May These Irish Proverbs Make You a More Well-Informed Homeowner
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With St. Patrick’s Day just around the corner, we can do a lot better than just wishing you luck with your next home purchase. “Luck” isn’t really good enough when it comes to what could be the biggest, most important purchase you make. Luckily, Irish culture has ever so much more to offer in wise, charming, and often funny proverbs that we can learn from to help with life, love, and certainly when purchasing a home.
Here’s how we put Irish proverbs to use in some home inspections:
“Put silk on a goat, and it’s still a goat“
This homeowner only fixed the street side of their roof — the side people can see. Reminds me of another roof our inspectors found. The sellers had actually painted a really old, crumbling roof black so that it looked like a new roof from the street if you didn’t look too closely. Whether it’s done for the aesthetics or to actually fool buyers is immaterial. At the end of the day, it’s up to the buyer to uncover the true state of the roof and decide whether that’s something they want to purchase or not.
“May the roof above you never fall in, and those gathered beneath it never fall out”
This wrinkly roof is a telltale sign of foundation movement that not many are aware of. This happens when the foundation becomes elevated on two sides, creating pressure in the middle.
“May your wastewater always run downstream”
You’d be surprised (or maybe you wouldn’t …) by what can end up getting flushed down the toilet at a construction site. Even without something like a protective suit clogging up your wastewater, if drain lines don’t get covered properly, a lot of dust and debris from construction sites often ends up in the sewer line, leading to clogged drains down the road. A sewer scope inspection is a great test to add to your checklist if you’re buying a new home or one that has had recent updates.
“There’s nothing so bad that it couldn’t be worse”
Ah, the ball test. This is an easy way to tell if you have foundation movement in your home — never a welcome sign. But not all foundation movement is a sign of major damage, so just because the ball is rolling doesn’t mean you have a huge problem. Have a structural engineer come out to do an assessment to find out what, if anything, you need done.
And the best home inspection-related Irish proverb of all? “Always remember that hindsight is the best insight to foresight.” When it comes to your home, the best protection from that “I wish I’d known then what I know now” feeling is to know as much as you can in advance.
