Cowan Building takes a look at leaky homes. With some top tips on what to do if you think your home may be at risk, and what every prospect homeowner or investor should investigate before purchasing.
It’s certainly been the death call for many homeowners – LEAKY HOMES. Particularly in New Zealand, the influx of leaky homes over the past few years has been enormous.
Due to the poor design, many of these homes have attracted huge amounts of resources, time and money to fix and become suitable to sell or even in some cases – liveable.
What is a leaky home?
A leaky home or a leaky building is where moisture has penetrated between the outside of the home and inside the walls. This normally affects badly designed, unmaintained certain types of cladded homes. Most leaky homes and leaky buildings were built between the late 80s and mid-2000s.
So, what are the warning signs and how can you protect yourself, your home, or your future asset?
For leaky homes – it’s imperative you get the right advice before you purchase or if you think you have a problem. Many homeowners, who have purchased outright without the help from a bank, have ended up with a very expensive renovation after discovering it’s a leaky home.
Talk to the experts! Some independent home valuators will only see a cladded building and deem it as a ‘risk’ without any knowledge of the maintenance, the design or the actual cladding itself. There are many cladded homes that are not leaky homes or at risk of becoming leaky homes. So, get the right advice from the professionals who specialise in cladded homes/buildings or leaky homes.
Will banks lend on leaky homes?
Banks will ask for an independent valuation on the home before they lend if they are lending the majority of the mortgage. So, it’s important you have ensured that your home is not leaky. This may include builders’ reports and a report from a weather-tight expert on the actual material and cladding, if the cladding has special cavities, the size of your eves and your guttering system. Have this in place before the valuator comes knocking so you can ensure they have all the correct information from experts to make a true valuation rather than relying on their ‘opinions’.
What materials were leaky homes built out of?
It’s all about the cladding. Many of the cladded homes that did become leaky were made of sub-standard materials and bad design. Some leaky homes will not show signs of leaking until the damage is too far gone.
It’s important to look at your home and ask the relevant questions:
Has the cladding been correctly cared for?
Special paint is needed approximately every 5-6 years to keep the cladding in good condition. Continuous maintenance is vital for all cladded homes.
Eves?
Does the house have good eves? These offer a huge amount of protection from weather. Many leaky homes have limited to no eves.
Caps on roofs and guttering?
Many leaky homes will have exposed cladding with no covering caps or correct guttering systems. Many of the high-risk homes were the Mediterranean type designs with flat roofs, no caps, and no eves.
Vegetation?
Cladded homes should not have vegetation growing near the bottom of the home. Vegetation should be kept clear of walls.
Ground clearance?
The cladding should have a good ground clearance of around 150mm for solid ground, being concrete or decking and 225mm for soil.
Cracks?
These types of homes need maintenance to ensure aesthetic cracks do not develop into anything sinister. What is the maintenance upkeep of the home? Can it be proved? Look for cracks around the windows, in joins and hairline cracks on the actual cladding.
It’s also a good idea to check with the Weather Tight Homes Tribunal if a claim has been lodge against the home.
HELP! We’ve Got A LEAKY HOME!!
At Cowan Building we are the experts at repairing leaky homes. As leaky home specialists we can diagnose the problem and ensure that all the boxes are ticked to get your home repaired and able to guarantee water-tightness and healthy living.
We have the experience in repairing and adjusting the design of many leaky homes to restore their investment opportunities and liveability.
Call us today if you are concerned about your home, or a looking at possibly investing in a leaky home.
Let the leaky home experts at Cowan Building take the stress out of project management and repair of your leaky home investment.
Photo by Luis Tosta on Unsplash