Same surveyor disagrees with original survey

Jonl

Hi MX5huggy, thanks for your post - no, this has been there from purchase. I think you're right, the insulation is the major issue now - it wasn't picked up ten years ago and wasn't picked up in the survey last year, but has been picked up on this survey.
The other issue is how a house that was traditional build and not a concern ten years ago is now non-traditional.

Each of these issues has had an impact on the potential selling price over the last 6 months to the point that the surveyors have recommended a "pay no more than" of £90k - which would pretty much be valuing the property itself at no value - down from £150k that they valued at during remortgaging.

jennifernil

A timber frame house should NEVER have insulation in the cavity, so this is certainly a problem.

A properly constructed timber frame house would not be a problem to mortgage.

Obviously the original survey did not pick up the presence of the insulation, but it is easy to know when a house is timber frame. I would be asking questions about the original survey.

Timber frame with insulated cavity is certainly "non-traditional", so this may be what they mean.

motherofstudents

I think you need to get an expert around to look at this. Certainly a timber framed house will have insulation. There will however be a gap between the outer skin and the insulation. Moisture should never reach the insulation if it has been constructed correctly. Please let us know how you resolve this as I am not sure if we are at cross purposes about standard and non standard construction.

jennifernil

No doubt building techniques have changed a little since, but in our timber frame house, built 23 years ago, the make-up of the wall, from inside to out is.....

Foil-backed plasterboard

Thick polythene sheet

Timber studs with insulation between

Plywood sheathing

Black building paper

Cavity (approx 75mm)

Brick skin

So the insulation is always within the timber frame, and never in contact with the outer brick skin.

neverdespairgirl

taxsaver wrote: »

I love how timber frame is seen by many surveyors to be 'non-traditional'.... yet timber frame construction has been around for hundreds of years and even now is the prevalent method of construction in many, many countries! **rolls eyes**

i agree - my parents' house was built in the 1320s, with a timber frame. Seems pretty "traditional" to me!