Few survey questions

First_2

Hi there,
FTB and the results of a home buyers survey have come back and in general they seem good but I have a few questions if anyone with experience could help me...

The survey mentioned that there was insufficient through ventilation for the sub-floor voids (not enough air bricks) and suggests considering further air bricks to the gable end to help prevent future damp penetration (no current damp thankfully). Anyone had this done before - any idea how easy / quick / expensive it is?

Also the survey mentions some of the ceilings and some high parts of the walls in a few rooms have a 'textured plaster finish' and 'finishes applied before 1980 can incorporate an asbestos content' [house built in 40s]. It sounds to me a bit of a cover-all statement - is this pretty standard? I doubt I'll ever want to drill or hammer anything into this plasterwork so should I be bothered (it's not flagged as a defect, just a comment in the descriptions)?

Thanks.

gooner63_2

Extra air bricks for sub floor ventilation is a small job and shouldn't cost very much at all.....I did my own a while back (about 20 years ago) when it was also mentioned in my survey !!!

First_2

Thanks, I did a google and saw that it doesn't look too hard a job, but still pretty much outside my hands-on capabilities Has anyone done this and have a rough estimate on getting someone competant to do it for me!

Eric1

First wrote: »

Also the survey mentions some of the ceilings and some high parts of the walls in a few rooms have a 'textured plaster finish' and 'finishes applied before 1980 can incorporate an asbestos content' [house built in 40s]. It sounds to me a bit of a cover-all statement - is this pretty standard? I doubt I'll ever want to drill or hammer anything into this plasterwork so should I be bothered (it's not flagged as a defect, just a comment in the descriptions)?

Google "remove artex" and "asbestos".

tbs624

If the artex is in good condition ( and you don't mind the patterny stuff) then leave it alone.

The surveyor is covering his back.

Your local Council can give you good advice on asbestos - the type likely to be contained within artex is white asbestos, which has the lowest risk factor ( Other types are blue and brown) Also see here

As a previous poster has said, inserting new air bricks is a straightforward job - ring round some local builders/brickies for advice. You may want to see if you can negotiate with the vendor on the cost.

David_Aldred

Hi First,
The purpose of sub floor ventilation is to remove moisture laden that evaporates up from the ground beneath a suspended timber ground floor and not to resolve penetrating dampness. If the sub floor ventilation has been noted as being inadequate for the sub floor conditions then consequentially damp moisture laden air is migrating up into the floor with the risk of causing decay including dry rot. This moisture laden air may also be absorbed by brickwork above the level of the damp proof course (dpc) irrespective of whether that dpc is effective or not with again a risk of dampness to low level plaster and decay of low level skirting / base of stairs / door frames etc. Timber that is damp / decaying is also at greater risk of wood boring insect attack.

The first thing I would want to know is the condition of the ground floor timbers throughout including those within the sub floor voids and especially the moisture content values noted especially where any joists are built into wall and from that whether any remedial works were required including support measures such as boron preservatives during the drying down phase once additional sub floor vents are inserted.

The number of vents inserted needs to be sufficient to maintain the moisture content of ground floor timbers below the threshold of decay and anything less than this will leave the timbers at risk of decay if it has not occurred already. Accordingly the person undertaking such work needs to be made aware of why they are doing this and their liability of putting an inadeqaute number of sub floor floor vents in place shoudl the floors continue to be at risk of or indeed decay. The vents need to promote cross ventilation of the sub floor voids throughout - that is a draught from one side of the sub floor void to the other.

In the case of cavity walls these sub floor vents should be ducted (think forming a tube) all the way through the thickness of the cavity wall which may, depending upon ground levels if they are higher than the sub floor void, have to be in the form of a periscope box available from builders merchants. Do not simply put an air brick in the outer leaf and then vent the cavity within such a wall as this will create a cold spot on the internal wall surface prone to condensation with associated mould growth. Hope this helps, kindest regards David Aldred Indpendent damp and timber surveyor

motherofstudents

Hi there First, we had a similar situation when we bought our bungalow a couple of years ago. We actually did some of the airbricks ourselves. You do need to be aware of getting the ventilation to go across both ways i.e. put airbricks on more than one side. Also we used something to make sure the air goes across the cavity, it's like a periscope thing. It is certainly not a difficult job (if I can do it anyone can) but if you are not confident it is not a big or expensive job for a builder. We had some installed by our builder while he was doing another job and I have to say he did a neater job with the mortar. Good luck:)

First_2

tbs624 wrote: »

If the artex is in good condition ( and you don't mind the patterny stuff) then leave it alone.

The surveyor is covering his back.

Your local Council can give you good advice on asbestos - the type likely to be contained within artex is white asbestos, which has the lowest risk factor ( Other types are blue and brown) Also see link

Great, thanks, that's what I was hoping but nice to se some information backing it up. Interesting to know I can drill a hole through it if I need to in the future without too much worry either (not that I plan to!).

First_2

Thanks also to motherofstudents, and to David for your detailed reply. The ventilation comment was because there was two airbricks at the front of the house and only one at the back. There's a conservatory at the back so maybe(?) a second airbrick was blocked up when that was added a few years ago.

I'll certainly make it a priority to get some extra airbricks put in if I get the house, glad it doesn't sound too pricey.