I like a house, but it has cracks and uneven floors

tucbiscuit

Hi I have just been to see a house and it's a good size in a really nice location.

The thing is it has some cracks, some fairly significant ones on internal walls (the outside is mainly rendered) and a concrete floor is uneven in the through lounge....it falls away towards the back and ones side.

It is a semi and where the floor falls away is where it meets the other house.

I don't want to put an offer in and then wait until the survey to discover the faults I'd rather be aware from day one and go in with my eyes wide open.

So has anyone ever take a structural engineer or surveyor with them to have a viewing of a property to give them an idea of it's structural condition? I know their opinion at this stage wouldn't be legally binding etc, but just so they can give you an idea of whether a property is worth pursuing.

Has anyone ever done this? what person did you use (structural engineer/ surveyor/ other?) what would they charge for giving a property a cursory look?


thanks for any advice

ukmaggie45

tucbiscuit wrote: »

Hi I have just been to see a house and it's a good size in a really nice location.

The thing is it has some cracks, some fairly significant ones on internal walls (the outside is mainly rendered) and a concrete floor is uneven in the through lounge....it falls away towards the back and ones side.

Concrete floor being uneven raises questions to me.

Suggest you search for "concrete sulphate attack" and "concrete sulfate attack" on Google - or whatever your preferred search engine is.

We had a full structural survey on a bungalow recently that surveyor suggested this was happening in. Everything else needed doing too (electrics, central heating, gas, etc etc) so having to dig up and replace the floors was just a step too far for us.

If you really really love the place, and are prepared to spend for a full structural survey (expensive, and may bring up a "deal breaker") it's worth the pay out to avoid making an awful mistake!

I guess you probably could get a structural surveyor to go round with you, but suspect it would cost an arm and a leg unless they were a close friend.

Are you a first time buyer? If so, you might want to look at costs for professional advice on structural questions.

chickmug

As a potential buyer you are entitled to ask for any form of inspection before or after offering. Whether you wish to accompany the person making the inspection (for you) is up to you and the person you are asking to go.

However a surveyor may not like it and suggest he goes round by himself and meets you at the endof his inspection.

bryanb

Is the render new? Are all the semis rendered? Is the render to cover a problem? Have you asked if there has been subsidence? (ask in writing)

trumpton

Cracking in a period house can simply be settlement - unsightly, but not structurally significant unless it is really bad. Most semis from the 30's will have some in the ceilings and walls if the plaster is original.

However, the floor 'falling away' could suggest subsidence. Is it in a mining area? At the very worst this would mean underpinning, which is expensive and might put people off buying the house when you come to sell.

On the other hand it could be something trivial like uneven floorboards. You could take a surveyor with you to view, but you would have to pay him. If you then decided to buy you would have to shell out for a survey anyway.

Unless you can get a surveyor to look at the house cheaply, you might as well make an offer, get a survey, then renegotiate if anything bad comes up. If the price is right I wouldn't necessarily let structural work put me off a really nice house - the problem is that it is hard to estimate what the work will cost without having a structural survey and getting lots of quotes. Good luck.

toja

My case is a little different. I recently bought a house with a past movement that is not progressive. The survey stated that floors and stairs are out of level that “can be accepted”. I got a standard insurance although there were insurers that refused to insure. My house does not seem to have cracks, but I have read that you should be worried if the smallest finger can fit into the crack. The floor is very uneven though and it became especially visible when all furniture was moved out. What am I going to do about that? Nothing! I am going to live with it trusting the structural survey which says is not going to move more.