Houses that have neighbors up the hill are prone to having subterranean water drainage – and with the drought conditions, it’s not as obvious until a big rain. Note the discoloration and holes in the concrete, and weeds blooming. Drywall in the living room tested ‘red’, the highest moisture level:
Learned this lesson the hard way. Bought a lovely house in a little quiet canyon in October 1997. If you recall, it rained a little that year. First time I realized what the “wet/dry” shop-vac was really useful for. Also learned a lot about subsurface water movement and French drains…..
but what do you do in the summertime? how can you check for these things when it isn’t raining?
Common sense and critical observation goes a long way — knowing the issue is possible is a first and important step. Most often there will be little clues around. Efflorescence on concrete is one. Look closely at slopes (micro and macro) and where water might run. Hire an expert or at least talk it over with your inspector. Read the disclosures carefully and critically watch for little halfway disclosures that should make you put on your investigators thinking cap. Chat up your soon-to-be neighbors in a friendly way; many will spill the beans knowing that they’ll have to live with your ire for years to come if they help cover things up. Also, ask the seller point blank if they’ve ever had issues (see, for example, ‘seller supplementary questionnaire’), and so forth. At the end of the day, if there is a problem, it is fixable, it always is. Just about how much it will cost… Finally, in the current sellers market, don’t count on them agreeing to kick anything in….
Reminds me of the house we’ve been renting for the past 2 years.
Long story short, the main water pipe from the street to the house was Polybutylene and had a leak. Which was leaking over 200 gallons of water per day underground. Took about $2K to fix and replace with copper.
Now our daily usage is down to under 50 gals per day, average. But, we’re still waiting for San Diego water to adjust the sewer discharge fee, which apparently only gets evaluated between December and March.
So, another way to check for any house leaks, is to check the water meter and if nobody is using any water inside the house and nothing is leaking like toilets, etc, then the orange triangle should not be moving at all.
If it is spinning, there’s a leak somewhere on the property.