Steel Lintel Advice from Survey

pablo2061

Hello All,

We are currently in the process of buying a new house and the home buyer report has a red flag against the main walls:

"Steel lintels above door and window openings appear to be corroded evidenced by expanded mortar joints adjacent. This is serious and could lead to further disrepair and damage to the property. This is a risk to the building, see Section J1.

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Clearly it's been repointed in the areas around the windows and compared to other lintel issues I've seen online the rest of the bricks in the area appear ok. The only thing I do know is that the windows were replaced in 2007 so presume the areas around the windows would've been disturbed around then.

I'm not a builder though so would appreciate advice from anyone in the know as to whether this looks like something to be concerned with or a manageable risk for the future.

Thanks in advance.

Chanes

It does look like a substantial line of re-pointing, I thought those lintels were corrosion resistant! But if that is the repointing and it is nearly 10 years old and has not developed cracks and gaps maybe it isn't as frightening as it reads? I know it says expanded mortar joints but I think that is just referring to the depth/size of mortar line identified.

I would get a structural report or a trusted builder to give an opinion on it but I don't think I would be overly worried if the repointed mortar hadn't moved or cracked in the 9 years or so.

Looking again above the window (bottom left) the brickwork looks out? Maybe it the photo?

anselld

You have already paid for advice from someone in the know so I am not sure why you would be reassured by further advice from random strangers on the internet.

There would be no reason to disturb those mortar joints during a window refit so that is not the answer.

You can only find out for sure by further (invasive) investigation which may not be possible at this time. The risk is certainly manageable but mortaring over it and hoping it is OK doesn't count as management.

Is there any retention or reduction in value on the report because of this?

G_M

pablo2061 wrote: »

......... This is a risk to the building, see Section J1.

So what does section J1 say?

easilydistracted

If you got your own independent survey then the surveyor will normally be happy to explain how serious it is if you ring. When I had a buildings survey done the surveyor talked me through on the phone quite how much hassle it would be to do the work, the risk and the approximate cost. This led to us pulling out the purchase. Any window should have FENSA or building control sign off, have the vendors got that?

sgun

Do get someone else in to have a look, when I bought my first house the homebuyers report stated that there was no lintel at all above one window. I got some builders in to sort it out and lo and behold of course there was a perfectly good lintel there. Just pointing out that sometimes people "in the know" don't always get it right.

pablo2061

anselld wrote: »

You have already paid for advice from someone in the know so I am not sure why you would be reassured by further advice from random strangers on the internet.

There would be no reason to disturb those mortar joints during a window refit so that is not the answer.

You can only find out for sure by further (invasive) investigation which may not be possible at this time. The risk is certainly manageable but mortaring over it and hoping it is OK doesn't count as management.

Is there any retention or reduction in value on the report because of this?

Hi Anselld,

I posted on here simply in case somebody else had come across something similar or a tradesman's keen eye may see something obvious. A problem shared and all that...

In terms of the mortgage value, this has been held with no retention or reduction applied, we hadn't actually even noticed until it was flagged on the report and then it's fairly clear where it's been re-pointed.

I think ultimately it's going to be a case of getting an independent quote for a worst case scenario and see how we feel from there.

pablo2061

easilydistracted wrote: »

If you got your own independent survey then the surveyor will normally be happy to explain how serious it is if you ring. When I had a buildings survey done the surveyor talked me through on the phone quite how much hassle it would be to do the work, the risk and the approximate cost. This led to us pulling out the purchase. Any window should have FENSA or building control sign off, have the vendors got that?

Totally forgot about the obvious to contact the surveyor, which I'll do. We got the paperwork for when the windows were done, so that's all above board.

Cheers.