Structural survey done - issues - what next??

felinefancy

Hi everyone..

Ongoing with house.. we've now had the damp survey carried out - basically he said (not quoting word for word):  recommendation for ground level to be altered to allow flow from existing air bricks, insert more airbricks, remove plaster in lounge/dining room where damp present and replaster with recommended product, etc etc.  Approx cost of works £3500 - 4500 ex VAT.

We advised estate agent that from surveys and quotes, the approximate price to have immediate (urgent) works completed would be in the region of £16k plus VAT (new roof, damp remedied, building of a fire party wall in loft, repointing).  This does not include an approximate extra £8-10k (£5-6k of which might be for a new kitchen if damp repairs meant ripping out kitchen units) for additional, less urgent works which are also required.

We can get the £16k+VAT of works recovered by the mortgage as we've renegotiated the price however, we did not budget for the unexpected additional works that we would have to cover.  With those extra costs we're not going to have much savings left for our own costs i.e. furniture, new flooring etc.

So I've now been researching what's required in terms of works - ie. fire party wall needing building regs, speaking with neighbour etc. and just thinking that this house may be more hassle than we're prepared for.  Now we're in a dilemma because we're totally unsure whether to go ahead or pull out.  It might just be too much for us in terms of works and costs.  I'm stressing over the decision as to which way we go so that we can move forward, whichever that may be and not to cause any further inconvenience for the vendor.   We haven't started with solicitors yet as we were waiting to have all the surveys finished first.  I've never bought a property that's needed such extensive work before and as much as i could project manage it all, I'm concerned that this is a property that might just end up costing us more than we have. 

Any advice?  Thank you!

babyblade41

I think possibly this is too much for your capabilities .. your costs for re plastering seems totally excessive .
I am in SE  and an expensive area, solving ingress of water  cost nothing plus a bit of digging , plastering of each room plus over boarding  of ceilings was 500 per room 

Re-pointing  .. a few weekends work ..without re-reading the whole thread why do you need a complete new roof ?


Surely when you viewed all of this would have been evident to the naked eye & your offer was based on what you saw ?

If I was the vendor after being negotiated down already with no significant legal work undertaken I would have probably put back on the market.

Noneforit999

babyblade41 said:

 plastering of each room plus over boarding  of ceilings was 500 per room 

Depends how big your rooms are. We are having a large bedroom done and its costing £600 without boarding so just a skim coat and were in the SE too. Quotes ranged from £450 to £800 so they prices they have are probably top end. 

felinefancy

babyblade41 said:

I think possibly this is too much for your capabilities .. your costs for re plastering seems totally excessive .
I am in SE  and an expensive area, solving ingress of water  cost nothing plus a bit of digging , plastering of each room plus over boarding  of ceilings was 500 per room 

Re-pointing  .. a few weekends work ..without re-reading the whole thread why do you need a complete new roof ?


Surely when you viewed all of this would have been evident to the naked eye & your offer was based on what you saw ?

If I was the vendor after being negotiated down already with no significant legal work undertaken I would have probably put back on the market.

Quite possibly yes and this is my concern - although I've owned three houses over the last 35 years, all were in great condition and never required any work apart from redecoration and general maintenance.  Now, 15 years later since owning my last home, we are now struggling to find a house to buy in our budget - we saw two houses last year that were perfect and not as old as this current one, but we were outbid each time, and we just can't afford to compete in a bidding war.  So what we might spend to bring this house up to standard is probably less what we'd have to pay to stand any chance of being the highest bidder on more modern properties.  Why we're not sure what to do about this current house is that it's actually a decent size for our requirements compared to others, and there were no other offers on this (probably because people saw the damp!) and the concern is that if we don't go ahead with this, we're not going to find another house that we can 'afford'.  However, my husband is more concerned that if they start banging the walls about to sort out the damp, they might find more than expected and costs will start running away from our budget.  

As I've said before, I don't have any peers to discuss this with so I'm looking for some sympathetic guidance.  And unfortunately no, these issues were not spotted initially - my husband is not from UK - he's never bought a house before having always lived in the family home; he wouldn't think to look in the loft and I have never been into a loft space - I don't have a lot of experience with property - no friends or family I can ask for advice so I've always relied on homebuyers reports to give me information.  So no, the problems raised were not something we were aware of when we viewed the property.  Yes, we did notice damp but not the extent of it - that was only advised after the survey.  

So a new roof - because this Victorian miners terraced house has the original roof, no felt underneath, just slate on roof timbers, and both surveys picked this up.  Nails not going to last long apparently.  I've had two local roofing companies quote £4000 and the other £8000!    

Vendor had an offer before however previous buyer pulled out at a later stage - we weren't advised why.  

Spreadsheetman

That roof doesn't sound urgent provided it is not leaking and the timber is sound. Those nails have probably lasted 100+ years already, so they can wait while you save up. No felt isn't a big deal in itself, my 1930s semi (ceramic tiles) had no felt and the roof was perfectly sound and leak-free. The main snag with no felt is that it is unforgiving of a slipped tile, that will leak immediately so you need to watch the roof carefully and get loose tiles fixed quickly.

felinefancy

Spreadsheetman said:

That roof doesn't sound urgent provided it is not leaking and the timber is sound. Those nails have probably lasted 100+ years already, so they can wait while you save up. No felt isn't a big deal in itself, my 1930s semi (ceramic tiles) had no felt and the roof was perfectly sound and leak-free. The main snag with no felt is that it is unforgiving of a slipped tile, that will leak immediately so you need to watch the roof carefully and get loose tiles fixed quickly.

Thanks Spreadsheet man - we've had this mentioned before that the roof isn't a major, immediate fix, despite being brought up in both surveys.  Damp survey advised timbers were in good condition, despite having no felting.  And I was told that some slates may not last if there are storms.  That might be the case however didn't we have some pretty strong storms earlier this year?  No slates are missing currently.  So yes, my thought too is that although I appreciate the recommendations in the surveys, I think perhaps the roof could continue for a little longer but to be mindful that it will need to be done at some point in the future.  The damp is the priority for us, and also having the fire party wall up in the loft - don't want any surprises coming down the loft!