House MOT

[Shivermetimbers]

Hi everyone,

 

First time poster. I've recently purchased a Timber Framed house, built in the early 90's.

 

Love the house, went in with heart first probably. We did get a survey, but it didn't go heavily into detail. I'd been through that before, you get the initial survey, then they recommend a specialist who  goes in to look at something, but can't really comment because of lack of access, who recommends another specialist to go in, and so on - all very non committal in my experience, maybe I just chose badly.

 

Anyway, we've moved in now. Still love it, but as time passes we have noticed a couple of interesting smells. I am guessing it might be a damp somewhere, there is nothing obvious / visible other than a leak that has appeared downstairs from a poorly sealed shower tray above.

 

I'm way at the bottom end of the DIY spectrum, and don't really know where to start. It got me thinking though, I'd like to find someone who could come and give the house an MOT. Someone who fully understands timber framed properties, with render cladding and all the joys that goes with them.

 

I'm guess I'm looking back into the world of surveyors, but is there such an expert (or just a knowledgable self builder) on this forum who might be able to provide such a service.

 

Thanks in advance,

Shiver

 

 

 

 

 

[Roundtuit]

From my limited experience, I've found that a walk around a house with a good builder was infinitely more helpful than an ar$e-covering survey report. Perhaps there's a reputable builder local to you, familiar with the build type, that could have a look for the cost of their time? 

[Ferdinand]

You want two hoary old gits not one, as they all have blind spots.

 

Do not try and straddle the line between professional service and busman’s holiday .... you need to be decisively one side or the other.

 

Also anyone with enough experience will be set in their ways ... the value you can get from it is directly proportional to how much learning you do yourself. The responsibility remains with you, even if you are paying a RICS £750 for a FullStructural.

[ToughButterCup]

39 minutes ago, Ferdinand said:

...the value you can get from it is directly proportional to how much learning you do yourself. ...

 

Elegantly put, core truth. 

The steeper the learning Curve the higher the value

[Carrerahill]

11 hours ago, Shivermetimbers said:

Hi everyone,

 

First time poster. I've recently purchased a Timber Framed house, built in the early 90's.

 

Love the house, went in with heart first probably. We did get a survey, but it didn't go heavily into detail. I'd been through that before, you get the initial survey, then they recommend a specialist who  goes in to look at something, but can't really comment because of lack of access, who recommends another specialist to go in, and so on - all very non committal in my experience, maybe I just chose badly.

 

Anyway, we've moved in now. Still love it, but as time passes we have noticed a couple of interesting smells. I am guessing it might be a damp somewhere, there is nothing obvious / visible other than a leak that has appeared downstairs from a poorly sealed shower tray above.

 

I'm way at the bottom end of the DIY spectrum, and don't really know where to start. It got me thinking though, I'd like to find someone who could come and give the house an MOT. Someone who fully understands timber framed properties, with render cladding and all the joys that goes with them.

 

I'm guess I'm looking back into the world of surveyors, but is there such an expert (or just a knowledgeable self builder) on this forum who might be able to provide such a service.

 

Thanks in advance,

Shiver

 

The issue with professional services giving you advice is that they believe, rightly or wrongly that they become wholly liable, however if you called S. Jones Builders round and he suggested a leak at the soffit or a window or a waste pipe, you would probably nod you head and proceed on the ground that this may be indeed a water ingress route, you may even ask them to proceed with repairing this or at least a semi-invasive investigation to prove the cause of the smell and then to quote for such works.

 

If Mr. Jones was totally wrong, albeit fixed a genuine issue, perhaps you would not be best pleased but you would admit defeat and move on, you only have Mr. Jones word and he probably said, "It might not be...", really, he is not liable. However, if it was the pro, and £3k in you discover the leak was not correctly diagnosed, sadly, many people immediately start waving a piece of paper in front of the pro's nose demanding satisfaction. Which is why when I write reports pertaining usually to electrical issues: controls, switchgear, lighting etc. and very very rarely I may even give a report on things like poor workmanship in other trades such as roofing and plumbing where I can use the British Standards, building handbook, other regs and manufacturers instruction including my own professional knowledge learnt from reviewing details and being on building sites to write a fully corroborated report, I will always put the important conclusive statement at the end of the report. This explains that due to the nature of a building or lack of access or limited ability to tear down a wall to view something, there is always a chance that this is indeed "not the cause", "non-related", "not the result of" - and other such words and phrases. I've given written reports on some high stakes arbitration cases and I am not scared to do so. If I am confident in the topic and have enough information then I will proceed, but it must be understood by all parties that a report can only be as good as the time invested in the investigation and the acceptable level of intrusion by the building owner or tenant etc. 

 

I am currently advising on a fault at a site in Edinburgh for a major financial organisation where the ceiling of their newly renovated offices, the reception in particular and corridors leading from the reception will need to be taken down to repair a mistake in some lighting. I've never been to site, I have never seen the issue personally but I have my contractor on site for about 5 hours investigating for me and getting details for me, I know what the problem is - if they take this whole ceiling down to make these repairs and I am wrong, people will not be pleased, but I do know. The difference here is that so far the bill runs to a days labour on site for a contractor to investigate, the whole repair will probably cost about £10-15k so frankly spending £300-400 to confirm the issue isn't that much really. So it is finding someone who is knowledgeable enough in their field to give some certainty to a diagnoses or invest the time looking that you want. Anything can be found if you look hard enough.

 

Most pro's will only really look at your house as it stands, some will carry some basic small tools maybe an endoscope and have a good look but often nothing beats cutting out a section of plasterboard or pulling up some flooring and therein lies the big issue. If it is done purely on looking from within and outside the house then you are probably on a route to failure unless it is blinking obvious!

 

So, the take away from this is probably invest a little in the investigation, be it money, time, or new plasterboard and paint and/or get in a pro, ideally one with no vested interest in the repair work which most pro's will not have and ask them if they will core through plasterboard to look or get under the house etc. etc. 

 

Building surveyors are a bit, jack of all master of none and although I am sure very good at their jobs, they would still often not have extensive knowledge in every discipline and would often need to call in another discipline to confirm X,Y or Z. The worst are the ones that work for banks and estate agents and seem unable to find trap doors or do even the most basic of investigations to ascertain if insulation has been installed etc.