How to avoid buying leaky homes
As former editor of RE, the Real Estate Institute of NZ (REINZ) magazine, Vicki Holder is a specialist property/homes writer/editor providing numerous articles, advertisements and newsletters to private real estate clients, NZ magazines, newspapers and real estate websites. She is also the former editor of the NZ Herald?s Weekend Real Estate tabloid and was editor NZ Home & Entertaining magazine.
If you haven't heard about leaky homes, you've either buried your head in the sand for the past five years - been overseas. This widespread problem has brought much heartache to thousands of New Zealand homeowners.
It began in the 1990s and the causes have been well-documented. But unless you have owned a leaky home, your interest in the problem has probably been fairly cursory. If you're looking to buy a home right now, you should be absolutely clear on what a leaky home looks like. Knowing the signs will help avoid a lot of hassles.
No one factor says it's definitely a leaky home. A number of causes have been identified: modern cladding systems; inadequate construction; inadequacies in the Building Code; lack of knowledge and skills and untreated kiln-dried timber.
Monolithic cladding systems should be red flag. These Mediterranean style homes feature textured wall surfaces made of plaster over polystyrene or fibre cement sheet. That in itself is not automatically a problem. But often, you'll find the claddings have been installed incorrectly.
Many Mediterranean style homes were built with untreated, kiln-dried framing timber, which is susceptible to rot if it gets wet and cannot dry out.
Watch out for wall claddings in contact with the ground. Water can rise up through capillary action and work its way through the cladding into the woodwork. In some cases, this may cause the cladding to rot. To stop water soaking upwards, wall claddings should be clear off the ground.
Watch out for recessed windows and flat roofs with narrow or no eaves where water doesn't flow away easily and pools around the windows. These design features increase the chances of leakage and timber degrading.
There are real problems with drainage in homes built with solid balustrades. If the floor doesn't slope away correctly, or there are cracks between the floor and the balcony, water will get in.
Look out for enclosed or concealed gutters, complicated roof designs and envelope shapes where roofs frequently intersect with walls on upper floors. Typically, leaky buildings are two storey homes with more complex designs.
Other things to take note of are: cracks in the walls where rainwater can enter; an absence of sheet metal or plastic flashings over windows and doors; dampness and rot around windows and doors; decks set below internal floor levels; parapet walls without flashings; pipes or wires that aren't flashed where they enter walls; broken seals; musty smells - all indicate the chances of water getting in and not being able to get out!
Rust staining or unusual staining on walls is also symptomatic of something happening undercover. If there's rust, you have got to suspect some ironwork somewhere is not protected from moisture.
Just because a home has mould or green slime on the outside, it's not necessarily leaky. In most leaky homes, the problems are internal and you won't notice them. Mould probably means the house is in a damp position and you may need to wash the walls down. However, if the mould is on the inside, you should be worried. It's either leaking. or it's poor house management.
Problems aren't always obvious. For example, there are no outward signs when there is inadequate sub-floor ventilation causing dampness in timber floors. Only an expert can tell you this.
If you recognise some of signs of water damage in a home you are interested in, it's essential to have an independent building survey done by an expert using a moisture meter. Moisture meters are generally non-invasive meters that can indicate moisture problems and water leaks without making holes in the walls. They don't guarantee weather tight problems don't exist, but they might find areas of concern.
Not all defects can be found. So ask the person doing the inspection to highlight the areas they couldn't check and identify risk areas that might warrant further investigation. Most pre-purchase inspection reports will have a disclaimer on weather tightness as some is too difficult to check without removing linings or claddings. But a pre-purchase inspection is still recommended.
If you suspect a problem, ask the seller or your agent if there have been any leaks or weather tightness - all is not lost. You may be able to remedy the situation under the law. But prepare yourself for a long and tedious battle.
For further information on warning signs and risk factors, visit www.consumerbuild.org.nz/publish/leaky.php or www.dhb.govt.nz
By Vicki Holder
Posted: 2 Oct 2008
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