Building Structure

  • Building and pest inspection would reveal some of these

  • Probably ask Seb

  • Buildings based on era

  • Anything I could look for in structure stability?

    • Materials used?

  • What other types of materials are available?

  • Wood and Pests like termites

    • Cost of maintenance
    • How to insure against that
    • Do other materials have the same risk?

  • What rights do I have before buying a house?

    • Can I perform a check?
    • Can I rescind an offer if there are material problems with the building?

  • Asbestos?

    • Asbestos was partially banned in 1990 and fully banned in 2003
    • How to detect
    • Can I detect early?
    • How to remove as you can’t just chuck it into a tip
      • How costly?
      • Apparently there are different tiers
      • How long will it take?

  • How well can a home handle a flood?

  • Will the ground create a sink hole?

  • Will the ground sink like what happened to Austin’s house?

  • Is there enough room for water to drain from the property?

  • Roof

    • Tiles or other

  • How flammable and chances of fires passing from another building

  • Flood damage?

  • Many specific rooms have requirements to fulfil the National Construction Code

  • Retaining walls look scary but are unlikely to fall over if holes are in place to avoid water pressure

    • I asked Seb

  • There are two main types of foundations

    • Stilts
      • Requires the area underneath to be bone dry
      • If maintenance in the crawl space is required it better be sufficiently tall
      • Easy to add new extensions to the house. Just drill pipes underneath
    • Concrete slab
      • Cracks over time
      • Super scary with tree roots underneath
      • There’s meant to be something underneath concrete slabs to prevent moisture underneath them