Why Roof Void Problem Arise in Your House?

Roof void issue is the first problem that comes in smart investors’ minds. This is basically found in aged houses at space under the roof structure and above the ceiling joists on the uppermost room portion. Therefore, getting a pre-purchase building inspection report becomes an essential requirement for every investor. This gives him a clue to the investor and current owner for serious roof issues and how much cost he needs to bear on repairing or maintaining.

Reasons for Roof Void

• Rafter Damage
• Past Fire Damage Issue
• Poor Attic Insulation
• Water Damage
• Chimney Access
• Wildlife Damage
• Ensuring Access

Rafter Damage

Normally, this defect will not be visible, but it is found in structural members of the roof. You will see the outer layer of the roof to be sound and secure, whereas the inner part gets completely damaged with broken trusses or rafters. Only the inspection team can guide you for such major looses and in the future, such can cause a blunder in your house. On the other side, if everything is fine, you get peace of mind that your house is up to code. And you will get good worth when selling.

Past Fire Damage Issue

If the house beam seems to be of any unnatural shade means the house meets with fire in the past. The house owner, in order to escape burned wood, painted the roof. Some times, you will see white painted wood, it is a clear symbol that painting is done with a motive to eliminate the smell. So, only the house inspection team can detect behind the scene defects in the property.

Poor Attic Insulation

Proper attic insulation is essential to cut down heating costs in winter and cooling expenses in summer. But some builders do not pay adequate attention and use the wrong techniques of insulation. That results in high maintaining costs. Therefore, it is essential to check the R-value of insulation. Higher the value the better for house safety. This defect is only found under expert’s guidance. And a pre-purchase property inspection in Sydney team is specialized for finding such issues.

Water Damage

Generally, water flows from top to down. This water hardly enters into home sideways. But sometimes, leakage through the roof is the biggest factor for roof damage. Leakage around the pipes can cause wood to rot. There is another case of leakage, yes check out whether the furnaces are located in the roof space. Because rusting around the metal can also deteriorate the wood shelf life.

Chimney Access

The chimney is an important part of the house. If something feels wrong on, of course, one can check the internal parts of the chimney. But, there could be a defective structure of a chimney that can deteriorate the wood. Inspector checks all the weak areas of the chimney and other surrounding areas. Due to walls, you will see no other sign of fireplace inside the home.

Wildlife Damage

Wildlife damage are the major issue that arises due to raccoons, squirrels, possums, and rodents, etc. These inspect enter into roof and damage the internal parts of wood with tiny poop pellets. This is a high damage cost and can be treated with replacement of the roof. As a result, you need to bear a considerable high cost. Let’s take an example of squirrels that chew insulation around the pipes and gnaw Romex plastic coatings to damage electric wires. These inspect can also lead to serious health hazards by increases the chances of miss happening at home.

Bottom Line

Even today, not all home sellers and buyers are aware of a pre-purchase inspection of the property. They are not ready to pay a small portion of income to inspection companies. Therefore, leads to high payment to repairing person. Keep in mind, inspection report not only assists you to maintain a house but also helps you in negotiation deals. Even a seller after showing a building inspection report you can get on high property value.

Building Inspection Equipment's: A Significant Part of Property Inspection

Today, building inspection in many countries become an essential part of buying and selling a property. It helps in negotiation and guides your weak areas at home. Even many many property owners choose to inspect their property for various reasons. If you too plan to inspect the property and want to meet property standard, it will great to hire a professional that can generate a building inspection report.

Like hiring an expert is important, the same way knowledge of essential tools is also important for owners. This will help them to know whether the inspection is authentic or not. Knowledge of equipment will also assist in checking equipment usage in the right direction. So, this write-up is framed for the assistance that guides various inspection equipment with their usage.

Mobile Equipment

• Flashlight

Flashlight assists in getting pictures in dark. Therefore, make sure the property inspector must come with an LED flashlight with adjustable brightness. Ensuring backup battery will make the inspection process smoother. If the inspector will have a small pocket size flashlight, it will help him to look into tiny holes.

• Ladder

Ladder ensure the inspector to reach places where it is hard to go by normal height. Therefore, check your inspector must visit either by Telescoping or Articulating Ladder. Both are scratch-free and do not harm the floor with scratches.

• Tool Belt and/or Vest

It is hard to carry each tool in hands. Therefore tool belt assists in handling tools properly. They do not need to visit the tool kit bag for every item. This will save the inspector’s and your time during the inspection.

