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

"ste mc ©" wrote in message
...
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!)

This isn't advice and you should ignore what I say.

Sounds fine to me. I wish my homebuyer survey had
been so kind about the house I was buying. I don't
know how much it will cost, but an absolute max of
a few hundred pounds for both jobs I would have thought.

Surveyors aren't in the habit of playing down issues
like rot, so I suspect it will be just the one bit of rot.
The flashings seem a likely cause as well (although
in my house it was the complete blocking up of
fireplaces that caused damp in the chimney breast).

HTH,
Al

On Wed, 18 Feb 2004 23:49:02 -0000, "ste mc ©" wrote:

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.

I recommend you give the surveyor who did the report a call to discuss
this. The service doesn't end with the report on your doormat - you
are entitled to ask questions which might come up.

As he has seen the property recently he'll be best placed to advise on
what options you should consider. Any other advice offered from
"blind" sources could be quite dangerous to consider in a financial
sense, and clearly you don't want to be sending others in to check
this out at a cost.

PoP

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I'm about to buy a house, and I got the RICS Homebuyer Report sent to me
today.

That sounds better than any report I've ever seen (although that's not
many). You do need to check the rotten timber though. In particular, these
things can get out of hand if someone has been overzealous in installing
insulation and hasn't allowed ventilation of the roof timbers. In the worst
case, all the rafters may be rotting.

The damp part of the report is as close as they ever come to saying it is as
dry as a bone.

Christian.

Yep - best talk to the surveyor as PoP says. I just wondered if the rotted
chimney trimmer and the stain in the bedroom could both be due to the leaking
flashing? As it's a 60's house the lead might have perished, but my guess is
it's more likely that the flashing has slipped out of the joint and just needs
re-wedging and pointing.

"Within the limits of the inspection" simply means in accordance with the
standard limitation clauses somewhere else in the report, which all surveyors
have to include on the instructions of their insurers. It goes along the lines
"we have not inspected hidden or inaccessible parts and cannot confirm these are
free from defects".

Peter

Hi there,

First of all, thanks to Al, PoP, Christian, Sammi, Peter and Richard for
your replies. I've never posted on this group before, so wasn't sure if I'd
get any help or advice, so thanks again, it's appreciated. Sorry for not
replying to everyone individually

The general opinion seems to be that it's nothing major (to that's a
relief!), but I should contact the surveyor to get more details from him. I
did read these posts in work today, and meant to phone then, but I didn't
get the chance - but my boss is off tomorrow, so I'll call then! ;-)

If all goes well with this house, I'd hope to be moving in by easter! :-)
I'm a first time buyer, and something tells me that I'm going to be a
frequent visitor to this newsgroup for DIY stuff, so apologies in advance!
;-)

Thanks everyone,

Stephen

"ste mc ©" wrote in message
...
| Hi there,
|
| First of all, thanks to Al, PoP, Christian, Sammi, Peter and Richard for
| your replies. I've never posted on this group before, so wasn't sure if
I'd
| get any help or advice, so thanks again, it's appreciated. Sorry for not
| replying to everyone individually
|
| The general opinion seems to be that it's nothing major (to that's a
| relief!), but I should contact the surveyor to get more details from him.
I
| did read these posts in work today, and meant to phone then, but I didn't
| get the chance - but my boss is off tomorrow, so I'll call then! ;-)
|
| If all goes well with this house, I'd hope to be moving in by easter! :-)
| I'm a first time buyer, and something tells me that I'm going to be a
| frequent visitor to this newsgroup for DIY stuff, so apologies in advance!
| ;-)
|
| Thanks everyone,
|
| Stephen
|


....oops, who's Richard??!! :-) I've added his name in by accident, because
I'm watching another thread on here about loft flooring, and I've got my
Outlook Express sorting my newsgroup by 'watched threads.' Never mind! :-)

Stephen