Subsidence?

[Springforward]

OK, so our unerring ability to find the rubbish houses to view, apparently continues.

We went to see a ?50's build house this evening. Lovely house, semi-rural/ on edge of town, nice schools etc. etc. etc., BUT...

...I will swear that the add-on garage is falling away from the house. When you looked at the back of the house, the "flat" roof was sloping slightly down away from the house, and the door was not square compared to the ones in the main house. The roof line did not meet the main wall by a couple of inches, and the brickwork on the corresponding edge at the front is cracked stepwise through the mortar.

Also, in the utility room-bit which the garage is stuck to, there is a stepped crack through the brickwork mortar radiating at 45 degrees (I couldn't get into the other side of the wall to see if it went through as they'd stuck their enormous dog in there .)

So - don't suppose there happens to be a surveyor/ structural engineer/ someone who knows more than me out there, does there, to tell me whether I am panicking over nothing or not?

DH, of course, thinks I am nuts. He loves the house and is, I suspect, doing the equivalent of sticking his fingers in his ears and singing loudly.

Oh, yes, that's him - normally Mr Super-Rational, but with massive blind spots for stuff like this!!!

Yes, FIL pointed it out in the first place....

Well I would presume the worst and if it turns out not to be the case then thats a bonus!!

Lintels are definitely structural.

Brickwork is (usually) structural.

(Or at least that's what 5 years at university and 9 years experience tell me)!

:)

Thanks Pendeen!

FIL bought a stupidly crumbly house in c.2003 on a mortgage and does not believe what our IFA is telling us now, I think. Bless him.

Part of his argument is that there is a breeze wall behind the brick skin. However, I did smile at the idea that it's ok for the external layer of wall to, er, fall off. I guess he meant that we wouldn't wake up to a hole in the wall and the roof coming down but part of me would not be surprised if it did.

Still nothing from agent re: side wall. We plan to poke them again tomorrow but if plans for vendor to repair are not forthcoming we're going to walk away.

Have you heard from the EA today? Did you view the modern box?

No, and yes!

To be fair to the agent, we didn't call them today (work manic for both of us) but we were really expecting them to contact us, so equal blame both sides there I think.

The modern box was the opposite of the other one - good on the outside and really crappy on the inside.... Currently doing sums on an entirely different set of renovations! (Anaglypta everywhere - why? Just, why? And three different colours of bathroom fittings - not even just one hideous colour to get your head around. And what exactly was he doing to his double glazing to make it look like that when the house is only 15ish years old, anyway?)

Will keep you posted on the final decision - thanks for sticking with me this far!! In our hearts we want the older property to work out, I think.

I miss buying houses so I'm living vicariously through you!

If it is to be a long term home and you can make the figures work then let your heart lead and take up gin to get you through it