Electrical Testers

• AFCI/GFCI Tester

GFCI Tester helps to detect ground-fault circuit interrupter outlets. If you want to inspect the new building then this device may not be important. But, if the inspector has it will ensure you inspect any outlet especially between 120-volt and 240.

• Voltage/Current Indicator

This tool is used to check the accuracy of electrical current flowing through wires or devices. Basically, depending on home or commercial use the level of voltage indicator varies. For example, if it varies between 20-volt to 90-volt means a low voltage supply. Whereas above 1000 refers to the high voltage supply.

Moisture Meters and Thermometers

• Infrared (IR) Thermometer or Camera

Infrared camera and thermometer are used to detect moisture in those areas which are not visible with naked eyes. Inspector uses a drone or helicopter to take pictures of the top house view and find the moist area. This helps the owners to take adequate action on a particular area rather than repairing a complete roof. On the same side, the inspector also takes pictures of the internal house view for moisture detection.

• Moisture Meters

The most common weakness or IR camera is that they can tell you about moisture, but it is really hard to detect level with the camera. Therefore, moisture meter comes in the way to check moisture levels. You can take relevant action against high moisture levels and protect your house from damage.

Moisture meters come in two forms pin style and pinless. In pin-style meter, you need to insert a pin into the wood to check the moisture level. Whereas in the second case, there is no need for inserting. It works by scanning and guides you for larger moisture levels are. Check what your property inspector brings at your place.

Some other tools

Your pre-purchase building inspection does not end here with these major tools. There are some more required to support the property inspection process. Here we have a list of them:

• Water pressure gauge
• Tape measure
• Pen knife
• Level
• Compass
• Toolkit to unscrew anything
• Smoke pen
• Telescoping magnet to pick up anything small that dropped 
• Simple toolkit to unscrew anything

How Does Thermal Image Inspection Detect Property Damages?

Thermal inspection is a modern way of property analysis by installing cameras in drone or helicopter. These cameras click the pictures and provide a deep analysis of the property condition from all angles. A detail report about mold growth, especially in high moisture areas helps the owner for taking adequate action on time. Some smart investors also conduct pre-purchase building inspection in Sydney with thermal image inspection to get the best worth of their investment. Let’s know what are the major areas covered under thermal inspection and how they help to protect property damage.

• Moisture Detection in Walls and Ceiling

A thermal image detection is a great tool that assists in finding major damages in property due to water in walls, floors, and ceilings. Inspector prepared a report by considering difference between wet and dry areas through thermal images inspection. These defects in property may not be identified during a visual inspection. But, a thermal image inspection can provide you a clear picture of all.

• Plumbing Inspection

Detecting water leakage at the initial stage can be hard until or unless there is major damage arise. Whereas taking help from a property inspection company can help you to find and scan under and around plumbing defects. Some times, even after repairing leakage continues. So, the thermal image inspection conducted by the inspector help to detect the actual error.

Being a house owner, if you are tired of hiring plumber then taking assistance from thermal image inspection will be a great help.

• Wood Destroying Insect Activity

In highly moisture countries like Australia, a significant wood destroyed by inspects is a common activity. This not only harm house selling cost but also put a great burden on your pocket. Without major damage, some termites are hard to visible by naked eyes, therefore only infrared cameras are only meant to detect the actual cause of deteriorating wooden condition.

• Energy Audits

There are many companies that deal with detecting energy audits. These audits guide the homeowner for the root causes of high power bills. Once you know the key reason, you can easily reduce the raising power bills in residential and commercial areas.

• Flat Roof Inspections 

Leaking is an obvious issue in highly rainy areas, whether its a new or mid life flat roof. But, it can also leak your pocket to great extend, if the actual cause did not detected. Therefore, the thermal image inspection act as a god send for homeowners to take the right actions at the right place. Loose or faulted elected connection can also put the owner in trouble. So, making aware your self about all the loose ends of electrical wires, it is essential to inspect the roof in the right manner.

• Electrical Inspection

Abnormal heating with the excessive current flow is a major cause of the electrical problem. Infrared image inspection is the best way to detect invisible causes of electrical damage and save the property from major damage. So, check out if current flows through an electric circuit to convert electrical energy into heat, its a normal. But if it is converting wasteful, potentially damaging the property, means a serious matter of concern. Considering the property inspection and having a building inspection report can only save you from major damage.

