Upon an initial glance, the house may seem like a healthy and safe environment, but you need to dig deeper to determine the environmental quality of your new home.
We recommend looking into five important areas to ensure your home is safe:
- Indoor Air Environment – any strange odors whether it’s musty smell, oil or gasoline smell, no matter how faint, could be signs of an air quality issue.
- Indoor Biologicals – molds and bacteria viruses love damp environments. Look for dark patches on wood or pick yellowish off-colors on foundations or a musty smell. Any of these signs indicate a biological issue that needs to be addressed.
- Water Management – as a home buyer, you want to ensure your primary investment stays high and dry. Look for obvious clues like what shape are the gutters in. This is the first thing you should be looking at and is often the easiest thing to correct. How they discharge from the house is one of the primary points of water intrusion into the basement.
- Natural Resources – while we all love nature, having a wetland in our backyard may not be the type of nature we are thinking about. A quick look around the property for drainage swells, creek beds, wetland areas and the like could be signs of future environmental issues.
- Historic Problem Areas – look for old sump pump chambers, french drains, replaced walls or sheet rock, that can easily be discovered by asking a few simple questions with the owners of the property. For instance, if we see a white paint on only one wall in a basement, there is obviously a water issue that is trying to be corrected.
It’s good to know about these home inspection tips before you make your final buying decision. These issues are usually pretty visible.
If you need a complete environmental assessment from a source you can trust, give GreenWorks Environmental a call at 732-223-2073.
Got Moisture, Odor and Mold Issues?
Thank you for talking about how dark patches on wood could mean that you have mold growing in your house. It is important to remember that taking the time to properly inspect your home can help you avoid health issues or structural damages. Personally, I would want to make sure I hire a professional who can help me with this and who can provide the right tools to properly remove any mold found in my living quarters.
This is some really good information about home inspections. It is good to know that it would be smart to check places like french doors and around the sump pump for signs of mold. That is good for me to know because I am looking into buying an older house.
Having an inspection done on a home I think is very important. That way, you can be sure that there aren’t any hidden things lurking about. As you said, it would be a good way to see if there are any signs of mold or bacteria.