Health check-up for your home

Jagvir Goyal

Once you have constructed and completed your house and entered it, it’s the fulfilment of a long cherished dream. However, with the passage of time, the house is subjected to vagaries of weather, insect attacks etc. These forces may cause structural changes in the house or may even damage the finishing work. That’s why it is important to inspect your house at regular intervals.

How to start

Start the inspection of your house from roof downwards. Inspect the roof area, descend to lower storey, inspect rooms and continue like that till you reach the ground floor. Inspect the ground floor, front and back courtyards and even the area around. Inspect the basement, if provided in the house. Throughout the inspection, keep a paper over a clip board and a pen in your hand to take notes.

Roof area

Inspect the roof area for cleanliness, blockages, seepage and fine cracks. Get all the dirt and dry leaves removed from the roof. Check the parapet and tile terracing for any fine cracks that may allow seepage of water. Check the outdoor units of air conditioners and the insulation of the wires and copper conduits leading to indoor units. Check that the lids of water tanks are in position and well secured.

Inspect the interiors 

Next, undertake the inspection of internal areas of the house and look for any signs of termites, cracks, leakage or dampness, emergence of efflorescence, accumulation of dust or any provision having become non-operational. Take note of all these points for their immediate repair and removal.

Appearance of cracks: Often a new building slowly settles under its own load and if the bearing capacity of the soil below is lesser, some settlement may occur causing cracks in the walls. Cracks may appear in walls, ceilings or projections either due to settlement of foundations or due to temperature stresses. Some underground water pipe or source near your house, if leaking, may also cause water to percolate to the foundations, causing some settlement. Often, horizontal cracks are harmless while vertical or inclined or toothed cracks are serious and need immediate attention. Take note of the location of all cracks and discuss with your architect or structural engineer for immediate repair. Get the cracks repaired well and finish the affected portions to look like originally finished surface.

Termite detection: It is important is to look for any sign of termites. Examine the bases of all door frames closely. If the windows are in wood, examine window sills also. Examine the inside of cupboards and the space between the bottom-most shelf and the floor below. Similarly, examine the space between the bottom of kitchen cabinets below the countertop and the floor. Examine the rooms and areas less visited in the house. In the top storey, examine the corners of the ceiling. Sometimes, termites are present in the earth deposited over roof slabs and make way into the rooms. Whenever you note some signs of termites, immediately call the local agency for anti-termite treatment and get it done immediately. Never delay this job as termites spread very fast and cause extensive damage. 

Indication of leakage or dampness: Check the roof and side walls of the house for appearance of any damp patches or any sort of leakage. Whenever any leakage or dampness is noted, it is more important to check its source and plug that source. Check the roof against any ponding of water leading to appearance of damp patches on the ceiling of a room. Any dampness signs may appear in walls due to leakage in rain water pipes. Check that no water has risen by capillary action into the lower portion of ground floor walls, causing dampness. This indicates that damp proof course of the house hasn’t been laid properly. Take adequate measures in consultation with your architect for repair and plugging of all sources of leakage and dampness.

Emergence of efflorescence: Efflorescence or shora occurs when the bricks contain free salt or lime which comes out when the moisture soaked by the bricks begins to dry. This problem keeps on recurring and reduces with time as the level of salt or lime in the bricks diminishes. Till the time, the moisture is retained by the bricks, efflorescence recurs. If plastered, the efflorescence penetrates the plaster and appears on its surface. 

No sure remedy is available for efflorescence and best solution lies in choosing good quality bricks. If you note efflorescence in any part of the house, get it removed through dry brushing and apply a layer of efflorescence tackling materials being marketed by water-proofing companies these days. That will help in arresting the problem to some extent.

— The writer is former HoD and Engineer-in-Chief, Civil Engineering Department in a Punjab PSU