House Structural Survey Questions

sj15

Kind of just clicked that the small trenches with pebbles covered at the side and back of the house (imgur.com /a/GRo2PiR) have the purpose of draining. And the suggestion of the french drains and gravel would serve a similar purpose at the front of the house. Would I be right with that assumption?

In which case it's not the end of the world suppose.

FreeBear

sj15 wrote: »

Are all of these big enough issue to walk away from? Am I being too hasty.

Installing a French drain is easy enough to do - If you know one end of a spade from the other, it is no harder than a bit of gardening. Down the side of the house didn't look to be a problem as the gravel is already two or three brick courses below the DPC.
If you can find a decent local handyman, it shouldn't take him/her more than a day to sort the paving back and front. I'd estimate the cost at £150 or so plus a couple of bags of gravel - £200 tops.

Certainly not enough to cause sufficient reason to walk away. The roof is (I suspect) the surveyor being overly cautious. If you talk to him over the phone (or even face to face), he may give a more balanced opinion.

sj15

FreeBear wrote: »

Installing a French drain is easy enough to do - If you know one end of a spade from the other, it is no harder than a bit of gardening. Down the side of the house didn't look to be a problem as the gravel is already two or three brick courses below the DPC.
If you can find a decent local handyman, it shouldn't take him/her more than a day to sort the paving back and front. I'd estimate the cost at £150 or so plus a couple of bags of gravel - £200 tops.

Certainly not enough to cause sufficient reason to walk away. The roof is (I suspect) the surveyor being overly cautious. If you talk to him over the phone (or even face to face), he may give a more balanced opinion.

Thank you - you have been so helpful. Appreciated. :beer:

stuart45

The DPC can be difficult to spot on some newbuilds, if it's straight onto the brickwork without bedding and slightly back from the face.
Trays are often fitted as well, because of wheelchair access the paving etc needs to ramp up higher.

Davesnave

sj15 wrote: »

This combined with the roof in the original post is making me think twice now.

Are all of these big enough issue to walk away from? Am I being too hasty.

There's nothing much wrong with the roof. For a start, there shouldn't be water running down the roofing felt, if indeed old fashioned bitumen felt has been used at all. Most houses built now have a breathable membrane.

The roofing battens themselves will be treated against rot. I use them in preference to other wood for making garden trellis, which stays out in all weathers. The first ones I made were still in good condition 15 years later.

The surveyor sounds a bit of a pedant. My plastic-cased consumer unit was installed in 2015, so I'd have no interest in changing it until at least 2035....if I've lasted that long, which is doubtful!


PS The NHBC is funded by.....builders. They rarely act unless the defects revealed are structural.