How to Use a Home Inspection to Find Water Damage

Buying a house is a careful and meticulous process. You wouldn't want to move into a house with more risks since it's basically where we're going to spend most of our time. Especially nowadays when most of the things we do can be done at home: work, the kid's school and learning, and our general daily way of living. Today, we'll cover one of the most helpful things to do first when looking at a potential building that you'll soon call "home".

Home Inspection

It's should be embedded in our minds by now that when we buy something, we want to make sure we inspect it first before we commit to spending money on it. This goes the same for the needs we really need to secure like food, the house where we'll live, and things like that. 

I've done this video when we were doing a home inspection for the new house we're looking to buy. Now, the good thing about doing this is because the inspector can really determine if the property had flood damage previously or any type of damage for that matter. This includes signs of water damage, signs of mold damage, the structuring of walls, roofs, floors, and the type of material used for the construction of the house. Most importantly, how much flood water comes into the property can be checked by the inspector and the contractor.

This is can be seen if you look into the property's crawl space if it has one. If the crawl space was seen to have water damage, it's most likely to have been inundated by flood water at some point or maybe even recently.

Flood Insurance and More

Now, this is really important to know the property before you buy it, just like how you'd inspect an item before you buy it. This can really help you find other options out there, or maybe if you're really keen on getting this property because you like it, doing home inspections can give you an idea of how to prepare for your insurance policies.

You can see from the property that you might need additional coverage in your homeowner policy. It's important to note that homeowner policies cover water damage and mold damage, so if that's a part of the home, you might want to make sure that you'll be covered there. It's important to note, flood insurance is a different policy from your standard homeowner insurance policy because home policies don't provide coverage for flooding and flood damage to property.

This is why it's important that you inspect the building before purchasing it. Your inspector will help you check for the structural damage endured by the property in the past. 

Once you're ready, you can go through the best companies that can offer you these insurance policies. Private companies would be one of the best routes when talking about flood insurance since they'd also provide coverage more than personal items and property damage. Flood insurance policies from the private flood can get you additional living expenses, replacement costs, and loss of use which can really be helpful in choosing the insurance company you want to go with.

If you have questions about other tips in determining if the property had flood damage, make sure to visit our website. Remember, we have an educational background in flood mitigation and we want to help you understand flood risks like the one you see in the video. Reach out to us by clicking the links below and you too can be prepared through flood education and awareness.