No, not me unfortunately. We’re stuck where we are for now. Friends are buying (first time) – survey has shown up three things: Bay Roof needs replacing (single bayed Vicky Terrace), chimney needs re-pointing and surprise, surprise, some damp. They’re at the “offer accepted” stage and are not sure how to proceed next.

Will builders quote on this kind of stuff (seems a bit more speculative than a normal pricing up visit). Could they estimate over the phone? Just after some advice on their behalf really – they’re under the impression that I know this shit. Little do they know 😳 Ta.

I’d worry about none of them. Damp will be water ingress and just need locating and fixing. A bay window roof is cheap to fix. The Chimney will have stood for 100+ years, so a few more won’t kill it. Re-pointing isn’t that hard.

My Victorian terrace had 30 pages of serious defects, all of which turned out not to be serious / non existent.

its an old house, so expect some problems, and cheapish to repair,be more concerned about the roof, electrics, central heating and dry and wet rot, all cost a lot to repair.

I work in a lot of vioctorian houses and theyre mostly well built and strong.

Whilst footflaps may well be right… damp may be a minor problem, chimney repointing is a regular, a bay window roof may be cheap to repair… but my comment would be that without seeing the property he really doesn’t know!
Your friend needs to get it independantly inspected if he’s keen on the property, either by a good builder or a good surveyor.

That is what I would count as a ‘good survey’ for a buyer.

Those things are nothing to really worry about, but they give you a good chance to play the game.

They just need to act really worried, and get some quotes in. Get a builder to quote for ‘repairing’ all the damp, repointing and sorting the roof.

Take that quote to the vendors and get them to knock their price down by that amount.

Since the problems are fictional (every survey ever says you have damp, and most will say the roof *might be* knackered and the chimney needs repointing), any money you can knock off will be a bonus.

Dave

Cheers fellas, yeah, I know what you mean about Victorian Terraces – I’m in one too. I guess they need to get an idea what they do next.

EDIT: alfabus, that sounds like good advice. Ta.

I know what you mean about Victorian Terraces

Well it’s stood for at least 112 years so far!

109 for mine. 🙂

My rising damp problem which caused no end of grief once is was flagged to the building society was, in actual fact, a leaking shower tray. Tells you all you need to know about surveyors, what they write isn’t worth the paper it’s written on.

The Building Society insisted on a completely pointless and needlessly expensive injection damp proof course, but luckily I managed to convince them otherwise eventually. All a storm in a tea cup caused by a moron of a surveyor. Big wet rotten skirting board next to shower tray with no mastic next to tiles is not rising damp!

You can’t speculate on the damp issue like that fflaps. I know as I relaid half my dining room floor joists due to “damp” (rotten to the core wet timber)!
Is the bay a lead roof dd?

109 for mine

Wouldn’t touch one of those new build Edwardian’s myself.
My last house which is still standing was built in 1866, it always amazed me that many of the men who built it would have been dead before the First World War.

Is the bay a lead roof dd?

😕

Mate, I haven’t seen it. I’m only going on text messages. Like I said, they think “Yeah, that Darcy eejit, he’s always around sites ‘n stuff. He’ll know what to do.” Y’know me, if its not floors…

“Lead roof” thats soon to be clad in some hard wood exotica 😆

😀

Tell them to buy one of them top quality new builds instead…