Over the course of the year, 30% of homeowners dealt with emergency repairs, which cost them as much as the average spend on a whole year’s regular home maintenance. When buying a new property, a home inspection is essential. However, once you have moved in, regular examinations of your home will promptly identify potential maintenance issues and help minimize these unexpected and often costly repairs. Some areas of the home are simple to access, but others may be hidden behind walls, under floorboards, or on high rooftops. With the use of viewing technology, inspecting these hard to reach areas is made much easier.
Checking Behind Solid Walls
Until patches of damp appear, it can be difficult to detect excess moisture in wall cavities without damaging surface plaster and underlying drywall. The use of an articulated fiber optic camera, or borescope, allows for the nondestructive inspection of a wall cavity through small purposely drilled holes or existing tiny gaps. You can find out more about the flexibility of borescopes at www.spiborescopes.com. As well as checking for damp, a borescope can be used to inspect damaged cavity wall ties, or defective electrical wiring, helping to avoid larger, more expensive repairs in the long-term.
Inspecting Out Of Reach Roofs
Water ingress due to just one missing shingle can cause extensive structural damage to the roof structure and result in damp and mold on internal ceilings and walls. Viewing a roof with binoculars can identify potential problems such as slipped tiles or damaged flashing. However, for high buildings with out of sight ridges and valleys, a drone can provide a detailed and close up visual inspection. Any issues with the roof can be recorded with video footage or photographs, which can then be carefully examined on the ground.
Viewing Inaccessible Crawl Spaces
A crawl space can house essential wiring and pipework, and it can also be home to destructive molds and household pests. Some spaces are too small to enter but may at least be visible by shining a bright torch through a foundation vent or other opening. For a more comprehensive view, small remote-controlled inspection robots have been designed to gain entry into these hard to reach areas. Here they use powerful LED lights to illuminate dark corners, and a camera to provide detailed feedback on these otherwise inaccessible spaces.
Regular home inspections can help to prevent common maintenance issues turning into more complex and expensive emergency repairs. With the use of technology, even hard to reach areas of a property can be viewed in detail.