Sutton Coldfield Surveyors. Property survey of a 1903 Terrace House

A typical Sutton Coldfield terrace house. For some reason which was not clear the property had been retrospectively rendered. It also had a replacement concrete tile roof. Render is usually applied as a cheap alternative to pointing or because of frost damaged brick faces, to hide structural movement or hide unsightly alterations. Care should be taken that the heavy concrete tiles have not overload the original roof structure.

Poor weathproofing of the juncture of the chimney and concrete tile roof. The weatherpoofing is made of aluminium tape stuck to the face of the bricks and tiles. They are vulnerable to failure. The flashing would have been made of lead. Lead has a long life span but is considerably more expensive than aluminium tape.

On this nearby chimney more robust lead has been tucked into the brick joints of the chimney. This is the flashing. Under the top sheet of lead will be another sheet of lead that is tucked under the tiles and turned up the side of the chimney under the top sheet of lead. This is the soaker.

This displaced section of gutter will allow water to spill down the solid wall which will be vulnerable to water penetration.

This channel is holding water. Debirs on the sides of the chamber suggest that it has been badly blocked before and that the drians may have an ongoing problem.

Large chuncks of concrete have been placed in this drain chamber. Inexplicable. Droppings on top of the chamber suggest that rats occupy the drian.

Rat droppings in the roof void. Note the low level of insulation compared to the ceilings joists which are typcially 75mm deep. The insualtion should be increased to about 150mm. In newly built houses insualtion is apprching 300mm deep but above 150mm the heat savings become very low.

This chimney which has had its base removed is now unsupported as can be seen by the loose brick and gap under the brick behind. The chimney would best be removed unless that of the adjacent property is attached. Otherwise a steel lintel is likely to have to be installed at some expense.

Disturbance of the paintwork just inside the lounge to porch door. Probably due to condensation due a cold draught from the porch. The timber floor suggests that there will be a void below the floor so the mythical rising dampness is patiaurly unlikly in this instance.

Flue pipe from a stove. The base of the chimney breast should have a closure plate so that air cannot by-pass the appliance causing poor combustion and carbon monoxide. In this case the closure plate neither fits the opening or fits up to the flue pipe. It is also made of hardboard and could in theory be vulnerable to be set alight. Even with a correctly fitted closure plate appliances should have carbon monoxide detctectors, particuarly if burning wood.

Sutton Coldfield Surveyors. Homebuyers survey of a 1903 Terrace House

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