The quiet half
Some problems announce themselves. The dangerous ones do not.
Everything under what is it doing starts because something broke and you noticed. These are the opposite. There is nothing to notice, nothing leaking and nothing making a noise, and the only way to know is to go and find out.
Each one is the same shape: whether it applies to your house, the cheap test that answers it, what the number means, and only then what it costs if the answer is bad.
Written
- RadonRadon is the one house problem with no symptom at all. A $10 to $25 kit is the only way to find out, EPA says fix at 4 pCi/L, and this covers where to put the test, how to read the result, and what mitigation actually costs.
- Hard water and scaleNobody is required to tell you how hard your water is, and the map behind every "hardness by ZIP code" page is 1975 stream data. Here is the free test you can do in a bottle, the $10 strip that gives you the number, and what a softener costs.
- Well waterIf your water comes from a private well, nobody is testing it but you. EPA does not regulate private wells and nor do most states. Here is the annual four, what to add based on what is near your well, and the results that mean stop drinking it.
- Crawl space dampA damp crawl space announces itself as a musty smell upstairs, if it announces itself at all. A $10 to $50 humidity meter and twenty minutes under the house answers it, and EPA puts the line at 60 percent relative humidity.
- TermitesMost people find out they have termites when they see a swarm or open a wall. EPA's own check needs a flathead screwdriver: probe exposed wood for hollow spots. Here is what to look for, how to tell a swarmer from an ant, and what treatment costs.
- Sewer lateralThe sewer lateral is yours, it is buried, and most people never think about it until it backs up. If the house went up between the late 1940s and the early 1970s it may be Orangeburg, whose advertised life was 50 years. Here is how to find out, and what it costs either way.
- SepticOne in five US homes treat their own sewage in the garden, and plenty of owners are not certain they are one of them. Here is how to tell from your water bill, how to find the tank, what EPA says about pumping intervals, and what it costs when the drain field goes.
- Knob and tube wiringInterNACHI says knob and tube is not inherently dangerous and that no code requires its complete removal. The danger is age, modification, and building insulation laid over the wires. Here is how to recognise it in your own basement, what the four states of it mean, and what a rewire actually costs.
- Polybutylene pipeInterNACHI says polybutylene deteriorates from the inside and cannot be checked without dismantling the pipe, so no inspection can tell you how much life yours has left. Here is how to identify it in your own basement, what the lookalikes are, and what repiping actually costs.