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Original poster

Had house survey done - eeek!!!

63 replies

Hulababy · 06/12/2004 09:06

As you may know we hae recently found and offer accepted on a house. House is good price, great location, near good school for DD, and a great size, especially for area.

But BIL (a building surveyor) did a full survey on it yesterday and found lots of problems. All typical of a house of this age (1930s) where the owners haven't looked after the property properly.

Main problem is damp. Most downstairs walls have damp which needs doing asap.

Also:

  • extension hasn't had proper flashing (???) added to it where it joins, so needs that replacing
  • bay window is bowing - needs sorting out which can be a pain of a job
  • chimney stack needs redoing
  • electrics may need some sorting out - lots of connectors in the loft which wouldn't meet current standards

Think that's it!!! BIL is writing it all up and getting full costings for everything this week.

We do like the house and will still go ahead so long as:

(a) costings aren't way too high (BIL gave a rough estimate which seemed fine)

(b) current owners will negiotiate price - not sure how we go about this though. They must know about some of this as they only bought it 4 years ago, and the damp at least they should be aware of

(c) main work (ie. damp and window) can be sorted out before we move in. We have the option of renting our own apartmanet from our buyer for a month or two to allow this. Just need to get the workers.

Only option is to find another house :( which is not ideal. Not much around right now. And the house we saw where everyhting had already been done was a lot more expensive, and not as big either.

BIL suggests it is worth doing, so long as we can deal with the delay in moving and so long as we can at least split the costs with the current owners. If we do it asll we get a good house in a good state. There are no structural problems (only the damp).

Anyone else been through all this? How did it go? What would you do?

Never bought an older house before - other two buys were new. So have no idea about the next steps, etc.

Help!!!

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Original poster
Hulababy · 06/12/2004 10:41

Thanks loads Katzguk. Sound promising. Going to try and get details at lunchtime. I'll let you know!

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Original poster
Hulababy · 06/12/2004 10:43

Hopefully not all gone!

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SantaFio2 · 06/12/2004 10:43

wont your sellers be a bit supsicious that it was dh's brother who did the survey and now there are problems? I know i would think it a little odd

what actaually needs doing with the damp? a damp course or other?

katzguk · 06/12/2004 10:44

you'd be just down the road from us!! just to warn you though, if it snows you'd get it there!!

Original poster
Hulababy · 06/12/2004 10:45

Damn! Going to be another year till they are ready :(

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katzguk · 06/12/2004 10:45

i think the apartmetns had more interest 240K is a lot for a house

katzguk · 06/12/2004 10:45

oh have you justr ung saxton mee

Gobbledigoose · 06/12/2004 10:48

Hulababy - just wanted to drop in and say sorry your survey is crap and I hope you get sorted out soon. Old houses are a bit of a nightmare but I still prefer them for the character and the one you've gone for looks lovely.

Don't break your heart if you don't take it though - these things happen for a reason ime and you'd probably end up with something just as nice if not better!

Original poster
Hulababy · 06/12/2004 10:49

Fio - sellers know that surveyor was BIl. He is doing it all as a professional. They can get their own done if they wish to verify it. TBH a simple mortgage survey will find the damp at the very least, which we will have to get done regardless. They must be aware of the damp. They only bought 4 years ago, and BIL says this is long term issue, not a sudden development.

The damp needs every wall doing - drilling into and pumping with chemicals, and damp course doing. Then all rooms need plastering and drying out.

And that's without looking at the bay window and chimney, and exotension roof.

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Original poster
Hulababy · 06/12/2004 10:51

atzguk - yes, just rang them. Would depend on exact finishing date and availabity of rental stuff in area. BUT they'd have to be spot on for us to go down that road.

Have looked on estate agents site and there are other properites that may be worth a look - to keep our options open.

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SantaFio2 · 06/12/2004 10:52

nightmare. We have had our damp done and 3 months later we still have bare brick as it is still drying out. damp was so bad and such a long standing problem that damp people suggested 4-6 months for the walls to air. it is not that bad for us though as this is in our basement 9although the kitchen is there, eek) but your whole living space would cause alot of upheaval.

Original poster
Hulababy · 06/12/2004 10:54

Exactly Fio - it'd have to be done before we move in. Means paying rent and mortgage so don't want to do that for longer than a month really.

And would the kitchen need replacing as a result?

It just isn't looking good right now.

Other thing is whether the damp has gotten into the floor boards, which BIL wasn't able to determine yesterday sadly. But worst case scenario is if it has - whole new flooring throughout - eeek!

As I say, we are looking at other options as well!

