Surveyor’s full survey (how long does it last)

[stumpe]

[FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]Guys / Girls, need a bit of advice as I am having some building work done and my builder has just found a load bearing wall with no steel / timber support put in, I had a full survey done when I moved in over 11 years ago (trying to find out who did the survey).[/SIZE][/FONT]
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[FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]The problem is in the middle of my house were the lounge has been knocked through before i moved in to make the lounge straight through into the dining room, the archway has no support apart from celcon blocks and a bit of render / plaster.[/SIZE][/FONT]
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[FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]My builder has said that this should have been picked up in a full survey, if it wasn’t picked up what are my legal options?[/SIZE][/FONT]
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[SIZE=3][FONT=Times New Roman]Sods law, was just going to have the lounge replastered and made good [/FONT][FONT=Wingdings][FONT=Wingdings]L[/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman], now its going to cost more to fix it than the cost of replastering the whole bl*&*y lounge (mates rates[/FONT][FONT=Wingdings][FONT=Wingdings]J[/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman]).[/FONT][/SIZE]
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[FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]Lee[/SIZE][/FONT]

[Qube444]

Lee,

A few pointers/ideas;

1. The full survey may not have picked this up as at the time there may have been no evidence of the missing lintol. (cracks or deflection) If it can be seen it can be commented on. All house buying surveys are non-destructive meaning they can only report on what they see and cannot comment on hidden works.

2. When you say "archway" do you mean an arch or a square openning. An arch has some inherent stability and loadbearing capabilities if it is built correctly.

3. Are you 100% sure that it is a loadbearing wall? Do you trust your builder?

[stumpe]

Don, cheers for the reply, some more comments below....

1. The full survey may not have picked this up as at the time there may have been no evidence of the missing lintol. (cracks or deflection) If it can be seen it can be commented on. All house buying surveys are non-destructive meaning they can only report on what they see and cannot comment on hidden works.
(the way the person who done the work and the way he finished off the plaster work was a tell tell sign as it is all over the shop with lumps / bumbs all over the square opening, the first thing my builder said when he looked at it was - doesnt look like any support in that)



2. When you say "archway" do you mean an arch or a square openning. An arch has some inherent stability and loadbearing capabilities if it is built correctly.
(square openning)

3. Are you 100% sure that it is a loadbearing wall? Do you trust your builder?[/quote]
(100% trust my builder, been a mate for nearly 20 years and done all my building work, its a middle square openning which sits directly above the wall upstairs, which is between bedroom 1&2)



Cheers Lee

[Qube444]

Lee,

It's worth a try but I don't think you will get very far with confronting the original surveyor unless you have a hell of a lot of documentary evidence/photographs etc. of the property at the time of the survey. That phrase "at the time of the survey" would be thrown back at you by the surveyor time and time again.

Sorry if you thought I was implying your builder was a "cowboy", but these things sometimes have to be said. In this instance I would say go with your mate and his recommendations.

Good luck if you do try and go after the surveyor.

[jwatts007]

An arch is load bearing and needs no lintel, if it was load bearing and had no support it would have moved long ago I would have thought..........

[stumpe]

Cheers for the replys guys.

On one side it has moved about 1.5in, but dont know if thats the way it was put up or not, once all the old plaster is removed will be able to see if any movement or not.

Don, no worries mate:), know what you mean though....

Will still try to find out who did the survey and try my luck with them:(

Lee

[jwatts007]

Put a straight edge flat across the ceiling and see if it is sagging..........

[gazza131]

if the wall upstairs is not of brick constrution and just a hollow wood frame, i would not worry to much, it wont be putting much stress on the floor below, but always best to get it checked out.

[jwatts007]

If you would like, I will come and take a look for you...

[Qube444]

[quote=stumpe;606386]
Will still try to find out who did the survey and try my luck with them:(
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If you have a mortgage then your mortgage company will still hold all the details.

[Johnda]

[FONT=Calibri][SIZE=3]I as pointed out I suspect you will have no recourse or very little against the company who carried out the original survey. When I purchased my current property it had undergone some alterations and my solicitor took out an insurance policy so that if anything associated with the alterations / extension structurally fails or doesn’t comply with the building regulations then I can claim under that policy, It’s a long shot but could be worth speaking with your solicitor and questioning why you weren’t advised to take out such insurance[/SIZE][SIZE=3], it could be negligence their part which means you would have recourse against your solicitor.[/SIZE]
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[stumpe]

Wow more replys:), cheers guys

Put a spirit level on and it's 1.7in out on one side, but can tell if thats the way it was put up, which is more than likely as we have had so many issues with the house it's not funny (now calling it "the money pit"), everytime we go to do something it's always putting right what the bloke did last time.

It's a solid brick wall above which is supporting the beams for the roof:(

Will check with the solictor and the morgage company to see if I can locate the surveyer.

Lee

[pgkevet]

What can one say apart from 'welcome to the joys of house ownership'?

Old houses in particular and as already aid..if it looked OK visually with no cracking then 'at the time of survey' it may well have seemed ok.

it's worth the try particularly if insurances and loans were based on the survey..but don't hold your breath. Even then it;s often better to stick soem jacks under it, take plenty of photo as the work is done and get on with fitting the RSJ before three people get into a full jacuzzi upstairs and join you in the lounge:(

When i was remodelling my business and extending into the house next door we discovered all sorts of wonderfully unexpected extra issues and had to fit full steels upto the roof. when it came to the halfway mark and moved into the new finished part and started work on the original annnex we discovered even more woes to the point that i took the site manager aside, discussed cost and time issues and we quite literally left the four outside walls and pulled the roof and all floors, walls and joists out of thr annex and went 'clean slate' - which at least allowed me to redesign inside without the constraints of original room sizes. it didn't do much for my confidence in architects and designers who it also transipred had given little thought to plumbing and wiring runs...

[Vic.P]

Definately worth having a go at the surveyor, If the room is quite obviously extended into the dining room then the surveyor should have paid particular attention to the structural integrity of the support for the wall above the opening.
A steel I beam would have to have been fairly substancial to support a brick wall above with a roof supported above that again so the physical dimensions of the visible support in the openning should have given some indication as to what was actualy there, ie a boxed in steel I beam would be fairly obvious. also, a simple wire and pipe detector or a powerful magnet is an easy and non-destructive way of finding out for sure if an I beam is there and the surveyor should have used all means at his disposal to ensure it was well supported, after all, that is what you were paying him to do!!!!.
Sounds to me like the surveyor did a very sloppy job in not taking the time to work out the loading above the openning or examine the existing support thoroughly enough to ensure all was well.
I reckon if you got another surveyors report prior to commencing any work that you may then have a pretty strong case to claim against the original surveyor.

[Mark_T]

I hope you get satisfaction regarding this but I'm not all that certain you will based on my own experiences.

I had some issues with cracks high up on an external wall that were noticed a couple of months after a 'fuill survey'.

The advice I was given at the time is that I had to show that the problem could be seen while standing at ground level and using no equipment other than the naked eye.

It rather put me off the concept of 'full' surveys as they really seem to amount to no more than a causal wander around touching nothing and moving nothing then commenting only on the blindingly obvious.

I'm sure there must be some great surveyors out there who do excellent reports and go the extra mile for their customer, but it felt to me more like they were doing the absolute minimum to avoid creating any future liability for themselves :(