Home report showing rotton timber...Advise needed.

rainbowqry

As FTB, my hubby and I just viewed a house that we are both very interested. It is a 1920’s blonde sandstone mid terrace, 3 bedrooms and 2 living rooms. The home report discovered some issues, and the major one is timber decay.

1) There is evidence of timber decay. Springy flooring noted in some apartments along with a dropped section could be indicative of enclosed decay. Creaking floorboards were also observed. – This is the major issue that concerns us. We can feel the floor creaking and kind of bouncing when walk on it in two of the bedrooms. And the estimated repair costs according to home report are £2000. Any idea what kind of repair it would be for £2000? Is it to replace some rotten timber or the whole floor, or some kind of damp treatment?

2) The windows and other external joinery timbers are affected by decay - I’m not particular worried about the windows, as they are single glazed and we would get them all changed after move in anyway. But the window frames are all recently painted, and also the external wall. I don’t know whether they do it just to make it looks better, or to cover some nasty problems? As to the external joinery timbers, would it be sth we need to worry about?

I would really appreciate some advise regarding this before call the specialist for further survey. How much it would be to get it checked properly? Some people say that those rot and dampness control company that offer free survey would suggest you to do a lot of work that might not be necessary.

Another silly question, as a mid terraced house, neighbours at both sides have already put extended kitchen in the rear garden in full width as the main building, and this is also what we are planning to do if we buy this house. Would the builder just use the neighbour’s wall as our extended kitchen’s interial wall? That might be a silly question as I know the treatment for internal wall and external wall is different. But would this situation make the whole extension any easier and cheaper?

The house itself needs quite a lot of modernization plus extension, double glazing and the rotten timber need to fix. So it is very important for us to know the accurate number before making the decision whether to put an offer and how much to offer. All in all would 36K be enough for all the refurb, new kitchen and bathroom? The interior floor area is 92 square metres.

Fix Rotton floor 2000
All flooring DIY (solid wood in 2 living rooms and laminate floor for hallway and bedrooms) 3000
Painting (some walls are uneven so need re-plastering first) DIY 350
New bathroom 1000
Extension 20 sqm 20000
New kitchen including units, walls, floors, cooker oven and extractor 7000
Windows double glazing (only front side, ie lounge, upstairs master bedroom and bath) 2400

Sorry to have made this thread that long. I just think the details might be helpful J

hanandhen

hi

if i was u i would get a builder round to have a look and give u a estimate on how much the work would cost,

for the back extension u would need a party wall agreement,

for the £2000, that would be for new floor joists, is the floor springy near the edge of the floor or in the middle, if its the edge then the floor joists have rotted out at the ends which is quite commom, if its in the middle it may just be they are a bit weak and might not be a major problem, but still best to get a builder round,

36k may be enough but best to get a builder round

clutton_2

you need to know exactly what sort of decay it is -= is it wet rot ? dry rot ? wood-boring beetle? death watch beetle ? Ask the neighbours on either side if they have had any of these insects ..... dry rot is an absolute swine to eradicate and very costly - wood-boring beetle involves (replacing any bad timbers) then spraying and not so expensive. Whatg are the roof timbers like ?

most damp-insect companies will do a free survey - get a couple and compare them before making major decisions

rainbowqry

The springy floor happens to the two bigger bedrooms, the smaller third bedroom is quite rigid and can't feel anything like that. It is only in the middle of the room I think. As it is covered by carpet, we were not able to see the floor....

clutton_2

talk to the neighbours - in terraced properties insects such as i describe often migrate throughout the whole terrace

tbs624

I would never get a "free" survey done by a firm whose main job it is to flog you their own chemical treatments etc for timber problems. Seek out an independent - you may find it helpful to read the newspaper columns and books by Jeff Howell. (Construction industry background with research work into damp etc) Google his name or "on the level" , the name of his weekly column

Fire_Fox

I have had very good experience with Rentokil for a damp and timber survey: they actually looked at the root causes of the damp and made a variety of suggestions based on that. Some suggestions were basic work we could do ourselves such as chopping off plaster that was touching the floor behind the skirting and bridging the DPC. You need to get permission from the current owner to look under the carpets and move furniture.