When looking for a house to buy, one has to admit that people are usually immediately drawn to the curb appeal of the house.
When looking a house over, people focus on obvious things like the foundation of the house or signs of obvious structural issues.
Inspecting the attic isn't always something people think about doing.
However, it would be a big mistake to overlook inspecting the attic.
The attic reveals several things about the history of a house that you probably won't be able to see right away from the exterior or from the immediate interior areas of the house.
For example, if you're looking through San Marcos homes for sale and became quite enamored with a particular San Marcos real estate property, you'd definitely give a lot of thought on first impressions, but checking the attic may not be foremost in your mind.
Besides, how many people like going to the attic even after buying the house, right? Here are a few things an inspection of the attic may reveal to you: 1.
Water damage - The attic will probably show you if your roof has a leak on it because water damage would be apparent here.
Since water will flow from the top of the house (the roof) to the sides if there's no holes in it, a roof that's intact will also show an attic without water damage.
2.
Pest damage - Since the attic is one part of the house that people don't often visit, it's very easy for rats, squirrels, and even raccoons to find a cozy residence here.
If the attic is being used as storage, these animals will find it easier to take refuge in the attic and hide (and propagate) there.
The last thing you want is to have a house with an uncontrollable pest issue.
Pests can chew away at insulation and do a lot of damage to your attic, and will eventually come out and make their way to other areas of the house someday.
3.
Previous history of fire - Looking at the condition of the rafters can tell you whether there was a fire in the house before.
If the wood's color is darker than the natural color, if there are dark discolorations in some areas, if there are charred wood in some places, these are obvious indicators of fire damage.
If you look at the rafters, smoke marks can also give a past history of fire away.
Some issues with the house may not be known even to the owners.
When you discover something new in the attic, it's not always because the seller is concealing these things from you.
A lot of times, the owners of the home overlook things like this as well.
After all, not everybody would think to look into the attic of their own homes to maintain them.
Some people only find out about serious water damage or rodent issues in their house when the home inspector comes.
You can have the home inspector give you an update on how the attic looks like, if you're not comfortable with looking at it yourself.