What to check in the bathroom when viewing a house
Bathrooms are expensive rooms to put right, and they hide their problems well. A twenty-minute viewing rarely leaves time to look properly, so it helps to go in with a short list and to look at the things a seller has least reason to point out.
Run everything
Turn on every tap, run the shower for a full minute and flush the toilet. Watch for pressure dropping when two outlets run together, water that takes a long time to warm, and a basin or tray that drains slowly or gurgles. Slow drains are usually a cheap fix; low pressure across the whole house may not be.
Look for old leaks
Check the ceiling directly under the bathroom from the room below. A stain there, or a patch of newer paint on an otherwise tired ceiling, suggests a leak at some point. Press the floor around the toilet and in front of the bath or shower with your heel. Flex, a soft spot or a lifting floor covering means water has reached the boards.
Be wary of anything brand new
Fresh sealant round the bath, a newly painted ceiling or a single replaced row of tiles in an otherwise tired room is not proof of a problem, but it is worth a question. So is a strong smell of air freshener, or a window left wide open on a cold day. A faint musty smell that remains once the room has aired is more telling than anything you can see. In hot, dry places buyers sometimes assume damp cannot be an issue, yet a slow leak behind a shower wall can grow undisturbed for years, and buyers in Arizona are often advised to book a Tucson mold assessment team before exchanging if anything in the bathroom seems off. Anywhere, a specialist inspection costs far less than reopening a finished wall after you move in.
Ventilation and windows
Find the extractor fan, switch it on and hold a sheet of toilet paper near the grille; it should be drawn firmly against it. Check whether the fan vents outside. Look at the window frame and the corners of the ceiling for spotting, which shows how the room has been used.
Ask the right questions
Ask how old the suite and the tiling are, whether there has ever been a leak and how it was repaired, and whether any work was done under a warranty you can inherit. Keep the answers with your survey notes. A clear story and a few receipts are worth almost as much as a perfect room.