This is Mr DiscoDizzy here.
I can offer the following gems of wisdom from my professional experience to date:
Older timber framed houses are often a cause for concern to Surveyors as so much depends upon how they have been built, treated, maintained and altered.
I positively detest surveying older timber framed houses because there is so little that can be seen and you are always left with only being able to offer vague advice intertwined with as many warnings as possible. I usually turn down doing surveys of timber framed properties if I know what I am going to look at in advance.
I am not at all surprised to see that your Surveyor has included caveats against any liability for the condition of the timber frame in a building of that age. I am unaware of the strength of the caveat should it be tested in court in the event of you making a purchase and a defect being discovered one you are in occupation as it is like saying "I can write whatever tosh I like in this report and it doesn't matter one jot because I accept no liability for it anyway - ha ha!" but clearly your Surveyor is spelling out to you in BIG WORDS that you are buying something for which no guarantees can be offered and he possibly feels quite unsure about.
Apart from the weasel words about the timber frame, did the survey throw up any major problems - particularly to do with dampness, woodworm, rot, external ground levels etc? It's dampness and timber decay that are the biggest threats to a timber framed property.
Another issue with older timber framed properties is the reaction you are now having - "are timber framed houses ok?........my Surveyor doesn't seem keen.............what's this about the windows....................should I pull out.......etc etc etc. There is a large degree of uncertainty and mistrust about timber framed houses in the psyche of the majority of the general public at large and there is a known resistance by some purchasers to buying older timber framed houses as some of the examples around the age of property you are looking at have had problems.
When considering what to do you must think that if you are having doubts about the purchase because it is a timber framed property, it is likely that future purchasers will suffer similar doubts. I have surveyed timber framed properties for purchasers where I have found no significant defects but they have still pulled out of the purchase just because of the timber framed construction.
Personally, given the scenario that I were in the position of buying one of two similar 30 year old houses, the first being timber framed and the second being traditional bricks and mortar, my money would go into the traditional build every day of the week. Less uncertainty, easier to maintain and easier to alter / extend.
Notwithstanding any of the above however there are an awful lot of older timber framed houses about and they do sell so really the choice is yours i'm afraid.
As my lovely wife notes in her earlier post, timber framed houses are being built all the time now with many of the national house builders adopting them so the form of construction is becoming better accepted by purchasers but there is still a general suspicion about the older examples.
In closing - the question about the windows makes no sense to me at all as they must be attached to the structure to stay in place and I have no idea as to what (if any) preservative would have been used (another issue when surveying older timber framed houses!).
Sorry to go on but hope the above helps.
Cheers
Mr DD