diff --git a/node.go b/node.go
index 73988b5c4..ffa6ea9f1 100644
--- a/node.go
+++ b/node.go
@@ -188,12 +188,16 @@ func (n *node) read(p *page) {
 }
 
 // write writes the items onto one or more pages.
+// The page should have p.id (might be 0 for meta or bucket-inline page) and p.overflow set
+// and the rest should be zeroed.
 func (n *node) write(p *page) {
+	_assert(p.count == 0 && p.flags == 0, "node cannot be written into a not empty page")
+
 	// Initialize page.
 	if n.isLeaf {
-		p.flags |= leafPageFlag
+		p.flags = leafPageFlag
 	} else {
-		p.flags |= branchPageFlag
+		p.flags = branchPageFlag
 	}
 
 	if len(n.inodes) >= 0xFFFF {
diff --git a/page.go b/page.go
index c9a158fb0..379645c97 100644
--- a/page.go
+++ b/page.go
@@ -53,6 +53,16 @@ func (p *page) meta() *meta {
 	return (*meta)(unsafeAdd(unsafe.Pointer(p), unsafe.Sizeof(*p)))
 }
 
+func (p *page) fastCheck(id pgid) {
+	_assert(p.id == id, "Page expected to be: %v, but self identifies as %v", id, p.id)
+	// Only one flag of page-type can be set.
+	_assert(p.flags == branchPageFlag ||
+		p.flags == leafPageFlag ||
+		p.flags == metaPageFlag ||
+		p.flags == freelistPageFlag,
+		"page %v: has unexpected type/flags: %x", p.id, p.flags)
+}
+
 // leafPageElement retrieves the leaf node by index
 func (p *page) leafPageElement(index uint16) *leafPageElement {
 	return (*leafPageElement)(unsafeIndex(unsafe.Pointer(p), unsafe.Sizeof(*p),
diff --git a/tx.go b/tx.go
index 2cc180aa8..269a18fe8 100644
--- a/tx.go
+++ b/tx.go
@@ -609,12 +609,15 @@ func (tx *Tx) page(id pgid) *page {
 	// Check the dirty pages first.
 	if tx.pages != nil {
 		if p, ok := tx.pages[id]; ok {
+			p.fastCheck(id)
 			return p
 		}
 	}
 
 	// Otherwise return directly from the mmap.
-	return tx.db.page(id)
+	p := tx.db.page(id)
+	p.fastCheck(id)
+	return p
 }
 
 // forEachPage iterates over every page within a given page and executes a function.