After doing 1000s of commercial inspections and participating in numerous classes addressing practically every aspect of construction, one subject stands out above all the rest.  It also is regarded as the #1 concern mentioned by nearly all buyers: That subject is moisture and its many associated issues.

As an illustration, if you're looking at a piece of property and the roof requires replacing then you're often looking at tens of thousands of dollars in cost to correct just the roofing.  But has this particular bad roof caused leaks over such a long period of time that it has rotted some of the supports?  Has leakage caused mold to build and spread within the walls due to inadequate drainage?  Has the lack of suitable routing of the water away from the foundation prompted the undermining of the structure to the point it's now resulting in settling?

As part of my continuing education, I went to a seminar where the speaker was a forensic moisture expert who made the point that, “Wet Happens!”.  It’s not really a matter of if but when. He proceeded to demonstrate the various ways dampness might cause problems.  He gave us an example of a brand new hotel in Vegas that was having issues in the bathrooms with mold growing behind the expensive vinyl wall paper. The customers had been getting sick and the hotel was going crazy.   He found out that when the door was shut the bathroom was so well sealed that when the vent fan was turned on it pulled moisture from the outside and because the wall paper had a vinyl lining the moisture ended up being trapped against the wall and the wallpaper so mold started to develop.  The simple solution ended up being to cut ½ inch off of the bottom of the bathroom doors which did handle the problem. The cost to handle the mold damage was, obviously, another expense.

I was at a different seminar that dealt with legal issues in real estate transactions and how to mitigate them.  The number one area of litigation with regards to real estate transactions had to do with moisture related problems.  In fact I've been told by a lot of legal experts that 60 - 80% of all litigation regarding real estate transactions is because of moisture damage.  I believe it.

Moisture is so subtle it can cause problems today which were not present yesterday.  A roof drain gets clogged with a tennis ball and the back-up winds up causing a part of the roof to collapse.  The downspout end falls off and it rains and undermines the structure because of erosion which causes settlement.  The wind blows water through the skylight vents and wrecks items below.  The toilet backs up and wrecks the bathroom and the rooms beneath.  The rubber window seals have aged and hardened and no longer keep the water from sprinklers or rain out therefore the walls bubble and blister and cause mold to form.  The hot water heater breaks and damages everything close to it as a result of an improperly installed emergency overflow pan beneath it.  In our inspections we have noticed each one of these and much more.

We pay particular attention to moisture.  The question is not how to end it but how to control it.  “Wet Happens!”  The secret is the way to control it.

Sometimes the cure for these problems can be as simple as getting sprinkler heads which don’t spray water up against the building.  Occasionally the cure can be tens of thousands of dollars to replace a roof structure.  Sometimes simple, low-cost routine repairs done by a knowledgeable expert may prevent any of these occurrences from ever becoming a problem. 

Whenever you retain the services of Commercial Real Estate Inspectors to do your real estate inspection, we can provide you with a far better understanding of how your building and site is handling moisture.  You are usually spending millions to buy these properties.  You need to have a complete inspection done by an experienced professional so that you and your agent can correctly evaluate the property, its current condition, costs to cure and what the property will set you back over the next 5 years.