Liveability is a core requirement for housing and one that is often taken for granted by those accustomed to renting property – or on the market for their first. There are several essentials that make a liveable home, some of which may not be present in your home whether current or prospective. How might you properly investigate if your house is fit to live in?
Structural Stability
Perhaps the most fundamental aspect of establishing the suitability of your home for habitation is the examination of its structural stability. This is the first thing for which quantity surveyors will look when evaluating new homes on behalf of buyers, as issues in the form of subsidence or potential structural failure pose an expensive, even existential, threat.
Structural instability is not the end of a home’s life cycle but can pose serious short-term risks to other parts of your property – including your plumbing and electrics. One of the most easily-spotted signifiers of structural instability is the sudden appearance of cracks in the walls and ceiling, which could suggest that your house is settling unevenly on its foundations.
Damp and Mould
While not as singly important as structural stability, damp and mould can still have a serious impact on the liveability of a space in the short- and long-term. Damp and mould can occur for a number of different reasons, all of which result in the ingress or propagation of moisture inside.
One common cause of damp occurring inside is the improper installation of cavity wall insulation, which can compromise the seal of your external walls. Due to the dangerous nature of damp and mould, cavity wall negligence claims are deemed important to hold the businesses at fault accountable.
Incidences of damp are dangerous owing to the potential growth of moulds and fungi, which themselves can produce dangerous airborne spores. The risk of respiratory illness increases in damp homes, to say nothing of the long-term damage damp can cause to walls and structures.
Insulation
With regards to cavity wall insulation, the insulation itself is a supremely important provision for making a home suitable to live in. Without even the most basic of provisions for insulation, heat is transferred out of the house at a substantial rate – resulting in cold nights and high energy bills.
At a time when energy bills are considerably expensive for a key majority of households, the importance of insulation has been made ever more evident. Cavity wall insulation is particularly effective, but so too is roof insulation and proper approaches to building internal walls.
Ventilation
Damp and mould can have a variety of root causes, as alluded to above. Another key origin for damp is poor ventilation, which can see cause a buil- up of indoor condensation. In modern homes, which are much more airtight and secure than older builds, ventilation is provided through trickle vents which are installed alongside windows.