Home Buyers Report - HELP

Newbie209

Hello,

So - i’m a first time buyer and feeling very cautious and anxious about the whole process. I paid to have a Home Buyers report on the property i’m buying, which was roughly built in 1910.

However - a few problems have been highlighted and not sure how to proceed. I REALLY like the house - but not sure how much it could potentially end up costing me.

I’ve copied some of the key findings, along with the rating in brackets:

(3) Tests were taken with an electric moisture meter to internal wall surfaces of external walls at regular intervals above skirting boards and a series of slightly elevated damp readings were noted to the side wall of the vestibule. There are further elevated damp readings to the side wall of the hallway. There are elevated damp readings to the front wall, bay wall and side wall of the lounge. There are slight elevated damp readings to the rear wall of the dining room. There are elevated damp readings to the front and rear walls of the utility room. We would recommend a competent timber and damp contractor inspect all ground floor walls to ascertain the full extent of rising damp within the property and to provide a cost of and remediation works required. It is noted that an injected chemical damp proof course has been installed to the side and rear elevation. Legal advisors should ascertain whether a valid guarantee is available for this injected chemical damp proof course.
There is a misaligned door frame to the front lounge due to slight settlement. There is cracking to the side wall of the front lounge.
There is a further misaligned door frame to the dining room.
There is a misaligned door frame to the kitchen. The side wall to the kitchen has been dry lined with an insulated plasterboard which restricted our inspection of this area.
There is damage to the plaster to the front wall of the utility room.
Inspection of the first floor reveals misaligned door frames to all first floor rooms, again due to slight settlement. Parts of the front wall of the front bedroom appear to have been dry lined with an insulating plasterboard.

(2) - Inspection of this chimneystack from ground level reveals the chimneystack to be leaning slightly and it should be monitored for any signs of further movement.

(2) - The guttering to the front elevation is uneven and requires re-levelling. The guttering to the front pitched and hipped roof is also uneven and requires re- levelling. The front downpipe is in generally poor condition and requires replacing.
There is a metal downpipe to the side of the outrigger which is in poor condition and requires replacing.

(2) Slight bowing was evident to the gable wall

(2) The timber barge boards to the rear two-storey outrigger are starting to rot and deteriorate and require replacing.

(2) There is no underfelt installed to the underside of the external roof coverings. The lack of underfelt increases the risk of damp penetration due to failure of external roof coverings.

(2) There is a slope evident to the dining room floor. We would recommend an inspection of the subfloor void to ascertain if any infestation or deterioration of subfloor timbers has taken place.

There is a slope evident to both front and rear bedrooms, with a slight slope evident to the landing floor with a number of uneven floorboards.

(3) To the rear of the rear garden, there is a large timber framed storage building which has part timber and part corrugated asbestos walls. The roof is of pitched corrugated asbestos covering. This rear store was full of stored items and is in generally poor condition, with evidence of a large amount of vegetation growing through the side wall and roof. There is evidence of penetrating damp internally, with damage to the asbestos panels in places. We would recommend that this store is demolished and replaced with a more modern alternative. As the walls and roof are corrugated asbestos, the asbestos will need to be disposed of by an approved contractor in an appropriate manner.

I guess my main concerns from the above are the damp ans the sloping floors. I have arranged for a dampy survey to take place, but in order to test the subfloor it means lifting a significant amount of laminate flooring up to access under the floorboads.

What kind of cost am I looking at to get these repaired and would this worry you?

I spoke to the owner and he said he has had no issues with damp - but perhaps they may not be telling me the wholse story?

Please help guys!

G_M

Damp meters are notoriously unreliable. Who is doing the damp survey? Is it a proper independent survey or a free [STRIKE]survey[/STRIKE] sales inspection by a damp proof company?


I'd be more worried by the sloping, cracked walls and mis-aligned doors etc. All suggests subsidence (on one side?).


Ring the surveyor and ask how serious, and i it's ongoing.


If in doubt, instruct a Structural Engineer to inspect.

Newbie209

Thank you for your response. The intial home buyers survey was done by mortgage lender and the damp survey that I am arranging is to be done by an independent surveyor who specialises in damp and timber.

The floor does worry me too - but in the floor section, it has been rated as a 2?