Syracuse's annual Healthy Housing 101 program shows homebuyers and renters how to identify potential problem areas in a home they're considering renting or buying.
On a recent tour of a vacant house riddled with code violations, reporters and city leaders took a tour of a single-family home on South Midler Avenue.
“Come on up,” Mujahid Muhammed ushered the group, “This is stop number one here on the front porch.”
On the outside, it appeared in decent shape. Most of the siding and windows were intact, but Muhammed, a lead hazard control coordinator with Syracuse, pointed out some classic trouble spots.
“You're going to see a lot of the different types of lead deterioration. You got alligator and cracking, different types of peeling and chipping,” he said for instance.
When Neighborhood Development Commissioner Michael Collins surveyed the house, he stayed focused on an overarching goal.
“Making sure that generally the place is safe,” he said, that means not just checking for electrical code violations, but also plumbing, “that might have to do with toilets or tubs not draining correctly.”
As the group moved through the house, water damage was apparent in several rooms.
“When you see damage of this nature,” he pointed to a stain on the ceiling in an upper bedroom, “That's going to indicate that there's probably a moisture problem upstairs in the attic. Water is usually going to be the most damaging element to your home.”
Near the back of the house, he stopped to show an addition, where the rooflines do not meet and water appeared to seep through a large gap.
“You're seeing where the roof is damaged. You're seeing where the rafters are warped,” Muhammed showed how paint sloughed off the wall indicated a bigger problem that, “needed to be patched since moisture damage to the floor proceeds all the way down to the foundation.”
Muhammed warned that city codes do not cite for mold alone, but rather the causes of mold, “like leaky roofs and plumbing.”
It is up to the renters or buyers, he said, to check for exposed wiring and other electrical hazards, as well as gas hookups, and remember to check that the home has smoke and carbon monoxide detectors on every floor.
The Healthy Housing 101 tour is offered every year to the public and was launched in 2018 to maintain safe and healthy housing conditions in the city of Syracuse.
