Building Survey is back - opinions please?

boldaslove

Hi all,

So our Building Survey was done yesterday. We're yet to receive the report but the surveyor called us last night to go over their findings and we're a more than a little freaked out but unsure if we're overreacting! The house is a mid-terrace, roughly 100 years old and has a cellar and attic conversion. It was a lot to take in but I'll try and list the results in brief:

1. The cellar, which has been converted into a workspace, has extensive damp which is also affecting the ground floor walls and pillars. The surveyor suggested we'd need to have the plasterboard removed to see the cause/extent and may need a sump pump installing. Their words were that the cellar was a "disaster".

2. There has been a damp proofing course on the house however the surveyor advised there wasn't enough clearance between the ground and the treatment which has rendered it ineffective. The air brick was at ground level also and vulnerable to heavy rain. They suggested the solution would be to lower the ground level outside the back of the house.

3. There is severe damp in the attic (also converted), potentially from leaking joints in the chimney. A roofer would be needed to check the source.

4. Also the attic - the joists in the floor weren't fit for regular use and need reinforcing in their opinion.

5. Additional attic drama - the walls need insulating.

There are additional notes but these were the most critical, in their opinion.

We're FTBs so frankly any major work sounds scary and we really did want a house that was pretty much move-in-able, so at the moment the temptation is to pull out, but we're over a month deep in the process and I don't want to run if it's something that's easily fixed. The Surveyor's opinion was that this was a lot more work than was typical of a house this type, and that we should be cautious if we decide to proceed. They were clearly very annoyed that the vendors had seemingly tried to deceive them by opening windows, burning fragrances and putting objects in front of obvious damp. The house was never stated as a project or a fixer upper. Incidentally the mortgage valuation came back 15K lower than the offer we made and we're wondering if this is why.

I hope this makes sense. Any thoughts on this house? Would you run? Are we being overdramatic? 

Many thanks in advance!

Scotbot

As a FTB that wants a move in ready house leave it and find another. The roof and attic may be a straightforward job but points 1 and 2  probably not. The surveyor has advised caution, follow his advice.

RelievedSheff

Why pay for a survey if you are just going to ignore it anyway.

You can either use the survey to renegotiate the price based on the findings or walk away and find a property in better condition.

AdrianC

boldaslove said:

1. The cellar, which has been converted into a workspace, has extensive damp which is also affecting the ground floor walls and pillars. The surveyor suggested we'd need to have the plasterboard removed to see the cause/extent and may need a sump pump installing. Their words were that the cellar was a "disaster".

Sounds about as expected.
Cellars are inherently damp. They are below ground water level. There are three basic options...
1. Live with it, and don't try to pretend it is what it isn't. This is what people did for most of the century that house has been standing there.
2. Prevent water getting into the walls. Not viable - you'd have to excavate all the way round the outside.
3. Prevent water getting OUT of the walls. Tanking.

It seems the "converter" took option 4...
4. Deny reality, and just slap a bit of plasterboard around. Out of sight, out of mind.

2. There has been a damp proofing course on the house however the surveyor advised there wasn't enough clearance between the ground and the treatment which has rendered it ineffective. The air brick was at ground level also and vulnerable to heavy rain. They suggested the solution would be to lower the ground level outside the back of the house.

A bit of DIY with a spade.

3. There is severe damp in the attic (also converted), potentially from leaking joints in the chimney. A roofer would be needed to check the source.

Get a roofer in, then. Until you do, you're guessing.

4. Also the attic - the joists in the floor weren't fit for regular use and need reinforcing in their opinion.

How thoroughly is the attic converted? Can you even see the joists easily? 

5. Additional attic drama - the walls need insulating.

Again, how thoroughly is it converted? When was it converted? Modern expectations, especially of insulation, are much stronger than they used to be even a decade or two ago.

What do you WANT from the attic? Like the cellar, this is all brought about by people trying to make things what they were never designed to be. The attic was never designed to be a warm, comfortable, habitable space with people walking around and all the heavy detritus of modern life piled everywhere. It was designed to be the space left over between the roof and the habitable space...

boldaslove

RelievedSheff said:

Why pay for a survey if you are just going to ignore it anyway.

We've no intention of ignoring it, we're just interested to hear people's opinions. 

GixerKate

If you want a house that you can move straight into with minimal work then its probably not for you.  You got the survey done for a reason and if the surveyor uses words like 'disaster' and you have pound signs going round in your head I would suggest thinking long and hard about continuing.  It depends on how much you want this particular house.  It could be straightforward to fix but then again it may not.

