HomeBuyers survey received. Help!

12SCooke

Hi,

We've just received our HomeBuyers report for a 3 bed semi detached house we are purchasing, most things seem fine but one thing has stood our regarding the chimney, can you help!?

- "The top part of the stack is badly weathered. The mortar pointing is also in poor condition. Although no serious disrepair could be seen from ground level, the mortar base (flaunching) to the chimney pots is very exposed and subject to driving rain and frost and may well be cracked and loose in places.

Is this something major that would be in urgent need of repairing, and if so what would be the cost of such thing.

Any help would be appreciated!



Sam

walwyn1978

They haven't actually seen anything, so it's guesswork, with a statement like that in to cover themselves.

Urgent - hard to say, could be urgent could be another 3-5 years.

Cost - if it's just remortaring the chimney and perhaps replacing the lead flashings, probably a few hundred, depending on where you are in the UK, could be a bit more. But not stupid money IMO.

G_M

Assuming there IS a problem, and assuming it is severe, it's 'reasonably' urgent. Something to get fixed next spring or summer.

Not a big job. The potentially expensive part would be if scaffolding is needed as that costs money, but if it's a 2 storey building with straight-forward access, you could probobly get a brickie/roofer with a ladder to scrape it out, mix up some cement and do it in a day.

12SCooke

Thank you. So hopefully it shouldn't be too much of a big job, not a deal breaker?

G_M

12SCooke wrote: »

.....not a deal breaker?

not for me - might be for you!

Lord_Baltimore

This weathered chimney stack comment is a staple for a lot of surveys. You do realise that the surveyor has determined the condition of the stack using a pair of binnoculars? A visual check like this will identify the majority of chimney stacks as weathered without the close examination that is actually required to determine the full and true condition up close.

But there you go, the surveyor's backside is covered. An alternative to repair is to reduce the height of the stack if the condition is that poor; neither repair nor reduction would be a deal breaker for me.