Advice on house with some potential repair work to be carried out

fannyanna

We’ve seen a house that we like enough to consider making an offer on.

There’s a fair amount of modernisation work (new carpets,fireplace, kitchen, bathroom, paint job etc) to do although that doesn’t put us off.

There are a couple of issues that I’m looking for a bit of input on though. There are hairline cracks in a few rooms. I’ve always presumed that this doesn’t necessarily mean there are structural issues and it could just be that the plastering needs a bit of TLC. The property was probably built late 60’s / early 70’s.

The other thing is that I noticed a bulge (diameter of about 3 inches) in the kitchen ceiling and I think this might be a bit of water damage. I think the water tank was above the ceiling so presume it has leaked at some point. If I am right would it be costly to repair the ceiling? I have no idea what this would involve – whether you can just repair the affected area of whether you’d need to re-do the whole ceiling.

I know that if we decided to make an offer these things would be picked up by the survey but I’m trying to get my head around the potential costs / size of the work, to establish how much we would be prepared to offer on the property.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

G_M

Very hard to give serious advice about structural issues on a property one hasn't seen!

Hairline cracks. 'Hairline' generally isn't significant, and if the property has been there since the 60s/70s then it's unlikely any new issue is indicated.

unless there has recently been an 'event' that has caused the cracks to recenty appear, and they are ongoing/growing. eg structural works like a new extension? Or problems like a flood?

Check also whether the cracks appear on both sides of the walls in question. If they go right though they are more significant than if they are on one side only (ie superficial eg plaster only).

3 inch diameter is not great. Chances are you could remove/replace some ceiling plaster. But check for damp behind (ie in woodwork).

Is this a bungalow? Unusual for water tank above kitchen. Is there an attic above? Have you inspected a) the water tank and b) the attic floor to ensure the leak is a) not ongoing and b) not caused other damage.

fannyanna

G_M wrote: »

Very hard to give serious advice about structural issues on a property one hasn't seen!

Hairline cracks. 'Hairline' generally isn't significant, and if the property has been there since the 60s/70s then it's unlikely any new issue is indicated.

unless there has recently been an 'event' that has caused the cracks to recenty appear, and they are ongoing/growing. eg structural works like a new extension? Or problems like a flood?

Check also whether the cracks appear on both sides of the walls in question. If they go right though they are more significant than if they are on one side only (ie superficial eg plaster only).

3 inch diameter is not great. Chances are you could remove/replace some ceiling plaster. But check for damp behind (ie in woodwork).

Is this a bungalow? Unusual for water tank above kitchen. Is there an attic above? Have you inspected a) the water tank and b) the attic floor to ensure the leak is a) not ongoing and b) not caused other damage.

Thanks for your response.

I'll look at the cracks again when I view for a second time. I'll also be taking my Dad who is a general handy man so will have a better idea than me. Although my first thoughts are that the cracks are not significant.

It's mainly the damp patch. It's a house and the water tank is in the airing cupboard in the hallway which is above the kitchen. Any ideas of the potential cost (hundreds or thousands) of repairing the ceiling if it was damp and had affected the woodwork?

Not loooked at the water tank but will get my Dad to have a general look and obviously if we did make an offer we'd get it inspected by a professional.

BitterAndTwisted

Taking down plaster and replacing it would be a couple or a few of hundred quid, depending on how much of the work you can do yourselves. Nothing of any significance, really. Ity's what has caused it that needs to be worried about but that's what a full structural survey is for. Ditto the hairlines cracks.

The big question is: what kind of numpties try to sell a house with those, what on the face of it are, slight defects and don't sort them out before putting it on the market? What is that telling you, anything?

fannyanna

You'd be surprised. I've seen some shockers on the market. I've been to view a couple of houses where I've felt as though I should have been wearing a hard hat for fear the ceiling was about to fall on my head.

G_M

Just being picky here on terminology...

I suspect the 'water tank' in th airing cupboard in the hallway is actually a hot water cylinder.

The water tank stores cold water, usually at the top of the house (attic). Also in the attic may be a smaller wayer tank which acts as an overflow/replace for the central heating system.

The cylinder in the airing cupboard stores hot water (hence placed in airing cupboard!) which has been heated by the boiler, and is drawn off as required when you use the hot taps (bath, kitchen etc). Often the cylinder also has an emmersion heater as a secondary means of heating the water in the cylinder.

If there has been a problem/leak with the cylinder, it should be replaced, so you should find a brand new cylinder there. Modern ones come with fitted insulation (not the old-fashioned loose-fit red insulation strips you can buy). Check it has a working thermostat, and an emmersion too - well worth having as back-up.

phoebe1989seb

Agree that it's strange this has not been sorted prior to sale.....unless a repo or deceased estate? We had a water cylinder that was directly above the kitchen in our last house. It sprang a leak which came through into our kitchen ruining the ceiling in the process......it was covered by our house insurance and the cylinder, ceiling etc were subsequently replaced prior to our marketing of the property

It certainly wouldn't put me off buying though.....nor would the cracks.....you should see the wreck we bought last year......just the latest in a long line, lol

fannyanna

G_M - you've got it. I was talking about the wrong thing.

Went and viewed the property again today with my Dad and he identified some more things. So we went with a list of these problems and spoke to a builder friend who was able to give us a good idea of the size of the job and costs involved and they are not prohibitive. We'd still obviously get a survey if an offer was agreed.

The house is on for £200k and we've offered £170k so I don't think our offer (or a revised offer - as we're not prepared to offer anywhere near the asking price) will be accepted but it's worth a shot. In our opinion the house was not realistically priced in the first place so I think our offer is very reasonable.