Brett explains that one of the most important parts of a building inspection is wet areas and especially showers. Showers rank very high on QBCC's insurance claims list as they are vulnerable to leaks over time which can cause major structural issues. Brett shows us that he checks the silicon and makes sure it is intact, especially in the corners. He then runs the shower for 10 minutes as per the Australian Standards and afterwards uses his Tramex (moisture meter) to detect for water damage on all adjacent walls.
see transcript
This is just one example of what building inspectors will be looking at when they inspect your house.
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So here we are in the shower. I like to make this one of the first places I come to because we need to have a consistent body of water coming down for a certain amount of time. A minimum of 10 minutes as per the Australian Standards.
These areas I feel are quite important and I pay a little bit particular attention to them because of the issues that QBCC have with insurance claims. It is their most popular claims with regard to insurance claims so I always have a look around.
I make sure the silicon's all intact. I check the internal corners as they are a bit of a weak point for water escaping. So checking the silicon is intact is always good to see and to maintain.
But as I said we run the shower for 10 minutes to replicate a standard shower situation, nothing excessive just recreate the standard situation for having a shower. So what that allows us to do is use the Tramex , which is a moisture meter, and we look at the adjacent walls.
After that 10 minute period, we can check for water damage on the wall. We allow for the 10 minutes to allow the water to seep through. We try to do all the walls. This wall here is directly adjacent but even getting in the cupboards here having to look up. I've found plenty of times a bit of rot around these places and no one ever sees it because it is storage and things can be in the way.
So we just check here for your readings and to see if there is any moisture in there and all adjacent walls that are accessible should be checked