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katzguk · 06/12/2004 10:56

how long would you buyer let you rent for? because i guess you wouldn'tpay mortgage on the new build until its ready to move into? if not next door to us might be interested in a long term renters since she having naff all sucess in selling

katzguk · 06/12/2004 10:57

we walked away from a house because of a heating issue. You have to be 100% happy with the house

Original poster
Hulababy · 06/12/2004 11:03

Can't live here for a year; besides need to be in right catchement for DD before then. Not sure I am ready to rent again long term. After doing it with the apartments and then how long it took to be ready - kind of put me off.

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katzguk · 06/12/2004 11:07

at least your in a strong position if you do dicided to pull out and buy elsewhere, oh excuse for me to look at houses in sheffield, on the prentence of helping you!!

DoesntChristmasDragOn · 06/12/2004 11:10

The damp may not be as bad as you think, Hulababy. Our last house (c 1917) had this in numerous interior/exterior walls. The damp people came in, hacked the plaster off to about dado height, injected the chemical damp proof course and came back the next day to replaster. It really wasn't a major upheaval at all - although this was pre children! It certainly wouldn't have needed us to move out though, even if we had children. There was still the upstairs which was mess free during the day and by the evening, the mess had gone. I think this was 5 or 6 walls/parts of walls. Our floors were fine too.

If you have the option of staying in your current apartment though, that's great. Very few buyers won't expect to reduce the price wrt items thrown up by the survey which weren't taken into account or visible at the time of the offer. We negotiated over £5000 off the first house because of the damp and structural problems with the detached end-of-garden garage. You're in a very good bargaining position if you're not bothered about losing the house and they've had few offers.

Original poster
Hulababy · 06/12/2004 11:32

DoesntChristmasDragOn - thanks. Just feeling a bit negative right now I guess.

There is damp in the kitchen. Kitchen is fitted with all tiling. How will having the damp done affect the kitchen?

BIL gave an estimate of 2 weeks for the damp work to be done yesterday. Should know more by end fof week though.

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Ange8 · 06/12/2004 12:37

When we moved into our last house, everything needed to be done - damp proof course, rewiring, roof etc. My advice would be to try to think ahead to what you would like to do ideally in those rooms affected (basically, all of downstairs in your case) and see how much of it you could have done at the same time as the essential works - for example, we had damp proof course, which involved replastering every room up to waist height. We really wished we had asked the builders to replaster right up to the ceiling, because then we would have had beautifully smooth walls ready for decorating. We didn't do so, and we had to get plasterers in later on to skim all the walls. We also had to have part of a floor replaced because the joists were rotten - but I later wished we had asked them to replace the whole floor, so that we could polish the boards, rather than having a patched floor.

katzguk · 06/12/2004 16:19

hi

found this one the staff classified ads
4 bedroomed semi-detached house in Sheffield 11
10 minutes car drive from the University and near to good schools. Backing onto Bingham Park with superb views over the city. Accommodation comprises 4 double bedrooms- two with vanity units; bathroom with shower; upstairs and downstairs toilets; through lounge and dining room; large kitchen. Gardens and garage. House currently empty so no chain. Price £229,950. For details contact Heppenstalls Estate Agents Tel 0114 2691333. Alternatively further details can be obtained from Ann (have deleted this number but can email it to you)

JanH · 06/12/2004 16:30

I don't think they can replaster until the damp has dried out, though, soupy - maybe yours wasn't that bad. I know I've visited in houses with bare bricks in the bottom half of the downstairs walls before (though could have been different method I suppose).

Hula, the kitchen tiling should be OK above worktop height but the units would have to come out. If the whole downstairs is seriously damp it is a big job but at least you can have it done when the house is empty and can stay out until it is all finished and clean.

The valuers who priced the house for the market won't have allowed for any of this because they won't have looked for it, estate agent valuations are completely superficial, you should definitely go back with a lower offer that covers the cost of the work and negotiate from there.

JanH · 06/12/2004 16:34

Hula, what does this house have on the ground around it? Has the level been raised at all, eg by paving, so it breaches the original dpc? If it has and the vendors did it themselves they might not have realised.

Mind you if the internal walls are damp too that wouldn't account for those...

cranberryjampot · 06/12/2004 16:45

we recently had a damp reading and found a leaky radiator

Original poster
Hulababy · 06/12/2004 17:19

Having spoken to BIL more, we have decided to pull out. DH has just phoned their estate agents to tell them. TBH, BIL can't understand how you couldn't see the damp on the inside of the walls. The level of damp on his meter was touching the top of the scale in almost every bottom floor wall. Also means floors are no doubt so it'd need new flooring throughout downstairs, and the kitchen would have to come out too.

That with other problems means BIL's recommendation, knowing the house and us, is to pull out. So we have.

Luckily this has no bearing on our house sale at all and that will be unaffected.

Thanks for lots of advice and experiences.

So, here's looking again....

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Original poster
Hulababy · 06/12/2004 17:20

Katzguk - that sounds interesting; can yo e-mail details please :)

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