Hi there,

I'm about to buy a house, and I got the RICS Homebuyer Report sent to me
today. Thankfully, there are no urgent repairs or major faults with the
house, but there are two things that I'm unsure about, which I hope someone
can give me some generalised advice/guidance about.

Here are the quotes from the report:

Timber Defects: "Within the limitations of inspection, no sign of any
serious timber defects, although there was a rotten piece of timber to the
front of the chimney stack within the roof space. This should be stripped
out and replaced, and adjoining timbers checked and treated to prevent any
risk of rot setting in."

Rising and Penetrating Damp: "Still one or two highish readings to the base
of the ground floor walls but these do not appear to be serious and may be
due to the fact that the property has been unoccupied for some time. Damp
stain in rear bedroom chimney breast has dried out. You are advised to
ensure the flashings to the chimney stack above are watertight."

I know that I can't get accurate advice from anyone without them seeing the
house, but from the quotes above and the fact it's a 3 bedroom semi-detached
house built in the 60's, can anyone tell me if replacing a rotten timber,
and ensuring the flashing to the chimney stack are watertight, is a big job?
And what sort of price range could I be looking at to have this repaired?
Is it a DIY job at all? (I don't even know what the second one is!)

Thanks for any help.

Stephen