Owning your own home

At what stage do I arrange the survey? ASAP or so certain things need to happen first?

We've just had ours done, organised once conveyancer had confirmed no crazy stuff in the deeds, and once mortgage and mortgage valuation came back ok.

Btw we're buying in D'dee, if all goes well...

Went through six road ends recently. It's now a.... roundabout...? Lolwut?

Amazing! (fuck off @Oliver Schick) Yeah, six road ends is no longer the driving test hellscape it used to be! Good luck with the purchase.

Good luck! We decided against the London exodus, for now....

https://www.yopa.co.uk/properties/details/191242

Instead we're signing ourselves up for a lot of DIY and arguing with builders. But, close to ms_com's family and backs onto a park, with a bit of the Wandle running along the end of the garden (albeit in a concrete channel).

No more South West?

And good luck with that!

House prices in NI are hard to ignore. We had an offer accepted on a 5 bed semi at £260k. Survey has flagged up a shit ton of issues. Like £40k. So now comes the hard negotiation...

Looking unlikely. NI is half the price or less and covid had made remote working even more viable for me.

We'll see though...

Aye. ms_com's work is picking up massively post maternity and furlough so that decided it for us. I can work anywhere in the UK, but she needs to be near HO.

I'm sure our survey will flag a load, just wondering what is going to be "this will make the house fall down/explode." Anything else like "it all needs replastered/rewired" we're kind of expecting

Yeah. Victorian house so we were aware of some localised damp and potential need for rewiring etc, but apparently there is penetrating damp, leaking roof/chimney, rising damp, and a multitude of other bits, so negotiations are imminent.
Vendor has already committed to a new build and is keen to get this sale done, so fingers crossed we can get the price down a good way.

Survey was the first thing I arranged. I think you should get done whatever you feel is mostly likely to surface issues that might stall / stop the purchase.

Ours will be Edwardian (just, 1902) so will be asking the surveyor to not spend too much time on the obvious, non-critical stuff (if that even makes a difference). They extended the ground floor some time ago, but only half the width of it for the kitchen, going to ask them to consider what would be needed to extend the extension across the full width to make an uber kitchen diner with a shower room in the corner.

@Howard I've emailed the seller to check if they can't do any particular times and will then look at arranging. Also wanted to passive aggressively let them know that I've done all my paperwork so it's on them now so our solicitor can crack on with searches etc.

Has anyone here had to have their place underpinned?

Our bay window has developed worrying cracks, both inside and outside.

My guess is that there is settling going on, but I've no idea if it's because of getting wet or getting dry.

Is it a structural engineer that I need, or a surveyor? And if underpinning is required, how much of a disruption is it?

The silver lining is that we have very disruptive plans for the room anyway (stripping plaster, lifting floors etc...) but not for a year or so.

IANAS, but for a building as old as yours I'd expect it to have come to terms with it's local environment, so for settling that induces cracks the size of the ones you posted I'd be looking for something recently introduced, or recently stopped - a longterm water leak that has been dealt with can result in this sort of thing (as my parents experienced).

IWASE (I was a structural engineer)

Any large trees or bushes removes nearby recently? If something that previously sucked up a load of water has been removed, depending on the local soil (London clay is pretty affected), it can significantly affect your foundations, particularly if it is an older house with shallow foundations. Similarly, if a new tree/bush has been introduced and is sucking up more water than before.

Have a look here if you think it might affect you:
http://nhbccampaigns.co.uk/landingpages/techzone/previous_versions/2011/Part4/section2/appendix.htm#42A

I am not a surveyor and I was going to suggest this.

Trees. Bastards!

I never did any underpinning work myself but I gather it is done from outside and done in sections, with cavities dug out under say a 3ft length of wall footing, and then filled with concrete. You'd obviously need someone to come out an determine the cause of the movement and how much if any of the house needed underpinned.
I don't think it's super disruptive and shouldn't really affect the inside of the house. But depending on the extent of it, and what surfaces you've got around the house, you may be needing to replace a load of concrete/tarmac/whatever, as well as the actual underpinning work.

It can also be caused by stuff you wouldn't think of, like if next door put in a new extension or something, with a concrete foundation, it can disrupt the path of the ground water and raise or lower it around your foundations. Same effect as trees essentially.

Total dicks. Especially those London Plane bastards.

it can also be spenny

we considered it when we were extending - we thought about converting the basement which would have required underpinning the whole perimeter of the house. at c.£100+ per linear metre that was going to add up quite quickly... especially for something that doesn't give you any teh_shinies, it just stops your house falling down (admittedly very important)

You'd obviously need someone to come out an determine the cause of the movement

Would that be a structure engineer (current), I take it?

Thanks for the pointers too all.

Although the neighbours are currently building an extension, it's at the other side of the house. Probably worth checking out though.

Yes a structural engineer/surveyor. It's possible a regular surveyor could also do it but they may just end up recommending you get a structural engineer out as well, to assess the full extent of the problem, if it turns out to be something definitely needing work doing.

One other thing it could be, also related to water, is a leaking pipe / drain causing water build up.

Hehe. Have you got it stuck in your head yet? Next up is 'The Garden Where the Praties Grow'.

#subtleevil

:)

If no obvious tree/building related cause, there are neighbours here who reckon their houses crack and then close again with hot dry weather. They say if it isn't getting worse year on year not to worry about it... I'd still get an engineer in to have a look.

Anyone know anything about buying a new roof? Aside from choosing slate over concrete tiles what else should I be aware of?

The spread on the quotes is ridiculous. £4.5k > £10k

We’re in the same situation. Roof coming to end of its life but also considering if we will/likely will do a roof extension.
That something you will be doing? If so can it just be patched or is it something that’s giving you issues now?

It's leaking now. The only patch they're willing to guarantee is covering the whole ting in liquid rubber and billing me £3.5k. Scaffold is the first £1k whatever you do.

No extension possible, it's the top floor (3rd) and head height too low for loft extension. So, just a roof to keep the weather out.