Bay window water ingress

needhelp1_2

Hi,

Apologies if this is the wrong forum for this!

Basically we bought a Victorian terraced house back in November last year. We had a full structural survey carried out in September and it identified a few problems which we were happy with and costed into to the price we paid for the house.

Recently our bay window was damaged by some scaffolders and we have been getting some quotes to repair it. Since the bay window was damaged (hit with planks and some lumps of plaster fell off) a number of cracks have appeared and opened up over the weeks and now the whole top of the structure needs to be repaired.

I have just had a highly recommended company come to assess the damage and they have now told me that the whole top (cornice) of the bay window needs to be replaced as it has been damaged beyond repair by water ingress. This was not mentioned in the survey which says that it 'exhibits no defects'. This is in addition to the repair that is needed for the part damaged by scaffolding.

Now I don't know what to do, the repair cost runs into thousands and I have to get the scaffolders to pay their share. I am now thinking that surely the RICS chartered surveyor should have picked this up.

To confuse matters even further a local builder (not recommended) has said he'll repair the damage for £600. He seems to think that it's reparable and we even mentioned to him that their might be water ingress.

Who is correct and how do I tell. I am thinking of getting another surveyor to come and look at it to get their opinion but this will cost even more more that I don't have.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!!

iamcornholio

You need to try and describe things a bit better

What do you mean by your "bay window" being damaged - the window frame, the brickwork, the fascia, stone mullions, internal, external etc?

What is the damage, cracks, chips, stuff knocked off completly, structural, cosmetic?

Also "exhibits no defects" is not the same as "not being defective". Water damage could cause things to be defective, and yet the area could exhibit no defects

And I doubt that you had a "full structural survey" by a surveyor from the RICS. Building surveyors don't do structural surveys, they do building surveys. A structural engineer does structural surveys, and they are unlikley to be RICS members. And then there are building surveys and homebuyer surveys.

The type of survey you had, will determine what level of insepection was carried out - and what was expected to be seen

needhelp1_2

Hi iamcornholio, thanks for replying.

Okay, well you are right about the survey - it was a 'Building Survey Report' done privately in addition to the mortgage survey as I didn't want to fall prey to the same problems that I did in my previous house.

The bay window exterior is made of Bathstone and it is this that has been damaged. Basically the scaffolders stood on top of it and hit their boards off it to remove snow. Two large chucks were knocked out and hairline cracks appeared in several places. Now, a few weeks later the stonework is a mess, it's flaking and cracking all over the top of the bay and masonry is crumbling and falling out, apparantly due to water ingress.

I am just waiting to hear back from the company who came to look at it whether or not they can tell if the water damage is old or recent as this will shed some light on whether the survey should have picked up any problems. *Company have now confirmed that they are not qualified to say how old the problem is and we must commission a survey. Do we get a RICS chartered surveyor or a chartered structural engineer - both seem to do the same thing?*

I can see that there is certainly no water damage/damp on the ceiling of the bay window inside which is surprising if the water has penetrated deeply enough for the whole exterior parapet section to have to be replaced.

Will update when I know more. *Done*

Thanks