Hollow outside wall

marlasinger

We are in the process of selling our house. We had the buyers surveyor around yesterday doing the Homebuyer's survey. One thing we noticed was when he was going around the house tapping the walls (which are rendered), there was a section under our lounge window on the outside of the house that sounded hollow.

After he'd left, we had a closer look and it does sound hollow and feels springy when we push on it. :eek: It doesn't feel solid, even though it's an outside wall. What does this mean?? Shouldn't it be a solid brick wall, covered by render? There are no cracks in the render at all. I've googled it and come across 'blown render' where the render has come away, but then wouldn't the render be bulging outward?? Really worried that this is something structural and we will lose our buyer.

Yorksboy

Hi

It sounds like the render has come away from the wall in this area.

Davesnave

If it's under something like a large window then it's pretty common for these non structurally loaded parts to be single skin, maybe + a wood frame, expanded metal and render on the outside over it.

Not great for heat retention, but not necessarily anything to worry about and easily rectified, if desired.

What age is the house?

marlasinger

But shouldn't the render then look like it's bulging outward? It looks pretty flat and straight to me.

If this is the case, does it just need removing and re-rendering?

Edit: This is in response to yorksboy post

marlasinger

House is a 1930-1940's bungalow.

So not a structural problem then?

Doozergirl

No, blown render doesn’t have to bulge at all. It will be held tight by the render that hasn’t blown. As soon as you break it, it will fall off though, it’s only being held by pressure.

It could be what davesnave says too. A lot of older bay windows aren’t constructed very well at all.

marlasinger

Thanks for the replies. So, unlikely to be a dealbreaker for the buyer then.

Doozergirl

No way. Cheap repair.

J_B

marlasinger wrote: »

Thanks for the replies. So, unlikely to be a dealbreaker for the buyer then.

Nah!
Just another excuse for them to try and haggle the price down!