How To Test Your New Home For Water Damage

If you are a new home buyer in Grand Island, you know that the process of being in Escrow can be very stressful. There are so many things to consider in your perfect home and many times people forget to think about water damage repairs, especially if it is new construction or a remodel. You might think that previous homeowners did a whole new kitchen restoration because they wanted a change or were planning on boosting the resale value. However, the remodel could be hiding something deeper underneath the surface. If there was water damage in the past that wasn’t dealt with properly or professionally, you might have water damage in your future as well. Yellow Van has listed some of the ways you can test for water damage when you are buying a home below. 

grand island water damage repairRun The Faucets and Toilets

If you are walking through a home and it is winterized, it can be difficult to know if there is water damage because you can’t run the sinks or toilets. However if it is any other season, you can, and should, flush each toilet and run the water from each source in the home for a few minutes. This is a good idea even if you aren’t looking for water damage. If the water comes out a funny color or smells like sulfur, it may not be the house that you’d like to buy. Look under sinks and around the rims of your toilets for drips and seepage.

 

Check For Soft Spots

Soft spots in the kitchen, bathroom, or laundry rooms are a good indication that there has been standing water in that room over time and could mean that the subfloor and surrounding studs are structurally unsound. This is why it is very important to not just look in a room but also walk all around it as well. If you feel any soft spots under your feet or feel any soft spots on the wall, you might want to get those checked out by a water damage repair professional. Even if the structure seems safe, you could have some mold growth on your hands. 

 

Check The Yard

Water damage isn’t always from the interior. Many times the yard can be the culprit of a water damage problem. When you are buying a new home you might not have the option to run the sprinkler system, but you can have an inspector do this. Your inspector will be able to tell you if the sprinkler system is faulty, floods, or if the yard isn’t graded downward away from your home. All of these issues could lead to you having to hoof the bill for a water damage repair issue in the future. 

 

As if there weren’t enough things to think about when you are buying a home, you now need to think about water damage repair. Fortunately, if you have a home in mind, you can always have a professional from Yellow Van in Grand Island check it out and let you know if there is any damage that needs to be repaired.