Survey concerns

mgabriel

Hi,

I am in the process of buying a 100y old ex BTL victorian terraced house in what is considered a nice commuter town, 1h away from central London, in a radon and low/medium flooding risk area.

While some of the issues shown in the report might be normal for this type of property (high damp reading in the walls without any visible mold, some artex ceiling which might contain asbestos, old electrical fittings with some sockets installed in the skirting boards, minor hairline cracks in the plasterwork, etc.) there are others which are more concerning to me and rated as high risk requiring urgent attention:

- the chimney breast removed from rear ground floor

- the roof slates present in a heavily degraded condition; some slipped and missing slates can be seen
- solid concrete is laid at the base of the main walls which might keep the water in the brickwork
- inadequate subfloor ventilation due to low number of airbricks and their condition; it is recommended to install more airbricks

I will discuss with the surveyor all the findings but I would be really grateful for some thoughts on the above.
Are the above the signs of a money pit and start panicking and pull out?

Thanks!

propertyrental

A bit of money and some minor improvements.

- the chimney breast removed from rear ground floor.How long ago? Buldings Regulations sign-off? Surveyor noted any indication of problems?

- the roof slates present in a heavily degraded condition; some slipped and missing slates can be seen easy to replace some slipped/missing tiles. Not sure what 'heavily degraded condition' means....

- solid concrete is laid at the base of the main walls which might keep the water in the brickwork Yeah probably need to remove this and allow a French Drain or gulley round the base of the walls. DIY over a weekend?
- inadequate subfloor ventilation due to low number of airbricks and their condition; it is recommended to install more airbricks. Airbricks cost around £5.87 here + installaion

Sounds like a useful survey highlighting a few jobs required.

mgabriel

Hi,

Many thanks for your reply.

In regards to the chimney breast building regulations sign-off I will probably have to check with the EA or the solicitor.
The report states that it poses a structural risk as it is unsupported.

Thank you!

daveyjp

A Victorian property is now at least 120 years old!

Nothing in the report is a surprise and to be expected if it has never had much money spent on it. 

Its items like ceilings which can quickly turn into a headache if they are still lath and plaster and are failing. Artex is good at covering up problems!

mgabriel

Indeed, the property is 120y old as per survey.

You are again right in regards to the ceilings, the survey is mentioning exactly the same potential issues and I should expect that in the future replacement work will be required.
Some of the ceilings are boarded up, some are artex.

Thanks!

Grizebeck

That is really minor

Noneforit999

In terms of the chimney breast, you need to find out when it was removed from the ground floor and if there was BC sign off. If there was no BC sign off and it was removed 30 years ago, its probably fine but worth asking some questions to find out what was done to support the upper parts of the breast. These days an RSJ is normally installed below the breast to support it but years ago it was common to use corbelling or if done semi recently, could be gallows brackets. If its on a party wall (so partly supported by the other side) and it was done decades ago, its unlikely to fall down overnight but it would be best to have it looked at after you move in just in case.

Assuming roof is original, thats par for the course with a house of that age. Obviously you could budget to replace the broken ones but depending on how bad the rest are, may need to budget to have it recovered.

The concrete going up to the walls outside is an easy fix if you wanted to. Seems like rear end covering to me if there is no evidence of damp the other side of the wall.

Air bricks are easy to have installed and not expensive. 

mi-key

Most things on surveys are just a case of 'this may possibly cause problems at some point in the future, but have a look at it now to see'...

On mine I had a note about a cracked roof joist, and possible problem with the DPC. 16 years later the joist hasn't got any worse ( house was built in 1960, and it could have been cracked a week after they put it up ) , and never had any problems with damp.

Oh, and a note that some of the floor tiles 'may' contain asbestos, which as they were carpeted over and I had no intention of removing them, was a non issue. 

As others have said, most of the things on yours are stuff that could be fixed by a decent DIYer very cheaply and half a days work. so I wouldn't worry .