Buying a home is a dream come true for many. However, it can turn into a nightmare if the home isn’t properly inspected before the sale is made, leaving the new owner to foot the bill for costly repairs. One area of a home purchase that warrants thorough inspection is the plumbing. It may not even be the case that the previous homeowners are hiding something. They might be unaware of potential underlying problems.
These problems can even happen with new construction if the work wasn't performed properly.
A good home inspector should be able to detect obvious problems. But they have a limited amount of time to inspect an entire home and simply can't do a detailed inspection and be experts at everything.
Plumbing problems that go undetected can cause major damage and be expensive to fix. To protect your largest investment before purchasing a home, you should hire a professional plumber to perform a plumbing inspection in Springfield Missouri.
Inspecting Your Sewer Service Line
This is one of the more important areas that we recommend examining thoroughly before buying a home. It doesn’t often come up during a traditional home inspection because of the effort involved and it can lead to major issues.
Problems may include tree roots growing into the pipes or the piping breaking down due to age. The only way to know if the sewer line is problematic is to pay for a sewer camera inspection rather than just asking the current owners if they have had any problems with backups and hope they are honest in their response.
Inspecting Your Water Heater
The average life of a water heater is around ten years. If the water heater in your potential new home is getting up there in years, consider speaking to the current homeowners about replacement before you decide to buy. Depending on its location in the home, allowing an older water heater to leak may lead to costly repairs.
Replacing a water heater isn't nearly as expensive as repairing the damage from a water heater that fails and causes a lot of damage.
Inspecting Your Water Supply Pipes
Pipes in older houses tend to be made of lower quality materials than the copper or plastic used in modern homes. If you’re purchasing an older home, you need to take a good hard look at its water lines. Older piping made of cast iron, steel or lead is susceptible to mineral buildup and chlorine corrosion. Before any leaks spring up, consider replacing the pipes with something more modern and trustworthy.
Not only can this lead to a lot of damage if the water pipes burst, but they aren't easy to get to because they are often located behind the walls.
Water Faucets
This one is important because it can be easily mistaken as a problem when it may not be. Check for rust by turning on the water faucets throughout the home. Keep in mind that a little rust in the water is normal if the home hasn’t been in use for a while, but if it has, it might be corrosion inside the pipes.
There is a lot that goes into purchasing a new home, and no doubt you want the process to be as painless as possible. By calling on United Plumbing for a professional plumbing inspection, you can be sure your new home’s plumbing will be in good shape and give you peace of mind.