photo credit: sub-urban.com
When you’re buying a property, you have all sorts of surveys conducted to find out whether there are any problems with your new property and the land it stands on. One thing you may not consider however, and which is often not included in property surveys, is a drainage survey. However, one of these could be invaluable if you ever need to make an insurance claim for damage caused by blocked drains.
If you do not have a drainage survey when buying a new home, this could lead to serious problems and costly repairs down the line. Collapses, subsidence, invasive tree roots and cracked or broken pipes could all pose problems, especially if the property you are buying is old or has been empty for a long time.
This is where a drain survey comes in. This involves a digital CCTV camera being fed through the pipes, recording everything along the way. The drain cleaning engineer can view these images on a monitor and find any current or potential problems.
You usually have to pay for these surveys yourself, but the cost is definitely worth it, especially when you weigh it up against the possible cost of damage and repairs later on. Even if your survey doesn’t find any current problems, it may highlight something that could become a problem in the future, allowing you to fix it before it causes any damage. Even the smallest everyday wear and tear could become more serious if it’s allowed to go unchecked.
Drains surveys can also help when it comes to insurance claims. CCTV drain survey providers will be able to provide you with the results of your survey in several ways. You can request a DVD copy of the inspection, a series of still images, or a written report. These are essential if you want to make a claim, as you will be asked by your insurance company to provide full documentation of the problem and any other issues that might show up.
Make sure you read your policy carefully when making a claim, too. Some insurers do not cover shared drains, for example. If you are not covered, you can take out insurance specifically intended for drainage and plumbing, which will cover you against a range of issues concerning drainage, structural damage, your boiler and so on.
Your home insurance company might even refuse to pay out in the event of drainage issues, especially if they are related to structural problems, as they may question why you did not undertake a drains survey during the buying process.
So, it’s a good idea to request a CCTV drains survey, especially if you’re buying a property. But even if you’re not, it’s a good idea to have one anyway. You never know what might turn up, and it’s always best to err on the side of caution.
Author Bio
Helen Laird writes for Blitz Drainage in Nottingham, a family-run company specialising in CCTV drain surveys and drain cleaning.
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