The proper installation of a leader.

Leaders can be a eye sore, but when properly installed around a home  they can look aesthetically pleasing.  Recently, I was hired for a home inspection in Chicago Illinois’s Bucktown neighborhood.  Bucktown is a trendy neighborhood north of Wicker Park and east of Logan Square.  These areas are known for their old brick built homes and buildings.  These areas have changed within 10 years from a questionable area to a hip urban metropolis.  You can still buy a single family home or a condo in a chic condo building.  It is really all about what you want.  Its all here for the taking. 

My new clients were interested in a 1910 single family home that happened to be a brick built home.  The property lines of the Chicago home inspection were 25′ frontage by 125′ deep.  This is a typical size city lot that you will see in the Bucktown area.  The problem I seem to see on a regular basis is tight lot lines.  Almost to the point of being able to touch walls of two properties at the same time.  The problem is the roof drainage used to be tied into the city sewer system and now the city of Chicago want the roof downspouts to go to leaders and dump on the permeable area on the property.  Most of the home inspections in Chicago do not have permeable areas for the rainwater to go to.  The standard for leaders is 6′ from the foundation or more with splash blocks to prevent erosion. 

The home inspection in Chicago that I was doing didn’t have leaders or splash blocks.  If these conditions were like this for a long enough time can possibly cause foundation issues.  What happens is the rain water soaks into the area around the foundation and erodes the water under the footings and causes the foundation to crack and possibly displace.  The good news for my clients from the home inspection in Chicago was that there wasn’t any issues with cracked foundations.  This could have cost at least $300.00 to $400.00 per crack.  To see other potential cost check out~  www.pinnaclepropertyinspection.com/repair-replacement-costs.html   Remember to extend your leaders to prevent these possible expensive issues.  

If  you have question’s about why leaders are where they are positioned please contact us at~ www.pinnaclepropertyinspection.com 

Please leave a comment if this was helpful.  Thank You~  Jim Kolke