5 Plumbing Points To Keep In Mind When Viewing A New Home

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Whenever you’re buying a new house, there’s a whole host of work you have to do before you even get the keys and begin to call it home.

From applying for a mortgage through to speaking to solicitors, chances are you’ll pay for a surveyor to take a look around the property, as it’s something that’s usually required for mortgage purposes.

However, unless you opt for the most in-depth survey to be carried out, you won’t receive a great deal of information. Simply put, unless there’s something majorly wrong with the house – as in, one of the wall’s is about to fall down – you won’t be given any further information, as the surveyor won’t look at anything else.

But this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t look yourself, as although you might not be able to identify certain problems, there are smaller issues you’ll be able to come across that may require attention and therefore need to be taken into consideration.

And looking at such aspects from a plumbing point of view, the following five things are all recommended to be checked when you’re viewing your potential new home.

1. Stopcock

Every homeowner should know where their stopcock is, as it’s what shuts the water off to the whole property.

The reason we’d advise looking at it is not just to get familiar with its location, but to see if it actually works and whether it needs replacing (and by this, we mean look at whether it appears to be partially cracked, full of rust, etc).

2. Lead pipes

When houses were built many years ago, lead pipes were used for plumbing purposes, but it has since come to light that some of the toxins from the lead can enter the water.

It’s therefore important you ask / look to see if any of the pipes in the house are lead. If the property was built after the 1970s, it shouldn’t have any, but houses built before then could do, especially if the property’s in need of restoration.

3. Boiler

There has been a lot of development in the home boiler industry in recent years and you’ll often find that most modern homes have a combi-boiler installed, which generally speaking is one of the most effective and efficient.

When you’re viewing the property, ask about the boiler and have a look at it – just because it isn’t a combi-boiler, it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s going to need replacing, but if it appears to be in a bad condition, it may well be worth doing so.

4. Sinks

Although it’s not a set requirement, sinks should have a u bend connection on the waste pipe, for a variety of reasons.

It’s worthwhile taking a look underneath them to see if they do, as whilst installing one if they don’t will be relatively inexpensive, there could be other problems that have been caused elsewhere in the pipes due to the lack of a u bend, which may need investigating.

5. Outside tap

Having an outside tap, whilst it might seem like a minor addition to the house, can be great and if a property has one, it obviously saves you the cost of getting one installed.

However, it’s strongly advised to check to see if it works, as they’re so susceptible to frost damage, meaning that although it might look fine, as soon as you turn the tap on, water could spout from all directions.

As an experienced plumber in Saffron Walden, we know just how important it is that your plumbing requirements are met and it’s because of this why we do our utmost to educate our customers, too, something we hope this post does when looking at the plumbing aspects of any new home.