Buildings may hide a lot from the eyes of busy surveyors. My husband Milan, a trained Structural Engineer and chartered Civil Engineer has told me some horror stories about these surveys and asked me to publish this article with some of his quick and easy tips to find out whether the house you're buying is worth the money and sacrifice.
One of the most important aspects of the survey that most surveyors neglect is whether the house is exposed to water in any way (not just flooding!). Flooding is normally easily identifiable but high water table obstructed by house foundations is easily left out. What you should be observing first when viewing a house is vegetation around the house and in the neighborhood. In one of his cases grass was completely dried out in the neighborhood but lush and green very close to the house where he was conducting a survey. It looked great but he finally found out that an underground water stream was blocked by foundations causing stalled water that eventually caused capillary dampness in the outer walls and very humid air in the house (relative humidity was higher than 80%). The consequences may be really bad - from mouldy walls, expansive cracks to asthma problems.
The second problem that should be identified on the outside of the house are unusual vertical cracks on the walls. They may have been covered up by previous owners but you will notice that plaster color changes in the middle of the wall. On brick walls the cracks normally follow mortar lines but sometimes (a result of sudden sinking of foundations) bricks would crack as well. Although this may be relatively easily identifiable, it is often wrongly diagnosed. My husband has seen numerous cases where this was a result of the leaking mains (sewage) pipe. Leaking water from the pipe slowly washes out fine material underneath the foundations and when the insufficient cohesion point is reached the foundations sink, causing vertical cracks in the building. Repair costs in such a case can be really high.
Look at two more easily missed issues when inside the house. First is the workmanship but not of the works that are immediately visible. For instance look underneath kitchen elements and look for the kitchen drainage pipe. Is it almost horizontal or has it been designed and placed properly under a minimum of 2.5 degrees angle? This rarely checked detail may tell you a lot about the design and workmanship in general. Wherever possible look also at wiring - you would be surprised how often you can find exposed wires behind kitchen elements (a result of rushed and sloppy work)!
Finally, look for any cracks on the walls, particularly load bearing walls of the external envelope. If you find strange corner cracks or cracks stretching from the upper window and door-frame corners then this is almost undeniably a result of dynamic loads coming from the road. This is extremely rarely discovered by surveyors though. The phenomenon often occurs in buildings without cellars where foundations are at the same level as a nearby road. Passing trucks and buses hitting potholes make the effect worse and cause mild earthquake-like vibrations to spread through the building. Over time these cracks may become wider and repairs can be quite expensive if the problem is not addressed timely (resurfacing the road would normally eliminate the problem requiring negotiations with local authorities).
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