It’s one of the most frightening aspects to what is already a pretty stressful experience. When you are buying a new home, you have a lot of questions that you might need answering, and it’s vital that you are doing all you can to be aware of those from the start. One thing that is going to be especially important is making sure that your new home is as safe as possible. But how can you make sure of that, and what are some of the particular dangers you might want to be aware of? In this post, we are going to discuss what you can do to ensure that your new home is safe and sound. As long as you are going through the following, you should find that you are going to feel so much safer in your home, which is a great feeling to have all in all.
Get A Survey
One of the most important things you need to do whenever you move into a new home is to get a survey carried out. Having a survey done is the best way to ensure you know what is going on in the building and whether there are any particular glaring problems that you need to be aware of. If you are keen to do this, then you should make sure you do it before you actually hand the money over or sign for the mortgage, as you won’t be finishing the deal if the survey comes back with bad news. Most importantly, a survey will highlight the particular safety problem that you’ll need to be aware of, including what you would have to fix after you move in. So this is really important for the sake of keeping you and your family safe, and it should be considered an essential part of the house-buying process. When you do this, make sure you get it done independently, so you can ensure that you can trust the results. This is essential too, and means that the survey is trustworthy. Without a survey, you just can’t know what is really going on and how safe the house is. While it will cost you to have a survey done, it’s something that you really need to make sure you are doing.
Check For Asbestos
In older buildings, you might need to check for asbestos. While this is something that the surveyor will do, it’s also worth taking a look yourself. As you are probably aware, asbestos is incredibly harmful and damaging to the body, and if you have any in the home, then there are strict laws around how it needs to be disposed of and what the authorities need to know about it. So it’s not only for safety reasons that you have to think about this, but legal ones too. Having asbestos in the home can cause cancer later in life, so it’s vital that you don’t have any of it around. You should ensure that this is checked thoroughly and as soon as possible, so that you can keep your home perfectly safe from the outset.
Test For Radon Gas
A lot of people are unsure about radon gas, but it is a real and present danger in many homes, and something that you have to be aware of if you are moving into a new home. You might be wondering: what is radon gas? Essentially, it is a naturally-occuring gas that can build up in homes, and when it does so, it can be dangerous to breathe in, especially in large quantities. The problem is that radon is completely invisible and odorless, so you won’t know it’s there without proper testing. This is why you should consider getting a home radon test kit to use in the home. This is going to highlight whether there is any radon in the building, and if so then you will of course need to have it removed professionally.
Install CO Alarms
In a similar vain to radon gas, you also need to be wary of carbon monoxide. This is a killer in even quite small quantities, so it’s vital that you know for a fact that there is none in your new home. As with radon, CO is odorless and invisible, so you won’t know it’s there until it’s too late. Then you might start exhibiting some of the signs of CO poisoning, from dizziness and confusion to headaches and more. Ultimately, it can lead to death. Therefore, you need to install CO alarms in your property, and to check that their batteries work regularly. If you move into a property and there are no CO alarms, you definitely need to do this. But even if there are, it’s a good idea to replace them so you know they are working. It’s not worth taking a risk with carbon monoxide, so make sure you do this as soon as possible.
Mold
Another very common issue that can occur in homes is mold. This can happen to all homes regardless of size or age, as it is mostly a problem with a lack of ventilation over time than anything else. The point is that you might not always notice it straight away, which is yet another reason to think about getting a survey carried out. But if you do find that there is mold, you have to make sure you deal with it as soon as possible, especially if you find any black mold. Getting rid of that can be difficult, but it’s essential, and it will mean that your home is so much safer all in all.
