Chartered Surveyor or structual engineer

melaniejade7

I am in the process of buying a 1930's semi. Initial visual inspection by 2 different builders have advised to get a survey carried out on the well as there is some bowing in places on the flank wall.

The house has had cavity wall insulation a few years back and 10 years ago had new cavity wall ties installed in this particular wall.

Although the cavity wall tie company provided their own 30 year guarantee they have now gone out of business so is worthless.

What I am trying to find out is if the bowing bricks in areas of the wall were like that 10 years ago hence the wall tie replacement and nothing has changed in ten years. Or are the wall ties still failing the wall and there will be continual bowing. The corners of the wall are fine, it tends to be the middle area of the wall where in some places its out by 30ml. Internally the wall is level.

A mortgage valuation survey was carried out and the wall was not picked up.

There is obviously the concern that if its not the wall ties could it be something else far worse?

I was advised by a builder to get a structural report done and I am confused as to whether this should be done by a structural engineer or a chartered building surveyor.

I have had some quotes and all have said it would be a non invasive visual inspection. I just want someone to be able to tell me what caused the problem, if it will continue and the remedies / potential cost to put right, but I don't want to waste money getting the wrong type of person out.

Thanks in advance for your advice.

alanmilstein

melaniejade7 wrote: »

I am in the process of buying a 1930's semi. Initial visual inspection by 2 different builders have advised to get a survey carried out on the well as there is some bowing in places on the flank wall.

The house has had cavity wall insulation a few years back and 10 years ago had new cavity wall ties installed in this particular wall.

Although the cavity wall tie company provided their own 30 year guarantee they have now gone out of business so is worthless.

What I am trying to find out is if the bowing bricks in areas of the wall were like that 10 years ago hence the wall tie replacement and nothing has changed in ten years. Or are the wall ties still failing the wall and there will be continual bowing. The corners of the wall are fine, it tends to be the middle area of the wall where in some places its out by 30ml. Internally the wall is level.

A mortgage valuation survey was carried out and the wall was not picked up.

There is obviously the concern that if its not the wall ties could it be something else far worse?

I was advised by a builder to get a structural report done and I am confused as to whether this should be done by a structural engineer or a chartered building surveyor.

I have had some quotes and all have said it would be a non invasive visual inspection. I just want someone to be able to tell me what caused the problem, if it will continue and the remedies / potential cost to put right, but I don't want to waste money getting the wrong type of person out.

Thanks in advance for your advice.

I am a specialist residential property surveyor. I say that right at the start so you know where I am coming from and that I have a professional interest.
All general surveys are non-invasive. They have to be or property sellers would get very upset when we started drilling holes in their walls. Therefore surveyors have to use their skill, experience and knowledge to work out what is going on. In your case we would be looking for the tell-tale signs of wall tie failure and associated evidence of movement of the wall. Based on that it should be possible (assuming there are good clear views of the wall) to see if any movement is going on.
A structural engineer is not, in my opinion, going to be the best option at this point. He would only do what a good general surveyor would do, but would not look at the rest of the property, only the specific defect you're investigating.
My advice would be to find a good independent surveyor, with whom you can discuss your particular requirements beforehand.
If his (her?) report doesn't highlight any on-going movement then you should probably rest easy.
Unfortunately there are many surveyors who are prone to not giving clear answers so it's important to explain what you clearly need to know right from the start.
From what you've described, as far as I would be concerned, I would expect to be able to provide a clear answer as to whether movement is on-going. In some cases, however, it is just not possible to be 100% sure of that. In those instances it is sometimes necessary to carry out longer-term testing to measure for on-going movement. I think that would probably prove unnecessary here, but without knowing the precise circumstances it's not possible to judge.

melaniejade7

Thank you Alan, you reply has been most helpful and helped me make a decision over the right type of person to have inspect the wall.

Best Wishes

Melanie

teneighty

From your description with the inner leaf of the wall being plumb and the outer leaf bowing out by up to 30mm does suggest wall tie failure at sometime in the past. Anything over 25mm is potentially a serious structural defect.

However this movement may have been arrested by the remedial wall tie works 10 years ago.

The only way you will be able to confirm this before purchase is to have a specialist survey undertaken with a boroscope or cutting out bricks to expose a sample of the remedial wall ties to see if they have been installed correctly. Obviously you would need the vendors consent for this.

This type of survey could be undertaken by a Chartered Building Surveyor or equally a Structural Engineer but you would need to check that they provide this survey as not all do. Alternatively most remedial wall tie contractors undertake surveys but you need to be careful as they obviously have a vested interest in claiming additional work needs to be done.

G_M

Alanmilstein makes good points, but I would re-iterate ome point:

many surveyors who are prone to not giving clear answers

The number of times we see here surveys saying "you are advised to get an electrician, gas engineer, damp specialist report"

I fear you may get a survey saying ""you are advised to get a structural engineer's report"

melaniejade7

Thank you teneighty for your reply. I am hoping that movement may be arrested now but just need to ensure that it is.

One wall tie company did agree that they could take out a section of brick work to carry out an inspection of wall ties but were talking about 1msq of brickwork which is quite a lot and I am not sure the vendor would approve.

I shall speak to some independent surveyors to see if they can carry out an inspection without the vested interest in work.

Many thanks

dinofabio

G_M wrote: »

Alanmilstein makes good points, but I would re-iterate ome point:


The number of times we see here surveys saying "you are advised to get an electrician, gas engineer, damp specialist report"

I fear you may get a survey saying ""you are advised to get a structural engineer's report"

Very true.

BTW if Alanmilstein has made some good points why not thank him/her?