Another rant about our new house - dry rot

vegasvisitor

Hi

Not sure if any of you read my last rant about the drainage at our house. The previous owner had called out the drainage company that we called, and had declined to get the problem fixed when they were told they needed the drive dug up. They basically left it for 2 years and sold the house as it was, knowing full well that the bath water runs down the driveway.

Well, here's the next part. We knew there were some problems with the 'rainwater fittings' as stated in the survey. Now that we have had someone out to replace the gutters and all the old wood too with UPVC, the guy has now discovered dry rot in the roof timbers, to an extent where he has stopped working until it is fixed first. He has advised us to call our lawyers, as he says this should have been on the survey, because of the obvious state of the gutters, slipped tiles he thinks it should have been checked.

Now being in Scotland, this survey is the seller's home report (you now wonder if they are working for who pays them then and therefore not being too thorough with problems), so the guttering guy has said to see if the lawyer can take it up with the surveyor. He says he has know this to be successful in the past.

Really annoying. That's leaky roof (with insulation removed from the leaky area - so we know that they knew), then there's the heating problem (pressure dropping on the boiler due to radiators leaking), then the drainage and now this. I can't believe people live like that, they keep buckets ready to catch the rain (we live in the west of Scotland - so there's lots of it!).

It's all very costly onto an already expensive house. Not sure what anyone can really say to help, but I just wanted to vent. If anyone has any experience of this it might be helpful.

clutton_2

if you had a structural survey did it not say that timbers needed investigation by a specialist company ... If it did say that.. did you do that ?

vegasvisitor

Hi

No, no structural survey, just a Scottish home report. This is normal up here, and is more detailed than a standard valuation survey.

We did also have a valuation survey by our lender, to update the value (they insisted on this anyway).

The guy fixing the guttering seems to think we will be able to see the surveyor based on the home report. He has known this to happen before. I don't know for sure how recent etc though.

neas

Do you not have the option to get your own 'advanced' survery in scotland.

I'd be wary using a sellers homebuyer report oO.

maninthestreet

Does 'Caveat Emptor' apply in Scotland like it does in England and Wales in relation to property purchases??
Which roof timbers does the gutter man claim have dry rot? Perhaps it's just roof-edge wet rot, which would be far less serious than dry rot in the actual timbers supporting the roof.

clutton_2

you really need the opinion of a specialist dry rot - wet rot firm - not just a bloke who fixes gutterings...

vegasvisitor

Hi all

Yes there is option of getting full structural survey in Scotland too. I'm not sure if that was a rhetorical question. It's very normal just to go with the home report here though, so we had no concerns as we were doing what everyone else does. It never crossed our mind to get anything else, as the house only appeared to be in 5 year disrepair, didn't realise there would be anything like dry rot.

Yes, it's dry rot behind the fascia boards, and I think it is on the roof timbers. We have 2 specialists coming out on Friday. The roof/guttering guy was out doing the guttering and fascia replacement, he found it, but we know he won't be the one fixing it, we need specialists for that. We've called out 2 national ones that the guy suggested - the local company here apparently don't have a perfect reputation (someone told me they were known for leaving the dry rot infested timbers lying on people's floorboards prior to disposal and could cause it to spread.

We'll see what happens tomorrow.

tbs624

It may be worth your while paying to have an independent timber surveyor round to complete a report.

The "free" surveys are usually from firms who want to undertake the actual timber work

vegasvisitor

Thanks, but I want someone who will undertake the work too. We are having 2 out (both recommended) and we are telling them both we have another coming out, so hopefully that will ensure complete honesty at least although there could be difference of opinion.

Fingers crossed it goes well tomorrow.

clutton_2

there is a professoinal body for this type of works.... years ago i got a quote from Rentakill who were hugely expensive in comparison to a smaller local firm, who ran an insurance backed guarantee scheme - so there was a fall-back insurance policy to cover any defects down the line if he closed his business. Bigger is not always better.....

vegasvisitor

Well, both companies have came out today and both say it's not dry rot at all, it's just wet rot and fungus. The wood that is rotten is mainly coming away, and the rest can be treated with fungicidal paste before the upvc is put on .

What a relief! Phew!