Long time since I have been here, lots of up and downs, new baby etc etc…but I need some advice and reality check as my head is all over the place so back to STW was my gut instinct!

Won’t go into details why but have little option but to buy a house. Spotted an extended ex-council house locally to our farm in a good village, right next to a great cycle path, big garden garage etc and had an offer accepted. Went back the other day for a second visit and spot things we missed. The house needs a complete refurb which is what attracted us to it as a chance to at least add some value to offset any drops/stagnation..lets not get into that.

Noticed signs of damp from a leak (cracked bath surround, bodged shower) that had left marks on the kitchen ceiling and on the plaster of the outside wall above the kitchen units.

Outside we had seen some cracks in the render from where the extension is knitted in (1990’s extension) but on going back I got a bit more concerned and noticed more. Hopefully the photos work, they are of the side elevation – ground floor window you can see is the kitchen, upstairs window is the bathroom. The boiler is in a utility extension. The camera has actually picked up the difference in the render at the stitch line so I am wondering if it is a case of the join between old and new cracking as they didnt re-render the whole side.

Around the windows I am wondering if it is simply a case of settlement after UPVC was fitted but the bathroom and soil pipe etc all make me worry about long term leak damage.

Quote of £800 for a building survey seems reasonable but will it tell me what I need to know or just give me lots of caveated scare statements? And what do I do with any bad news? Run away now? Run away after survey? re-negotiate based on survey? Insist on further investigations?

https://photos.app.goo.gl/hQqUDSghtk15U2MG7

https://photos.app.goo.gl/ZiWFvxSXiM2dBGRp8

edit: photo fail. Will try and fix…

An £800 survey will be as useful as a chocolate fireguard! They’ll see that and just cover their arses. A survey is just a bit of insurance for anything major they don’t spot. Anything else will be noted as ‘needs further investigation from a specialist’.

To me it just looks a bit of a bad render job, nothing more. Are there any cracks to plaster inside or anything that looks a bit wonky! 🙂

I’m not sure I’ve seen a rendered house more than a year old that doesn’t have some cracks in it somewhere.

^ Agreed – there is always going to be some movement and the cracks seem to follow mortar lines so it (probably) doesn’t suggest major unheaval.

We have a rendered house built in 1919. Had some cracks in it in 1990 when we bought it. Had a big side extension 20 years ago which had a couple of cracks within 2 years of build. Structural engineer came out and said nothing to worry about including the old cracks. Not seen anything else since. Ours looks to be blended in a bit better than your photos show. We didn’t have and haven’t had any cracks inside the house

re chocolate fire guard comment – that was my thought when I read the Ts and Cs. The extension is now 30 years old and not fallen down. I am expecting to rip out the bathroom (burgundy suite with matching carpet!) and have to replace the floor etc due to damp from leaky shower cubicle and bath surround.

Inside there is a damp patch on the kitchen ceiling next to a the lintel between the dining room (front of house) in the middle and then some signs of damp above the kitchen units next to that window.

I did notice a vertical crack above a bedroom door in the middle of the building. No crack on the ceiling next to it. There was signs of the door rubbing on the frame right below the crack so presumably the door frame is slightly bowed and when I went into the loft the water tank is right above it and I noticed some extra bracing. The whole roof has been done in the last few years so work may have been done then. I would be ripping out the tank to either go mains pressure cylinder or combi (not decided yet).

Lots of stuff I already know – the electrics will need at least a new CU (has fuses). Bathroom, kitchen etc will all be coming out. The extension is part 2 storey, part 1 storey with a flat roof above the living room extension. This look good (no leaks) and has a good slope on it but we plan to replace with a pitch roof and velux for more light or a lantern.

Being ex council it has lots of dark varnished woodwork so no MDF and filler which I like. But those cracks and signs of damp are my main alarm bells.

didnt see any cracks on the inside of that outside wall

themuffinman +1

what about the crack from the bathroom window and the one running across the lintel above the kitchen window? window replacement settlement/disturbance?

Rather than a formal survey, the surveyor will just cover himself by just saying further investigation will be needed, do you any good, reliable builders? Get them to come out and have a look, they should be able to give you a good indication of whats going on.

what about the crack from the bathroom window and the one running across the lintel above the kitchen window? window replacement settlement/disturbance?

Just looks like a mish-mash of new/old/bodged render – the crack from the window probably started when the new(ish) windows were put in.

It sounds like you’ve got a few jobs to do so add a re-render to the list – after a few years you’ll just get used to looking at it and not bother! 🙂

Looks like any render repaired over a few different year’s…

Assuming theres no water ingress to the bricks/wall ties then it’s a full ‘knock it all off’ and re-render to fix it properly.

There could be further damage under the render, though, depending on how long its been like that.

Seriously, until the crack is wide enough to get your finger into you’ve got nothing to worry about.

House I am buying has cracks worse than the photos, I know the history so not bothered with survey. Survey won’t add anything, I d look at neighbours just to check no mine shafts underneath, or anything else more stressy.

Looks like it’s had some blocked up windows/doors done at some point, and the render looks patchy….but as others have said …its pretty much cosmetic.
Render is easy to fix…just time consuming as you need to wack off all the old coats, maybe stitch and mesh in places..but in all nothing to worry about

Thanks guys, has put my mind at ease. I can’t see any bulges to indicate detachment. I guess the worst case is I am learning to render! I hate 2 storey houses,, single storey are so much easier to DIY stuff. It’s not helped the place has been rented for 6 years so the landlord has done minimal maintenance, except the roof which is completely new. You can see where something has been applied to some of the cracks.

I did watch some videos on external wall insulation the other day (EWI) and was wondering about patching the render and then insulating but not sure it is worth it for a house we only intend to have for 3-4 years – we just need to get it renovated ASAP and not have any big bills in that time!

I’d only start worrying if it looked like this

https://maps.app.goo.gl/KqzhGfun6pXJgxge9

Rockhopper is right.

Crack on

Good luck

That looks like water damage to the render. Possibly from where the soil stack penetrates the roof or maybe the gutters. I reckon there would have been cast iron soil stack and gutters on that house at some point which probably failed, as they do. The rough looking render is classic sign of water damage.

didnt see any cracks on the inside of that outside wall

is the key bit

Also you’ve not got the classic diagonals near corners or triangles over windows

Apart from re rendering, there isn’t much else to do.