Uncovering Concrete Issues in a New Home

Buying a new home is a fun and exciting process. You tour home after home, trying to find the perfect place for your family. Once you find your dream home, an offer is placed and hopefully accepted! After you buy a new home, you must move in. But first, you want to take a look at the property again. Are there any issues you may have missed before? Many times, new homeowners find problems with areas of concrete. Patios, sidewalks and even porches are not really considered when looking at the interior and exterior of the home during a tour. Look for issues now so you can have them repaired before moving in.

Exterior and Landscape Concrete Areas

The exterior and the landscaping of your home can be home to concrete such as with porches, patios, sidewalks, pathways and more. As you toured the home before the purchase, you probably noticed these areas but did not give them a closer inspection. Take a walk around the home now and see if any issues are present.

Some sellers will do quick fixes or patch work to give an appearance of a repair job. You want to be sure that these concrete areas are in good condition. If there are issues, you can hire a concrete expert to make the repairs quickly so that you can use these areas of your home.

Sidewalks and pathways can crack or buckle often due to weather issues such as heavy rain or if the concrete wasn’t set correctly. If you do not take care of a problem soon, the space may require a complete redo, which can become expensive. Check for such cracks or movement and have an expert repair the problem.

The Foundation

During the inspection of your new home, the foundation should have been an area that was reviewed thoroughly. One of the most important aspects of the home is the foundation. An inspector should have checked for any foundation cracks, areas of breakage, movement or other issues. If a problem was found during the inspection, you can ask the seller for the repair or to cut down on the price of the home as you will have to fix it yourself.

In most cases, issues with the foundation are not missed. However, you may soon see after a few heavy rains that the property is not graded well and has drainage issues which can lead to foundation problems over time.

After heavy rains, check the area around the foundation. Is it overly saturated or perhaps even flooded? If so, changes need to be made to the landscaping so that the water moves away from the home. When water sits in this area, it can cause shifting of the foundation due to saturation in the ground. It can also cause flooding inside the home in crawlspaces or in basement areas.

Before purchasing a home, be sure to have all aspects of the dwelling inspected, including concrete areas. After your purchase, do a quick walk through and review the concrete to check for repairs. If you find any issues, have them repaired so you do not need more costly repair service in the future.