Structural Engineer when Buying House

gfriel2104

Hi all,

I'm interested in buying a house but one of the make or break points is a wall that runs through the bedroom making it must more difficult to stay in. I want to find out if the wall could be removed before buying the house. There's also an aspect of loft conversion which would also be worth getting checked at the same time. I just wanted to check if it's doable or standard practice to get a Structural Engineer in to see if the wall could be removed or not. 

Thanks

FlorayG

Why would you not if that's what you want to do if you buy it? I can't see the vendor objecting if it will help him sell to you

Section62

gfriel2104 said:

Hi all,

I'm interested in buying a house but one of the make or break points is a wall that runs through the bedroom making it must more difficult to stay in. I want to find out if the wall could be removed before buying the house. There's also an aspect of loft conversion which would also be worth getting checked at the same time. I just wanted to check if it's doable or standard practice to get a Structural Engineer in to see if the wall could be removed or not. 

Thanks

It would be a good idea to get a SE to look at the house before you buy if removing the wall is a dealbreaker.... but the SE won't be able to do much without being able to see the structure, and very few vendors are likely to be happy with having builders lifting floorboards etc in order to allow a SE to inspect.

There's also the issue that having building work done is very expensive now (and probably into the future) so if the property only works if you have (expensive) building work done then maybe better to increase your buying budget and find something else.  Spending significant amounts of money modifying a newly purchased property only really makes sense now if the end result is an increase in value - i.e. that additional rooms/space have/has been added, or a full refurb has been done.

gfriel2104

FlorayG said:

Why would you not if that's what you want to do if you buy it? I can't see the vendor objecting if it will help him sell to you

I'm just not sure if it's the standard procedure. When selling my house, the buyer requested I get a mould report done and when I got it the mould specialist in he said that was very unusual and that almost always the buyer would take it on. Just wanted to see if that's something typically done.

user1977

Of course it isn't "standard", because the vast majority of buyers are not proposing to undertake immediate structural changes (and many of those which are, are capable of figuring out for themselves what's possible). Does it matter whether it's "standard" or not?

gfriel2104

Section62 said:

It would be a good idea to get a SE to look at the house before you buy if removing the wall is a dealbreaker.... but the SE won't be able to do much without being able to see the structure, and very few vendors are likely to be happy with having builders lifting floorboards etc in order to allow a SE to inspect.

There's also the issue that having building work done is very expensive now (and probably into the future) so if the property only works if you have (expensive) building work done then maybe better to increase your buying budget and find something else.  Spending significant amounts of money modifying a newly purchased property only really makes sense now if the end result is an increase in value - i.e. that additional rooms/space have/has been added, or a full refurb has been done.

Ah right so without a bigger piece of work an SE wouldn't be able to find out if the wall could be removed or not?

100% agreed on the second part. Luckily a lot of renovations I should do myself w/ some help but removing a wall is something I wouldn't let anyone look at no matter how easy they claim it would be haha.

gfriel2104

user1977 said:

Of course it isn't "standard", because the vast majority of buyers are not proposing to undertake immediate structural changes (and many of those which are, are capable of figuring out for themselves what's possible). Does it matter whether it's "standard" or not?

Just the wrong word. I mean more "Is this something that is reasonable to do ahead of buying a house?". But from the comment above it sounds as though it might be a bigger piece of work just to look at than some routine checks so maybe not possible in this instance.

BarelySentientAI

gfriel2104 said:

FlorayG said:

Why would you not if that's what you want to do if you buy it? I can't see the vendor objecting if it will help him sell to you

I'm just not sure if it's the standard procedure. When selling my house, the buyer requested I get a mould report done and when I got it the mould specialist in he said that was very unusual and that almost always the buyer would take it on. Just wanted to see if that's something typically done.

It's typical that the person wanting the answers in the report (the buyer) gets the report done.  That's what the 'specialist' meant. 

gfriel2104

BarelySentientAI said:

gfriel2104 said:

FlorayG said:

Why would you not if that's what you want to do if you buy it? I can't see the vendor objecting if it will help him sell to you

I'm just not sure if it's the standard procedure. When selling my house, the buyer requested I get a mould report done and when I got it the mould specialist in he said that was very unusual and that almost always the buyer would take it on. Just wanted to see if that's something typically done.

It's typical that the person wanting the answers in the report (the buyer) gets the report done.  That's what the 'specialist' meant. 

I think in my case the buyer insisting that I got the report done probably benefitted me haha. But I just wanted to make sure that getting an SE report is an actual thing buyers might do. 

Bookworm105

it is up to the buyer to get whatever reassurance they require
Working out if an internal wall is a load bearing one does not necessary need the expertise and cost of a structural engineer.
anyone with a tape measure can check if the bedroom wall aligns exactly with a wall on the floor below it. If it doesn't it is not structural. if it does, it may be but the only way to be certain of that would be lift floorboards in the bedroom and see if the wall is continuous in the void 

a general review of the layout of the house should also give a good idea of the internal partitioning arrangements. There is always a caveat that they are not to scale, but a glance at the estate agents floorplan would give you a start point.

Section62

Bookworm105 said:

...
Working out if an internal wall is a load bearing one does not necessary need the expertise and cost of a structural engineer.
anyone with a tape measure can check if the bedroom wall aligns exactly with a wall on the floor below it. If it doesn't it is not structural. if it does, it may be but the only way to be certain of that would be lift floorboards in the bedroom and see if the wall is continuous in the void 
...

^That is exactly why people should only rely on the advice of a qualified structural engineer, even if it costs them. There are too many other people who think they know how to do structural engineering without having the necessary knowledge and skills, e.g. asking a builder for structural advice is to be avoided.

A wall can be structural without there being a wall on the floor below it.