Building Surveyor Report :-(

chin nuts

so went sale agreed on an old farmhouse we fell in love with, we viewed the house twice and it seemed fine. the owners are currently living in the the house and although we knew there was some work to do we put in an offer and got a surveyor to check it out.
so we got the report today. its not great. some of the points im willing to overlook as they seem like he was being extremely thourogh. but asbestos cement slate coverings on the roof, the property is affected with rising damp, excessively high moisture meter readings to walls and floors, oh and he couldnt even find the septic tank which he presumed would be in a poor condition.
so thats just the main points. should we walk away? or can these issues be fixed without costing a fortune.

thanks for advice anyone

Markx

I cannot offer any advice in terms of what the costs or repairs would be but we were faced with a very similar situation this year. We would have liked to over look some of the factors including damp but it was the potential unknown costs that made us decide to walk away.

I guess it depends on whether you are prepared to sink a lot of money into the house or not, bearing in mind the risk that the defects may be more serious and numerous than the survey indicates. Also aside from the money, you are possibly getting into months if not years of disruption and stress as the repairs are carried out. Balancing these factors against how much you like the property is what it comes down to.

Probably things you have already thought of, but there you go. Best of luck.

quadrifoglio verde

chin nuts wrote: »

so went sale agreed on an old farmhouse we fell in love with, we viewed the house twice and it seemed fine. the owners are currently living in the the house and although we knew there was some work to do we put in an offer and got a surveyor to check it out.
so we got the report today. its not great. some of the points im willing to overlook as they seem like he was being extremely thourogh. but asbestos cement slate coverings on the roof, the property is affected with rising damp, excessively high moisture meter readings to walls and floors, oh and he couldnt even find the septic tank which he presumed would be in a poor condition.
so thats just the main points. should we walk away? or can these issues be fixed without costing a fortune.

thanks for advice anyone

While not knowing the prices exactly, I do know that asbestos, due to its nature, is extremely expensive to remove. You're talking about an extremely hazardous material and as a result you'll need specialists.
Do you know any building contractors, they should be able to give you an estimate of what the work listed would cost to put right

chin nuts

Thanks very much markx, was thinking along the same lines myself so I think the best thing is to move along and wait for something else . Could be a money pit.

Verde I don't know any contractors but I envisage it being an expensive job. That and everything else I think has made my mind up for me.

Thanks guys.

BryanF

I would be more concerned re rising damp & high humidity levels than asbestos. Once the roof is in good condition there is no reason you'd need to interfere with the asbestos. Was the septic tank registered? Thats now a legislative requirement.

my3cents

I think you need to walk away OP. The reason is you don't seem to understand the sort of house you have fallen in love with. Apart from the asbestos roof there is nothing you have mentioned that would bother me if the price was right because I have lived in that sort of building all my life, many of the issues can probably never be cured only improved, like the rising damp. If you are still really interested I would however search around for a survey from someone that understands that sort of building because I would question the competence of someone who couldn't find or couldn't be bothered to find the septic tank similarly get a sample of the roof material checked by a lab to see if it really is asbestos, not every cement tile roof that looks like it has asbestos in it actually does.

miss no stars

quadrifoglio verde wrote: »

While not knowing the prices exactly, I do know that asbestos, due to its nature, is extremely expensive to remove. You're talking about an extremely hazardous material and as a result you'll need specialists.
Do you know any building contractors, they should be able to give you an estimate of what the work listed would cost to put right

Not quite the full story with asbestos cement roof tiles. As long as they're sealed and properly disposed of they don't need the full on space suit treatment you normally think of when you hear asbestos. Which you won't need to touch anyway if the roof is in good condition to begin with. Your engineer can advise further on this. Have a look here: http://www.rilta.ie/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Guidelines_Working_Materials_Containing_Asbestos_Cement.pdf

The rising damp can be hugely improved with things like injectable damp proof coursing. Probably not entirely fixed, but improved to acceptable modern standards.

If you're concerned about the drainage, get a cctv drainage survey done. This will locate the septic tank and will tell you the condition of the existing drainage. Could be a couple of hundred euro well spent.

Ask your engineer to put a ballpark price on addressing the issues raised. You surely had to know that an old farm house will have issues to be addressed, so it has to come down to the level of disruption and cost of said disruption. Which is why the only way to proceed is to pick up the phone and start talking to the engineer.