Advice re cracks in a property

[Vik779]

Hi all,

Just generally looking for advice re a property (avail. on auction) I am interested in. It has got a number of cracks and some of these are possibly from bad upkeep, drainage and roof issues. However, I want to check if any cracks could be more serious and require investigation. Have spoken to a couple of structural engineers who said they can have a visual inspection and provide a view. I dont want to do a full building survey as the usual advise in there would be to get structural engineers in to investigate. Has anyone experienced this in the past and has any advice? I am ok to budget for repair work and have factored this to an extent in the amount I think I want to bid. However, what I don't want is this becoming a long term issue and also causing challenges if selling in future. Not a financier / developer and if we go for this, it will be as a long term residence. Attaching some pictures for reference....

[mike2016]

What is the age of the property? Any older photos available from Google, previous sales etc  with a clue about age or size/extent of cracks? How many previous owners? Condition of surrounding houses, speak to neighbours? Compare. There is a risk, just how big though?!

[ProDave]

There is usually a reason why a property is sold at auction rather than a normal agent.

[saveasteading]

The optimistic view is that there has clearly been an extreme  lack of care. Water pouring off roof and gutter and a rotten pergola.

 

Thus there would be similar avoidance of thought to the cracks.

 

How wide is the worst? Can you get a pound coin into it?

 

I might take a chance but I would be an hour or two looking and thinking first, and it is my skill.

I cannot advise you other than to be very careful, have an SE look at it, and put a lot of money aside, in case you need it.

 

The SE will likely say nothing or advise you to walk away. They won't say it is OK.

[Mike]

I agree with the sentiments above - be very wary. Best case is that the cracks are due to poor quality rendering, with re-rendering the solution. If it's entirely crack-free on the inside (and hasn't been freshly painted, and isn't wallpapered, and all other surfaces are sound, flat and appropriately level/vertical), and an SE spots no other significant issues, that may point towards it being mainly a rendering problem.

 

However it's equally possible that there are cracks in in the bricks / blocks beneath, which could be for various reasons, needing anything from repairs to demolition & rebuilding. It seems that there's a filled crack in the older-looking render above the flood light. If that really is an older part of the building, rendered at a separate time to the extension(s), I'd certainly walk away (unless you know that it's not in an area susceptible to subsidence, and you buy with the intention of demolition & rebuilding, at the appropriate price for that).

 

A rather minor point in the context, but that single air vent is inadequate if it's ventilating the floor void.

 

[ToughButterCup]

Let's keep it simple. Don't consider buying that building without a full, expensive survey. None of us, at this remove can offer anything more than generalisation or Cautionary Tales. 

 

I offer the '... usual advice...' therefore. Because that's all we can do.

[scottishjohn]

do you know how it was built ?

 

 maybe it was built with aircrete blocks and rendered -- and no expansion gaps -

-thats why all modern builds have expansion gaps in the block or brick work

and if the mortar was stronger than the very weak aircrete blocks it will just crack vertically 

where as brick houses usally crack along mortar joints --zig zag

 thend view looks like it has a mould problem in the render at top 

 

 but again this is just a guess as without investigation --  without removing render  its impossible to say  what is going on  or if it isa foundation problem  and if it has stopped moving now

 

it also looks like there have been alot of extensions to orginal house -  

 was it a self build ? is it same as otyher houses next to it?

all depends how cheap its going to be