If you are in the market to purchase a home, it can be easy to fall in
love at first sight. Do so at your own risk. While the overall
appearance of a home is important, the quality is in the details. In
this article, I provide a checklist of window issues you should
consider when viewing a home.
Windows
If you are considering buying a home, you should have a checklist of
things to review for the property. There is an old cliché that eyes are
the window to a person’ soul. In the case of a home, they can be a clue
to the quality of the home building if you check the following:
1. The first item to check is whether the windows open and close
properly. Quality windows should slide easily and with little noise.
Cheap windows tend to stick and make grinding noises. If any window
will not open or close at all, careful attention needs to be paid to
why. Is it the quality of the window or has the house started moving
because of foundation problems? Make sure you know the cause.
2. The second item to check is soft or mushy sills at the base of the
window. Often you can identify a soft sill by a “rotted” look, but make
sure to run your hand across the sills with light pressure to see if
there are any soft spots. If you find a problem, warning lights should
be going off in your mind. A mushy sill means there is a water
penetration problem. More importantly, it also means the problem has
existed for some time. Long-term water problems can mean the existence
of mold and mold can be an expensive problem to fix. If you are really
interested in the home, demand an inspection paid for by the seller. If
the seller refuses, walk away from the home.
3. Water stains are the final window item to check for during your
viewing. Just because the sills are not soft, doesn’t mean there isn’t
a leakage problem. Stains around a window frame are sure signs of water
problems. If a room has been painted, try to find one that hasn’t. If
the entire interior has been painted, ask the seller to state in the
sales agreement there were no water stains before the house was
repainted.
Windows are almost always an indicator of the quality of workmanship
for a home. Giving them a good “once over” should tell you a lot about
the house you are considering.
