Homebuyer report findings - more than expected

usman330

We have just received the homebuyers report back and are pretty alarmed at its findings. We expected some issues to show up as the house was built in 1965 and is a corner house so exposed to the elements somewhat, plus the fact it is dated and needs modernising.

We has a budget in mind for the modernisation, repairs, new kitchen and bathroom and possible rewire + new central heating & boiler but now are thinking we might not be able to get the works done even close to our budget.

Some pretty worrying things, as we are not experienced in the house buying or repairs we don’t know how serious some of the findings are. For reference the house is this one:

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-35117223.html

We have picked out the main bits that look scary from the report and they are below, there were other things but they don’t sound so serious so we didn’t put them below. The main worrying point is something about gable end cavity wall ties/cavity wall failure, distortion to brickwork, cracking to rear concrete lintel, and the garage sounds like it needs knocking down! We also thought before the report that a rewire might be required but the report doesn’t make it clear just stating that the wiring is covered with plastic covered cable.


Any comments or suggestions are welcome.

Roof coverings
The front bay / porch roof
The front bay / porch roof is flat and covered with traditional mineral felt. The junction between the main wall and roof is covered with a felt upstand.

The main bay flat roof covering is old, weathered, cracked and ponding in places

The main roof
The roof is covered with interlocking concrete tiles.
The main roof is lined internally with sarking felt fixed underneath the rafters. The sarking felt is torn in places. Repairs are required.

The bedding mortar under the hip has cracked and is missing in places.

Rainwater pipes and gutters
The property is served by plastic gutters and downpipes.
A small number of joints in the guttering are potentially leaking (staining was noted around the joints). You should ask a contractor to inspect and provide a quotation for any repairs / replacement.

Main walls
The walls are of cavity construction with a brick outer leaf. The inner leaf is believed to be blockwork.
There are several air vents to ventilate the air space beneath the ground floor.

The walls contain a bituminous felt damp-proof course.
The gable wall has deformed and surfaces are not true and plumb and brick courses are uneven possibly as a result of cavity wall failure. Further investigation is required (all external walls should be checked for cavity wall tie failure).

We also noted some distortion to the brickwork by the bathroom window to the side elevation. This is potentially the result of the replacement window / cavity wall tie failure. Further investigation is required.

The mortar pointing in several places has also failed and fallen away (including section near rear external metal handrail).
Some bricks has spalled / weathered and repair / replacement is required.

We noted some cracking to the rear concrete lintel above the rear kitchen door/window opening. This is potentially the result of a corroded steel section inside the lintel. You should ask a contractor to inspect and provide a quotation for repair / replacement.
The cavity walls of this property are formed in two leaves which are usually held together with metal wall ties. The metal ties used in properties built before the early 1980s were prone to corrosion which, if significant, could lead to structural movement. the walls of this property may also be affected.

Roof structure
The roof is formed with timber roof trusses.
The roof space is insulated with mineral wool.
The party wall has not been fully fire-stopped and sealed within the roof space.

Ceilings
The property has plasterboard ceilings.
These have painted, papered, textured and tiled finishes.
These have been lined with heavy paper coverings and polystyrene tiles.

This is a risk to the building. The polystyrene tiles may not be fireproof and as there the risk of fire and noxious fumes, you should budget for removing the material. The underlying plaster may well need repair or replacing when this is carried out. The textured ceiling finishes in the dining room and kitchen may contain asbestos but only a detailed laboratory test can confirm this.

Walls and partitions
We noted some cracking to the bathroom tiles. Replacement / repair is required.
We refer you to our comments under Section ‘Main walls’ (including claddings) due to the position of this cracking in relation to the distorted brickwork to the external wall finish.

Electricity
The consumer unit contains older type fuses to protect users should there be a defect with the installation.

Where visible, the installation has been wired in plastic covered cable.

The electrical installation appears satisfactory with no obvious visual defects but much is hidden from view. As such systems require specialist knowledge, we cannot comment on its serviceability or safety.

Garage
There is a single detached garage to the rear of the property.
It is built of pre-cast concrete panels and has a corrugated asbestos roof.

The garage is of basic construction.
The roof covering is very weathered, is water stained and is covered in harmful moss in places.

We noted that some of the metal straps connecting the roof joists and concrete wall do not appear substantial.

squeeks

Doesn't sound like there should have been any surprises there.

You must have notices the fuse box, the foam tiles and the asbestos roof garage. Any artex (and many other materials of that era) pre 1980's-ish will potentially contain asbestos as well. Any asbestos is safe-ish unless it is disturbed.

Gutters and flat roofs will need continuous maintenance so that shouldn't be unusual.

The main one for me if the torn roof felt, unless the garage is actually falling down or the porch is leaking.

Don't worry about the fuse box unless you plan to re-wire or put anything substantial in the house, such a new power shower or kitchen ring etc... as long as you have pvc wiring and sufficient earth bonding you should be fine.

xnoxxnox

So pretend it's all major and start blagging to get the price down. Any amount you bargain down with this report, goes towards your repairs budget.

Dan-Dan

What does the report value the house at?

With the list of repairs you state you would be carrying out anyway (which runs into many thousands) you must be getting the place at a cracking deal already?

chris_m

squeeks wrote: »

The main one for me if the torn roof felt,

More so than the distorted walls and cracking lintel?

usman330

Thanks for all the input, its really helpful.

The house valuation came in at 126k, the same as the sale price we have agreed. This is 1k over the asking price as there was a lot of competition at the time for buying it, and the agents were adamant that 126k would be the lowest they would take, we thought that was a pretty good price

The main worries that have come from the report are the cavity walls/distortion and the corroded lintel, as well as the torn roof felt that Squeeks mentioned. Just want to make sure that these are all comminish problems with houses of this age, and a rough figure to add to our repairs budget so get them sorted.

The report did give us a number for Specialist Xpress who do specialist reports on a number of issues including structural and wall ties so I might give them a ring.

Would a builder also know what to look for in regards to the seriousness of these issues or would we be better using something like Specialist Xpress?

Nobbie1967

You need a wall tie survey to establish if their failure is what is causing the distortion, but maybe steer clear of companys who do the work as they have an obvious interest in declaring them to need replacing. Maybe get a structural engineer to assess the gable end and identify what is causing the distortion. If it is the wall ties then you are looking at a big bill to take down the outer skin and rebuild with new wall ties. A neighbour had it done recently and it's a big job. Without the distortion, you could just replace the wall ties without rebuilding, but now that it has moved you will probably have to replace at least those sections.

Basically, pay a qualified professional for advice.

usman330

Thankyou Nobbie, that is useful advice. I will get on the phone and speak to some experts, what should I be looking to pay for a structural engineer visit or a wall tie survey?