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In
today’s world of homes made of precast and prefabricated
parts, wood as a housing material seems passé. If ever
wood, be it narra or llantoc, makes it to the
construction site, it’s either as cement braces,
furniture, or replacement parts for damaged floors,
walls and ceilings of old houses.
If you
find yourself with the choice—or opportunity, as the
case may be—of purchasing a house with a lot of wooden
parts, you may want to consider several issues before
handing over that check to the broker or seller.
Wood is
a beautiful material, especially when used on the
exterior of a house. The primary reason why wood is not
used in house construction as often as before is because
it is not as durable as cement, steel and stone.
You need
to be very careful before committing to the purchase of
a house. If the house has wood and brick on the
exterior, you need to consider the following issues.
The
first thing you need to know when checking wood in your
new home or home-to-be is that appearances can be
deceiving. How a wooden beam looks like, for example,
has no bearing on its condition. A perfect-looking beam
or wood trim may hide a rotting interior, courtesy of
termites and wear and tear due to extreme temperatures.
When you
inspect a house with lots of wooden parts, be it beams,
ceilings, or floor and wall panels, make sure to knock,
bump and tap on them. The best tip in handling this is
never, ever trust your eyes to do the inspection.
This
leads us to the second thing you need to know—and
do—when you are considering the purchase of a house with
some or many wooden parts. One of the biggest issues
hurled at the once-famous wood is degradation.
When
going on a tour of that house you are eyeing, make sure
you physically touch these wooden parts. Aside from
knocking, bumping and tapping on them, you might want to
intensify your inspection by poking and stabbing wooden
beams, doors, walls and windowsills.
Remember
that soft areas in thick wood indicate internal rotting.
If you find even one wooden part in this state, chances
are most wood in the house are either infested with
termites or haven’t been replaced since the time you
were born. Make haste and go down to the next house on
your list.
Why
should you have a sudden change of heart when you find
soft spots in the wooden parts of the house? It’s
because if you find these soft areas troubling,
something much worse can and will happen to the wood.
What’s
worse than knowing the wood is being eaten from the
inside? When you finally get around to doing the
physical inspection and start poking wood, you may want
to make a run for it if you see dusts and bits—or
chunks—of wood falling out or off. This is a sure sign
that termites have come, seen and conquered.
Wood can
be very attractive for first-time homebuyers and
sentimental people wanting to get their hands on classic
homes but, just like most experts say, it’s simply too
unreliable a material, especially for houses in a
tropical country, where storms and typhoons make short
work of flimsy walls and ceilings. |
