Survey results

[aprilkm]

Hello everyone,

I would appreciate the community's help with getting a rough estimate of costs related to roof and floor repairs.

Long story short, we are purchasing a 1930s detached house, and the building survey has revealed a couple of issues with the state of the tiles for part of the roof, and the floor in two of the ground floor rooms.

Specifically (bear with me as i am not an expert!), in the roof we will need to replace the tiles and add sarking felt to around 50sqm of the original roof, repoint some bricks to the chimney breasts, and re-bed some ridge tiles in a few places. To our non-expert eye, the roof seemed fine when looking from below, but the issues were visible from inside the loft. Our offer for the property did not take into consideration extensive work on the roof.

The issue with the floor is a bit less straightforward, as unless we can lift the floorboards we cannot know what's underneath. It seems that in a few places, the floor is bouncing when you walk on it which indicates timber decay. We will therefore need to lift the floorboards, replace damaged joists and treat the wood if needed, and make sure there is appropriate ventilation before we lay the floorboards down. The affected area is around 45sqm.

I haven't had luck receiving quotes from professionals as I will need to arrange them to view the property; that's a bit difficult as i am living in a different part of the country. Has anyone done any work similar to this lately, and you kindly provide a rough estimate of costs? I just need a figure that I can use to negotiate with the vendor. Any advice on how to negotiate a price reduction would be welcome as well.

Thank you very much in advance!

Sorry I can’t help much but I would like to say that I also have the odd area in my house where the floorboards ‘bounce’. They have been checked and they are just loose floorboards, nothing to do with timber decay.

Hopefully it’s as simple as that for you. Can I ask, what test did the person do to determine that is indicated timber decay?

Thank you for your response. From what I understood, he suspects timber decay because it is a whole section from one side of the room to the other not just odd floorboards here and there. He did not say anything about dry rot but I am assuming this would be visible?

The surveyor themselves should be able to give you a ballpark figure. It is regional dependant and also depends on whether you need scaffolding etc. You could ask the estate agent to meet the roofer for quote. Flooring just ring someone local and ask how much to replace floor joists etc as described for rough estimate.

We had a similar flooring issue in a property we nearly bought this year - floor was very uneven and there was evidence of salts being pushed up through the floorboards.

The property was empty and while the owners allowed specialists in to quote they wouldn't allow them to do the more detailed tests for damp. I don't really blame them as it was intrusive, but the problem affected half the floor of the property.

In the end we walked away as, with some of the other problems on the survey, we couldn't rule out subsidence. The owners refused to consider a reduction in price based upon the £10k+ other remedial works required that the survey picked up, even though they had them independently costed and their quotes came out higher.

I'd look at what budget contingency you have - will it cover a worst case scenario - and work back from there if you can't get the floor checked properly. And, as ever, be prepared to walk away if you're not happy with the risk.

Some good advice above.

Get your surveyor to give you some ball park figures, that should be no problem for them.

The roof is a standard thing, if there's no felt then it will always be flagged as needing upgrading but if there are any signs of rot or water ingress, the you should consider getting it changed soon.

As for the floor. There's many types of rot and wood boring insect, I suspect he's found something beyond just the bounce. These nasties are always the symptom, a result of an underlying cause that is raising the moisture level below the floor. This needs a careful look underneath (some boards will have to come up) to determine the extent.

Usually this will be caused by blocked airbricks, high ground levels or a leak in a drain/water main. These types of remedial works can get expensive, so you need to get a full picture before you move ahead, in my opinion.

Hope that helps!