If you’re planning on selling your home, it’s important that you fix leaks long before the pre-sale building inspection takes place. This gives you enough time to ensure all plumbing leaks and problems are solved before the building inspector will walk through and examine your house. The inspector will check things like water pressure, leaks, waterproofing, and more. If you want to prepare your house for sale, it’s important to focus on fixing any issues that potential buyers will see, which may decrease the value of your home in their eyes. No one wants to buy a house with faulty plumbing, just think if it were you looking at buying a house, what would you be thinking if there’s leaking taps, ineffective waterproofing or rusted pipes.
Here are a few ways that you can prepare your home’s plumbing for a pre-sale building inspection:
Fix leaks before the pre-sale building inspection
Leaks need to be fixed, and it’s best not to put it off. Water wastage from leaks in your house means higher water usage, and more costs when it comes to paying bills. Potential buyers will want leaks fixed, so it’s better to do it long before the pre-sale building inspection so you have time to check if it’s working properly. The building inspector will check things such as water pressure, by turning on multiple taps and flushing toilets at the same time. They will also check for any leaks and how effective the waterproofing is, by running a shower with the door closed for around 5-10 minutes.
Divert water away from the house
There are a few important steps to take into consideration when wanting to divert water away from your house. If your plumbing systems are leaking, your gutter system is blocked, or your downspouts are short, this means your house doesn’t have adequate drainage in place. This can lead to damaging your house. After a storm, when there has been a large amount of water collected around your home in a short period of time, you will be relying on proper drainage systems in place to ensure the excess water doesn’t inflict damage to the roof, walls, foundation and landscaping of your house. Potential buyers through the building inspection report, will be able to tell if the house has an adequate drainage system. They may have already researched the area, and would know if it is prone to heavy rainfall or potential flooding, if that is the case, they will want an effective drainage system that diverts water away from the house.
Maintaining your gutter system
An adequate gutter system is essential in diverting water away from your house.
For your gutters to work properly, they should slope down 1⁄2 inch (1.3 cm) toward the downspout for every 10 feet (3.0 m), by code.
Gutters need to be maintained and cleaned routinely to ensure there isn’t anything blocking the water from getting through. If there are big trees around your house, you will need to clean your gutters more often. It’s also a good idea to check your gutters after a big storm. If your gutters aren’t routinely checked and cleaned a buildup of debris can block the flow of rainwater.
Prepare your home’s plumbing for a pre-sale building inspection with Green Planet Plumbing
With a 24 hour 7 day a week on-call emergency plumbing service, Green Planet Plumbing are a local team of plumbers who can help with all your plumbing for home or business in Newcastle, Lake Macquarie, Central Coast and the Hunter Valley regions. Our plumbers are professional and efficient, and can assist you in fixing your home’s plumbing before a building inspection. With over 15 years’ experience in the industry, we have solutions for all your plumbing needs! Give us a call on 02 4911 9402.