Home maintenance for Grandview's hundred year old houses.

What I look for in Grandview Heights homes

Here is what I pay attention to in older Grandview houses.

• Galvanized water pipe hiding somewhere.Houses this age were often plumbed with galvanized steel. Even a house that has been mostly repiped can have a stretch of it left in the basement or a wall. Galvanized rusts from the inside, which shows up as low water pressure and, later, leaks. If I see it, I photograph it and note it in your Home Record so a plumber can give you a real quote.
• Basements that were never meant to be living space.A 100 year old foundation can get damp after a heavy rain even when it has never flooded. The summer visit reads basement humidity and checks the dehumidifier filter and drain if you have one. Anything stored on the floor near the water heater is worth moving up.
• Furnaces and water heaters squeezed into old basements.The equipment in these houses has been replaced more than once and is often tucked into tight corners. A hard to reach filter slot is a filter that never gets changed. I replace it every visit and write down the size, so you never have to guess at the store.
• Updates that moved the water around.A kitchen moved to the back, a second bathroom added upstairs, laundry brought up from the basement. Every one of those means water lines in places the house wasn't built for. On the walkthrough we decide where your leak sensors do the most good, and that is often an upstairs bath or laundry.

Serving Grandview Heights and Marble Cliff, on the streets around Grandview Avenue and West First Avenue.