First time buyer. Survey has come back

Ewood93

I’m 3 weeks into the process, and the survey report has come back. Two points I’m concerned is this:

“There is evidence of rucking to the right hand side wall in the living room under the steel beam, which may be the result of progressive structural movement and we therefore recommend further investigations.”

“There is a damp smell within the living room area however the walls were tested with a Damp Meter and they were dry. However there may well be damp in the subfloor and therefore I have recommended a damp and timber survey which will need the floorboards being taken up.“

Going to contact the estate agent first thing Monday.  How do you even go about inspecting the noise in a wall. This my second attempt trying to buy a property 😭

Any advise on my next moves?

youth_leader

You can get a structural engineer to look at the 'rucking' on the right hand side wall, and find an independent damp/timber specialist to check the damp.  If the surveyor says there 'may well' be damp in the subfloor it is definitely worth investigating.  You will have to pay for both of these investigations, but it is worth it.  

Good luck.  

FreeBear

youth_leader said:

You can get a structural engineer to look at the 'rucking' on the right hand side wall, and find an independent damp/timber specialist to check the damp.  If the surveyor says there 'may well' be damp in the subfloor it is definitely worth investigating.  You will have to pay for both of these investigations, but it is worth it.

But the vendor is unlikely to allow the floorboards to be lifted or any intrusive investigations of the walls or beam. So a damp & timber survey is likely to be a waste of time, and the structural engineer will only be able to make a guess as to what the problem is based on visible clues.

stuart45

Ewood93 said:

“There is evidence of rucking to the right hand side wall in the living room under the steel beam, 

  How do you even go about inspecting the noise in a wall. This my second attempt trying to buy a property 😭

What do you mean by noise in the wall?
Racking is normally on external walls caused by wind, rucking is on the rugby field.

Sapindus

I was interpreting it as wrinkling in the wallpaper, like when a carpet gets rucked up,

stuart45

Sapindus said:

I was interpreting it as wrinkling in the wallpaper, like when a carpet gets rucked up,

If you Google racking in buildings, walls and roofs it will explain the movement better than I can. I doubt the surveyor meant the rucking on the wallpaper, but he might of.