With some homes, you feel like you can simply push on a wall and they would completely fall over. Then, of course, there are some homes that look sturdy, but after only a few months, things start to fall apart – the shingles fall off the molding, the roof loses tiles and the floors start to buckle. When you are looking to purchase a home, it can be hard to know if you are purchasing a lemon. Moreover, it is really easy to trust a real estate agent when he or she tells you that a home is in great condition. Why would they be untruthful? Here are five ways for potential homebuyers to judge home construction quality.
Is it a newer or older home? Sometimes all you need is the age of the home and you’ll have a pretty good idea as to whether the home was made with good or bad quality construction methods and materials. When it comes down to it, older homes often have the best construction quality, because they were built with stronger and higher quality materials that either aren’t available anymore or that are too expensive. If the home is newly built, you should be more weary and you should inspect the home more thoroughly for inconsistencies.- Inspect the foundation. One of the best ways to know if a home will have some problems later on is if the foundation looks shoddy. Some homebuilders like to get the house built as fast as possible, especially in suburban housing tracts and property planning divisions. So, make sure that you head down to the basement of the home you are interested in purchasing. If you notice any visible cracks or buckling in the foundation, you can bet that the home will have some problems later on.
- Look for real materials. Real materials usually connote the fact that the home was built with a more dedicated commitment to offering a higher quality product. These materials include stone, like granite, marble and travertine – travertine is a stone that is usually white and porous, but incredibly strong and beautiful. Dark, rich woods are also important to look out for. However, if you notice materials like faux wood, fake marble and other imitation accents, you can probably assume that the builders cut corners where they could.
- Check out the appliances. In an older home, there is a good chance that you are going to have to completely redo many of the appliances, especially the air conditioning system. There are many air conditioner replacement benefits. One of the biggest benefits is that it will make your home much more energy efficient and you will save money. In addition, you may also want to check out other fixed appliances too, like lighting and plumbing features.
- Spacing between the door frames and the walls. Another telltale sign that a home has poor construction is if you notice spacing between the door frames and the wall. You may want to look for the same thing around window frames. Not only can these spaces be a source of energy leakage, they can also mean that the home needs some serious work – either because the foundation is lagging, or because a contractor cheated his or her way through a home’s construction process.
