New House Plumbing Inspection
August 29, 2017
You can see the rest of your life at your new house. You picture tucking your children into bed, Thanksgiving dinners in the dining room, and Christmas mornings with gifts under a tree in the living room. That life looks perfect. However, you can’t see the potentially destructive and costly plumbing failures the seller is hiding from you. If you’re buying a home, you NEED a new house plumbing inspection—simple as that.
A new house plumbing inspection is 100% essential before you buy. When you buy a house, you buy all of the problems along with it. Problems that can cost you tens of thousands of dollars, turning a dream house into a bad taste in your mouth.
Typically, private sellers are not legally required to disclose plumbing issues. Once you buy, YOU will be liable for the entire expense. If you catch the mistakes, before closing, the seller will be responsible for covering the cost.
We don’t want you to think that you shouldn’t move into a great house — you should, you just need to protect yourself with a new house plumbing inspection. Read on for our new house plumbing inspection 6 point checklist.
NEW HOUSE PLUMBING INSPECTION CHECKLIST
Our new house plumbing inspection checklist features the most common areas to look for trouble.
Some checklist items, you and a savvy friend can figure-out on your own. Other checklist items are just require the tools and skills of a professional plumber.
1. Water Heater
On average, water heaters last about 7 to 10 years-without any professional maintenance. Anything past the 10 year mark is likely in need of replacement and the old homeowner is just hoping you don’t notice and make them pay for it.
Newer hot water heaters can still fail, especially if the homeowners neglected to flush hard water sediment out of the hot water heater.
According to top manufacturers, water heaters can last up to between 15 and 18 years with proper maintenance. That means regular inspections and sediment flushes by a professional plumber.
Moving into a new home can be the perfect time to get protected by Ben Franklin Plumbing Protection Plan.
DIY inspection?
Using the model number, you can discover the age of the heater. You’ll need a professional to examine the level of sediment damage in a newer heater.
Failure Cost: About $1,000+ for the water heater plus paying an expert plumber to replace it.
2. Sump Pump
Your sump pump does the crucial job of keeping water out of your basement — yet it often misses the maintenance it needs. Sump pump failure can leave your basement soaking in feet of standing water.
If your new house has a basement, INSIST on looking at the sump pump.
DIY inspection?
If your sump pump has bells and whistles like battery backup and Wi-Fi alerts, you can feel confident it’s new and likely reliable. If it looks old, you can’t trust it and need to have us give it a thorough exam.
Failure Cost The price of replacing everything in your basement.
3. Toilets
Your most commonly used plumbing fixture, you’ll be spending a lot of time with your toilet. Replacing old and inefficient toilets means less frustrating toilet clogs and yearly savings on your water bill.
DIY inspection?
For sure. Just looking at your toilet should be enough to let you know if it needs to go.
Failure Cost: Not so much the cost of failure, but a water saving toilet can save you up to $200 a year!
4. Water hardness
If your new home has hard water, you’ll want to know before you sign the paperwork. A home with hard water isn’t a catastrophe like a failed sump pump, but it is a nuisance.
Over time, hard water forms scale which irritates your skin and dries out your hair. In addition, that scale limits the lifespan on water using appliances, like your washing machine, your dishwasher, and your hot water heater.
Failure Cost: About $500 or $600 for new appliance plus paying an expert plumber to replace it.
DIY inspection?
Not so much an inspection, but you can probably call the municipal water provider for an estimate. For the most accurate test, call a Ben Franklin plumber.
Benjamin Franklin plumbers offer two methods to handle hard water damage.
- Water softeners—which remove the hard minerals from water.
- Descalers— which prevent the hard minerals from forming the scale that dries your skin, dries your hair, and damages your appliances.
5. Old Pipes
The backbone of your plumbing system, you can’t see your pipes but they are EXTREMELY IMPORTANT!
- Old pipes clog frequently.
- Really old pipes are a to risk to burst.
- Extremely old water pipes contain the poisonous metal lead!
Ensure your pipes are safe for your home and family. This issue is serious enough that it can be a deal breaker for some home buyers.
DIY inspection?
Are you kidding? You can’t see your pipes let alone inspect them. You need to give us a call for a new house plumbing inspection.
Failure Cost: $20,000 = average cost of home repiping. If the pipes burst, the cost is too high to estimate.
6. Sewer line
Your sewer line carries waste from your home to the municipal sewer or septic system. If your sewer line clogs, raw waste and sewage will bubble up from your drains.
Flushing garbage down the toilet, pouring grease down your sink, and invasive tree roots can block your sewer line.
Like with decrepit lead pipes, sewer line issues can be expensive and disgusting enough to be a deal breaker.
DIY inspection?
Not unless you have a sewer line camera and the expertise to operate it. Benjamin Franklin Plumbers use a no-mess sewer camera to find sewer line clogs deep underground.
Failure Cost: $20,000 + along with emotional distress of having your yard and or driveway torn up for a few weeks on end.
WRAP UP: NEW HOUSE PLUMBING INSPECTION
Your new house starts a new chapter in your life — start it with 100% confidence. Before you sign any paperwork, make sure your plumbing system is in shape. After all when you buy a house, you buy all of the problems that go along with it.
Follow our checklist for a new house plumbing inspection. Handle everything you can on your own and bring us out for the tough stuff.
Contact us for new house plumbing inspection and all of your plumbing needs.