HomeBuyers report - wall ties and damp

[Chris1989]

Hi all,

I made a post a while ago about a really rubbish survey for an old terraced house I was looking to buy, we decided to walk away and instead we've found a newer ~1930 terraced house for a bit cheaper.

Anyway we've had the survey and while it's much better than the previous it raises a few issues that I'd love to hear you guys' opinion on :)

1. Issue with wall ties - there's some horizontal cracking on the front and rear walls, see picture 1. He reckons this could be due to corroded wall ties which would need to be repaired or replaced. From what I can read this isn't too expensive - new ones can be drilled in cheaply, does that sound right?

1. My old friend damp. The previous house was covered in damp but this only has a few damp issues picked up. The first is by the kitchen doorway (pic 2) and it's quite visible, the second is just written down as 'high damp meter readings to the right side of the chimney'. Are high readings common near chimneys/fireplaces? With the one in the hallway it's unclear what could be causing it

Anyway my gut feeling is good on this, well compared to the previous house! But I'd love to know if you guys have any thoughts/experience with the above issues.

Thanks 😊

Looks as though the house is rendered so you could end up needing to have areas of render replaced once the wall ties are sorted out. If water gets behind render it can cause damp problems and the render will blow.

What is above and on the other side of the hall wall which is damp? It could be a roof problem, to do with the render, a leak somewhere, etc, etc.

are similar properties on the same street rendered? If not, it could be the cause of both problems and may need removal.

Thanks guys - the other houses are rendered too from what I can see. I've attached the floor plan for the ground floor and circled the area with the damp, upstairs it's just below the main bedroom.

How urgent are these issues to resolve do you think?

It's a bit of an odd place to have damp. Have you looked behind cupboards etc to see if there's anything nasty behind?

With it being rendered you can't tell whether the walls are solid or cavity. The cracks could be due to wall tie corrosion, but I would normally expect to see them every 450mm or so if that was the cause. Are there any areas where you can see bare wall, or have you measured the thickness of the wall? If it is tie corrosion it's not an enormous job but still maybe a couple of grand for the ties themselves but you'd probably need to re-render too which will add a fair bit on.

how are the chimneys topped out? You can get damp if rain is getting into them, especially if the fireplaces are blocked off and there's no ventilation.

I haven't looked behind cupboards but there isn't any in the vicinity as it's a tiny space next to the door, so bit strange. The walls are are cavity from what the surveyor has said.

I'm not sure how they're topped out unfortunately, the surveyor said this about the chimney

"The property has a brick chimney stack. The stack is shared with the adjoining property. These are surmounted by four chimney pots."

Thanks for all your help :)

I suspect there is either a leaking pipe in or above that wall or a roof problem immediately above it. Might be worth having a full structural survey.