What Does Thermal Image Scanning Not Perform

• Moisture Meter

Its a general myth that infrared camera is a mositire meter. Indeed, its not. It just helps you to identify the root cause and assists in further investigation. But you cannot know the moisture level via its images.

• X-Ray Vision

Another thing about the infrared thermal camera is not a X-ray. You cannot look at another side of the wall. Yes, you can know about the issue in the wall or roof and can fix it accordingly.

• Silver Bullet

You cannot call it a silver bullet. Its a helping tool that guides you for root issues in house property. It is used along with another technology and help to detect problem in the property. Inspector uses it to prepare report about property conditions.

• Risk Eliminator

Conducting thermal image inspection does not mean your property risk eliminated. But, it refers that you can come close to the actual property issue and plan your next repairing task accordingly. In short, it itself is not repairing but an important step before repairing.

Bottom Line

The above write-up explains to you for various inspections can be conducted with thermal image inspection. It also include how they perform a function and help you in repairing. With this, some people associate some myths about these image inspection. Keep in mind, its an image not an inspection in itself. But it can help you to take relevant steps to save property and for new investors to make a wise investments.

Considerable Termite Related Costs That Buyers Deal With

Dealing with the high cost of termites is one of the biggest trouble for almost every house owner in Australia. If they are not cured timely, these can grab thousands of dollars on repair bills. 

In a worldwide survey, it was found that more than 300 dollars were spent on termite treatment and out of which 100 million is from Australia. This is because of climatic conditions and moisture in the air. Therefore, it becomes crucial for not only investors but for the house owner to conduct time to time pest inspection in Sydney. If you stay in Sydney then before going with the topic and start inspecting, let’s know how you can detect termites at your home.

Signs of Termites at Home

• Noise in the Walls: If you found clicking sound from your house, its a clear sign that there are termites in the house. Sooner or later, they will chew all wooden portion in the house. You can also warn your colony as they can easily transport via tunnels to other homes.
• Dropped wings: There is another category of termites i.e. flying termites. Normally, these termites leave their wings after finding a mate. Some day if you found termites wings laying at your home, it can be the beginning of infestation or can be a situation when your current infestation reached maturity.
• Doors and Windows are not Opening or Shutting properly: Termites produce moisture while eating wood and results in ill doors and windows fitting. These mainly affect wooden frames.
• Tunnels in Wood: These are also called “Galleries”. If you found such patterns in logs or bites in timbers. Means a clear sign of termites entrance.
• Hollow Walls: If you had a doubt that there are termites prevailing in your house, you can by knocking wooden areas in your home.
• Frass: Its a termite dropping situation when insects drop dry wood outside from tunnels. It just leaves dark powdery substances from the area.
• Cracks in Wood or paint: Termites degrade your property value. Therefore, cracks can be easily seen on beams or on a painted portion of the wood.

Let’s Know Various Damage Repair Costs

There are three major categories of repairing costs against termites that can effect your budget. Here we have details:

• For Improvement Damage Repair Costs

This type of cost is associated with visible termites' that affect your property. Here, the owner may need to meet with the high repairing cost based on the type of damage. But, check if termites attack drywall, hardwood flooring, plaster, siding, and lath, etc with minor damage. You can hire a localized person to save your property. These can also save your money than a professional fee. But, if as per building inspection report there are major damage to your property, always hire a professional.

• Impact Resale Value

Termites can seriously impact your property resale value. It was found that even a single termite can roughly reduce 10-25% of property value. Particularly, those houses that have past records of a termite issue must inspect their house before planning to sell. As getting pest inspection report is the best way to deal with all upcoming property issues.

• Structural Repairing issue

Termites mainly affect timber by weakening all supports and frames easily. To fix this issue, the contractor or homeowner needs to meet with major expenses in the form of wear and tears of walls, and even pull up the flooring to find the root cause of the issue. This cost can even result in thousands of dollars for repairing the damages and replacing the beam.This repaying takes a considerable time for a complete repair.

Treatment and Prevention

As soon as the termite infestation identified, your first priority is to save your property from further damage. Without any delay, call the pest control expert and save your house from severe damage. Depending on the requirement they use dusting/foaming/spray treatment and make your home pests and termites free. There can be some more solutions like creating termites berries to safeguard your property.

 

Property inspection is crucial part to keep your home healthy. And your beloved ones can also stay away from all sought of infection. Other the other side, if you are planning to sell, building an inspection report as a great tool to get good negotiation.