What Living In An Old Property Does To Your Health
Prospective homeowners, when they browse the properties on the real estate market, tend to feel instinctively attracted to old houses. A house that has been the home of many generations before yours is, in a way, trustworthy. Like the cuckoo that uses another bird’s nest to build up its family, homeowners feel more confident about the homeliness of a place if it has already been a home to others. Old homes have a lot of secrets to reveal. You can peel the wallpaper to read inscriptions on the wall – maybe marking the height of the children. You can find old toys, forgotten in the attic, long before you bought the house. For new homeowners, it feels like walking through a photo album that tells the story of the house.
In older homes, horizontal foundation cracks are common and homeowners should understand that horizontal foundation cracks are serious. They’re sometimes an indication the home’s foundation has moved. However, if they appear on a basement wall, they’re probably caused by hydrostatic pressure. If you have horizontal cracks in your home, you need to contact either a foundation repair contractor or a structural engineer right away for an inspection.
In short, there is no denying that old properties are appealing. But at the same time, it’s essential to understand life in an ancient home is not always easy. Over time, buildings degrade and require constant maintenance to remain safe and sturdy. If you are in the process of purchasing an old house as your family home, you need to be aware of the many ways in which the property could affect your health.
Your house is a cold energy vampire
Energy-efficiency is a relatively new concept. Unless your property has been renovated with environmental rating in mind, it is likely to be a silent energy vampire. It’s a good idea to check whether your appliances and heating system are the best they could be. The quirky, old cooker in the kitchen, left by the previous owner, could drain your energy consumption, for instance. The ancient heater could be another common culprit, especially if it hasn’t been serviced in a long time. However, before you consider installing a new heating system to make sure the house stays warm in winter, you need to check your insulation. Old homes tend to lack insulation under the roof – you can lose up to 30% of the heat through the roof and the walls – which makes it tricky to maintain its temperature. Until they can upgrade their insulation solutions, most homeowners can struggle with feelings of fatigue and soreness, as a result of their body constantly trying to fight the sensation of cold.
It could have been built using harmful materials
It’s crucial to know that our understanding of building materials has not always been what it is today. Old properties were often built using materials that were later proven to be harmful, such as lead pipes or even asbestos in the wall – to act as insulation. Typically, a house that has been recently renovated to include new insulation or plumbing system is likely to have removed all health hazards. However, if you’re buying an abandoned or inhabited property that has been recently put on the market, things might be different. You can run a house inspection to be on the safe side and make sure that all health risks are evaluated. The presence of asbestos in the wall during your visit should not have any bearing on your health, as there was no direct exposure to the material. You can simply hire a reputable company for the asbestos disposal. However, as an experienced mesothelioma attorney can confirm, the builders who work on the property either during its construction or as part of a renovation project to boost its value before selling may not have been as lucky. The bottom line is that a home inspection is a priority before buying or renovating. It can be detrimental to someone’s health if the property that they’re moving into hasn’t been inspected for hazards like asbestos as this could lead to mesothelioma which is a type of cancer. You may also want to follow the same sort of rules before moving into a new workspace as there could be a chance that you could make a settlement if affected by asbestos because of another person’s negligence. If you’re not sure what you could be entitled to, have a look at this ‘is a mesothelioma settlement taxable‘ report to learn more.
There’s always something that breaks
Maintaining healthy sewer and drain lines is essential to have a clean and comfortable home environment. Sewer line backups or leaks can be frustrating for homeowners. With the unpleasant smell and messy cleanup, finding the root cause of your sewage problem can be challenging. If you need a sewer line repair, you have two options: dig a trench around the sewer pipes or use trenchless sewer drain repair techniques.
Things break in every home. However, when you buy an old house, things are more likely to break frequently. It is, after all, in the nature of old things to break. But, as a homeowner, it can be extremely stressful to go through long periods of bad luck when you need to replace one unit after the other. You’ll have to get the WDR Roofing Company to check for the roof for damage as it would have probably been a while since it was repaired. Plus, just imagine you notice a wet patch on the floor, and you come across a leaking pipe. As the house structure is old, the humidity has rapidly infiltrated through the floor and the wall, which forces you to change the insulation that has been affected in the process. Additionally, your plumber – from somewhere like this Pipelining Service– might have to replace huge portions of your pipe systems instead of swapping only one pipe. Besides, your floor now needs some repair work. Chronic stress becomes your new way of life when you always worry about what could break next.
It keeps you awake at night
Unsettling bangs in the middle of the night. Suspicious creaks and squeaks as if a ghost were wandering around. Popping and gurgling inside the walls when everything else is silent. Your home sweet home can get vocal, especially at night time when everyone is quiet. Unsurprisingly, it can keep you awake if you are a light sleeper. Besides, it likely to interfere with your sleeping patterns, waking you up in between cycles. Exhaustion doesn’t begin to describe how you’ll feel after a few sleepless nights.
There’s a lot of moisture in the air
The combination of an old structure and poor insulation practice can affect the permeability of your walls and roof. Old houses can experience water infiltration on rainy days. Unfortunately, if the infiltration is small and contained, you may not get to see the signs of water damage until it affects your health. When the level of humidity in the air increases, it creates a welcoming environment for mold patches. Unfortunately, the patches can get unnoticed if they are under your furniture, or growing in remote areas of the house such as the attic or the basement. But the spores can travel and cause respiratory distress and allergies.
Indoor air pollution is a thing too
Lastly, your indoor air quality could be at risk even if you’ve worked with a home inspector to identify harmful materials. The presence of a chimney – which is typical for houses built before 1950 – is a must-have for homeowners. But did you know your old fireplace can leak carbon monoxide and fine particles that affect your heart and lungs?
And while there is medication for pretty much everything these days, we can find ourselves allergic to many aspects of the house, and end up relying on medications like Zantac to reduce our allergies. But this can open us up to various problems relating to defective drug exposure, especially as some Zantac products have been recalled recently. It’s vital to remember that the little things we don’t take notice of right away can slowly cause us issues over the years.
As charming as old homes can be, they are also a ticking bomb for your health if they are not maintained appropriately. If you are considering buying an old property, you should make sure that it has been renovated to the highest health and safety standards.