For me personally I'd probably be leaning towards walking away as I'm just not interested to do any more than a bit of decorating, extensive DIY is not my thing.

boldaslove

Scotbot said:

As a FTB that wants a move in ready house leave it and find another. The roof and attic may be a straightforward job but points 1 and 2  probably not. The surveyor has advised caution, follow his advice.

This is my gut feeling tbh. We've turned down houses on the basis that they're too much work and at face value some of them have been less work than this! I'm also worried that the vendors know there are further issues and they're not disclosing them, although I have no basis for that.

boldaslove

GixerKate said:

If you want a house that you can move straight into with minimal work then its probably not for you.  You got the survey done for a reason and if the surveyor uses words like 'disaster' and you have pound signs going round in your head I would suggest thinking long and hard about continuing.  It depends on how much you want this particular house.  It could be straightforward to fix but then again it may not.

For me personally I'd probably be leaning towards walking away as I'm just not interested to do any more than a bit of decorating, extensive DIY is not my thing.

I feel similarly. A bit of plastering, some redecorating fine. I definitely wouldn't choose to rip up half of the house before I could live in it. 

boldaslove

AdrianC said:

boldaslove said:

1. The cellar, which has been converted into a workspace, has extensive damp which is also affecting the ground floor walls and pillars. The surveyor suggested we'd need to have the plasterboard removed to see the cause/extent and may need a sump pump installing. Their words were that the cellar was a "disaster".

Sounds about as expected.
Cellars are inherently damp. They are below ground water level. There are three basic options...
1. Live with it, and don't try to pretend it is what it isn't. This is what people did for most of the century that house has been standing there.
2. Prevent water getting into the walls. Not viable - you'd have to excavate all the way round the outside.
3. Prevent water getting OUT of the walls. Tanking.

It seems the "converter" took option 4...
4. Deny reality, and just slap a bit of plasterboard around. Out of sight, out of mind.

2. There has been a damp proofing course on the house however the surveyor advised there wasn't enough clearance between the ground and the treatment which has rendered it ineffective. The air brick was at ground level also and vulnerable to heavy rain. They suggested the solution would be to lower the ground level outside the back of the house.

A bit of DIY with a spade.

3. There is severe damp in the attic (also converted), potentially from leaking joints in the chimney. A roofer would be needed to check the source.

Get a roofer in, then. Until you do, you're guessing.

4. Also the attic - the joists in the floor weren't fit for regular use and need reinforcing in their opinion.

How thoroughly is the attic converted? Can you even see the joists easily? 

5. Additional attic drama - the walls need insulating.

Again, how thoroughly is it converted? When was it converted? Modern expectations, especially of insulation, are much stronger than they used to be even a decade or two ago.

What do you WANT from the attic? Like the cellar, this is all brought about by people trying to make things what they were never designed to be. The attic was never designed to be a warm, comfortable, habitable space with people walking around and all the heavy detritus of modern life piled everywhere. It was designed to be the space left over between the roof and the habitable space...

We'd be wanting to use both the attic and the cellar and those rooms were a huge positive for us when we viewed the house. The attic would be a workspace for me and potentially an occasional bedroom, so it would be used daily. The cellar would be storage at present but we did talk about using it in the future as a workspace/guest bedroom. The house would be significantly less appealing if we lost use of those 2 rooms, but then other properties in the area were priced similarly and didn't have an attic/cellar conversion so 

You've made some good points for us to think about, thank you, it is good to have opinions from both sides of the coin.

greatcrested

Follow Adrian's advice above.

1) either accept you have a damp cellar rather than a decent 'habitable'space, or spend a lot of money (eg 'tanking'). Get quote and knock off purchase price

2) insignificant. Spend a weekend + spade digging a trench round the outside walls (1 foot deep? by 1 foot wide?) and put in some pea shingle

3) Get roofer quote. Unless scaffolding needed (expensive) it's probably not a lot to fix the joints (lead flashing?)

4) sounds like the 'conversion' was a cowboy job. I bet no Building Regs certificate? Attic are not constructed to support the weight of furniture, people etc hence BR require attic floors to be strengthened when converted to a habitable space. Either don't use the attic other than for storage, or pay a fortune to strngthen the joists....

5) as above. Conversions require BRs fr safety AND for environmental standards. Heat loss through the roof wil be huge.

NQManchester

My limited experience with damp is that it’s sometimes hard to determine the actual cause without ripping things apart so you might waste money ruling out issues. A patch of damp fine but I think that house sounds like more hassle than it’s worth if you’re not buying it as a doer upper.