Survey Issues -Common?

sozbox

Got a report back from my engineer this week, would these kinds of issues be common enough on old houses? Circa 1960. Anyone have to deal with them before?

• Wood worm in attic
• Chimney is considerably damp in the attic
• Neighbours extension overhangs property
• Water tanks not properly supported by ceiling joists
• Roof purlins were noted as being relatively light duty and signs of sag were evident, additional bracing is recommended
• Combined with foul and storm water discharging into the main drainage systems
• Clay pipes

Turtle_

sozbox wrote: »

Got a report back from my engineer this week, would these kinds of issues be common enough on old houses? Circa 1960. Anyone have to deal with them before?

• Wood worm in attic
• Chimney is considerably damp in the attic
• Neighbours extension overhangs property
• Water tanks not properly supported by ceiling joists
• Roof purlins were noted as being relatively light duty and signs of sag were evident, additional bracing is recommended
• Combined with foul and storm water discharging into the main drainage systems
• Clay pipes

What's more important than whether it's common is whether it's an issue...

Woodworm is a fairly substantial issue

Damp Chimney... Could be as simple as capping being damaged, or could be water getting through the roof. It's definitely something that I would consider to be an issue that needs to be resolved in the relatively short term.

Neighbour overhang might have been agreed - does it impact on your ability to extend the property? You decide whether or not it's an issue for you. My own eaves overhang a neighbour's land by agreement, but it doesn't prevent him from doing anything he wants with the land.

The water tank should be properly supported. That's an issue that needs to be fixed.

Roof purlins - structural issue. Can't tell without looking at size but it's not something I'd be happy to leave. Possibly contributing to issue with chimney. Don't know without looking. To me, a definite issue. (Imagine if your floors were too weak!)

Combined sewerage - not a problem now, but if you want to extend the property you'll probably be required to put in a separate system for planning.

Clay pipes - are they in good condition? Not an immediate problem. Did you do a CCTV survey?

TMM12

Myself and partner bought a house last September built around 50s I think, didn't have a survey done as my dad & partner are both in construction & looked over it themselves. Only problem we had out of that list was woodworm in attic. We were going to treat it ourselves but in end just got someone in. If I remember correctly it wasn't mad money but if coupled with loads of other issues I wouldn't be too happy.

spaceHopper

Your Surveyor was a good guy, he's found problems mine missed, when we bought our house I went into the attic to check it was empty and found that there was evidence of wood worm at some point on the entrance hatch, it happens a lot. I reckoned it was treated before but I sprayed it with protim wood preservative, you can get a company to do it too, I'd say you'd see change out of 1K but get quote. The rest you need to talk to a builder, if the house is around since the 60's I don't see it falling down any time soon.

Talk it over with the engineer.

sozbox

Thanks all. Engineer reckons 6-10k to fix but I'd really need to speak to a builder on this. Thinking of leaving it tbh

Gumbo

sozbox wrote: »

Thanks all. Engineer reckons 6-10k to fix but I'd really need to speak to a builder on this. Thinking of leaving it tbh

If you really really like the house, work that quote into the asking price. The vendor might accept as the next surveyor may find the same issues too and they could loose another sale down the line.