Building Survey Report - Areas of concern

mazibee · 27 May 2019 at 6:42PM

Davesnave wrote: »

But you know the floors aren't all concrete, because your surveyor said:
"The floorboards are creaky and this can be resolved by fixing them securely to the floor joists. This work will require the removal of the floor coverings and any damaged timber replaced. Although the subfloor ventilation is in line with the standards set at the time of construction, it is limited in comparison with modern building methods."

So the suspended floors are ventilated to some degree, but not as much as deemed good practice today. Given that the house is decades old, why might this inferior ventilation suddenly give trouble? (I'm not saying that it is.) I can only think of something like raising the ground level outside, which may have happened when the block paving shown in this picture was done:
http://prntscr.com/nt6ykm

The brick surface has been laid sloping towards the house,and water is directed into an Acco drain.This wasn't a great choice, but it probably saved someone digging out a lot of material. I would want your existing surveyor's comment on that for a start! There ought to be a much greater gap beneath the door threshold and the ground.

Thanks for the reply
The houses on this road have a huge slope from the road outside. (The houses and there driveways are lower as compared to the roads outside)

Today I passed by the property and saw that next door houses have built the drive way and have done the gradual slop but all of them have the slope towards the house as the road is higher, that look strange as normally it should be the opposite seem that its not possible to raise the whole house above the road and then slope the driveway towards the road.

Davesnave · 27 May 2019 at 7:45PM

mazibee wrote: »

Thanks for the reply
The houses on this road have a huge slope from the road outside. (The houses and there driveways are lower as compared to the roads outside).

Yes, I understand. My last house was below road level too, but on the narrow section along the front of the building, I excavated to make it slope the other way into a drainage channel.
With the house in the picture, the Acco drain ought to be at the base of the garden retaining wall. Perhaps it couldn't be easily placed there due to the wall foundations, or just because more digging and work would have been needed, but sloping the pathway towards the house isn't best practice especially when it still ends so high up the wall.

Just ask yourself what happens when there's extreme weather and there's suddenly water rushing down the drive.

mazibee · 2 June 2019 at 1:52PM

Please can someone guide me as running short of time. Our solicitosr have raised the enquiries so want to make a decision before its too late.

Shall I go for the Damp and timber survey as pointed out by the surveyor in the building survey report.

Owain_Moneysaver · 2 June 2019 at 4:54PM

mazibee wrote: »

Please can someone guide me as running short of time. Our solicitosr have raised the enquiries so want to make a decision before its too late.

Shall I go for the Damp and timber survey as pointed out by the surveyor in the building survey report.

It's your money, but I wouldn't. Especially if the "survey" is carried out by a chemical salesman.

Davesnave · 2 June 2019 at 6:14PM

Owain_Moneysaver wrote: »

It's your money, but I wouldn't. .

Neither would I, because the vendor isn't going to allow lifting of floorboards or any proper viewing of what lies beneath the suspended floors.

I haven't any detailed knowledge of the house, so I don't know what else I might do. As I've said before, if the price was in my favour, I'd probably buy, knowing there would be problems hidden somewhere, because no older house is going to be perfect.

mazibee · 3 June 2019 at 7:17AM

Owain_Moneysaver wrote: »

It's your money, but I wouldn't. Especially if the "survey" is carried out by a chemical salesman.

I plan to use the services of

http://www.clifffullerassociates.co.uk/

but as said by Davenave, now I am in a perplex situation, what if I don't go for survey now, and later once house purchased something serious comes up.

Davesnave · 3 June 2019 at 7:29AM

mazibee wrote: »

I plan to use the services of

http://www.clifffullerassociates.co.uk/

but as said by Davenave, now I am in a perplex situation, what if I don't go for survey now, and later once house purchased something serious comes up.

I didn't say you were in a perplexing situation; you've decided that! Actually, you're in the same position as most people

I said that almost all older houses will have hidden problems somewhere and not all of them will be found by the sort of non-invasive surveys vendors allow.

For example, the house I sold last had the wrong bricks below the damp course and they were starting to crumble. My present house had a drain issue that only became apparent in winter time. Neither of these things was visible when inspected.

If you don't want structural issues of some kind to occur sometime, buy a insurance-backed, guaranteed new house from a reputable local builder. Even then, you will find small issues.

Building Survey Report - Areas of concern

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