Typical Housing Defects

During the course of our work, we undertake surveys on a wide range of residential property types and ages, from studio flats through to large country houses, some originating hundreds of years ago through to newly-built. Most are from late Victorian through to late 20th century and within that range there is a wide variety of typical defects and matters that have to be considered.

Particular eras tend to have common types of construction and certain problems, which might simply be down to age, although not always.

This is a brief, general summary of the sorts of things we encounter.

Victorian houses

Dampness tends to be fairly common in Victorian houses or older converted flats, typically to the ground floor rooms, as well as with top floor rooms due to chimneys or roof valleys. For ground floor walls, dampness can be because of the external ground level being too high relative to the internal floor level or the dampproof course (DPC), bridging of the DPC by the exterior render, defective brickwork pointing or exterior render, or a number of other factors. Frequently, the source of water causing dampness is from defective gutters or rainwater pipes, which are commonly not well-maintained. To right remedy requires a proper assessment of the cause, but a survey might not be able to provide a conclusion and further investigations might be required. However, it is also worth getting a problem into context and not expecting an older building to perform in the same way as a younger one.

Salts can often be a problem, especially in older houses. When water moves through parts of the building fabric it can tend to move salts and leave concentrations, in bands or on the surface. Sometimes these salts are hygroscopic, which means that attract moisture from the air inside a dwelling, and can re-wet a wall even though the reason for a damp problem may have been resolved. When damp problems due to salts arise replastering or applying dry-linings are the only options.

Problems due to chimney breasts and chimney stacks can arise with houses of any age, but again are relatively common in Victorian housing. A chimney stack is inherently a maintenance problem, due to access difficulties and perhaps being concealed from view. Common issues are with the condition of brickwork and the mortar flaunching to the top, as well as with the flashing protecting the junction with the roof covering or the lack of any DPC to protect against dampness soaking into the brickwork and reaching the inside of the house. If a chimney stack is redundant, the best course of action for the longer term can be to remove the stack altogether, if allowed. Alternatively exterior maintenance and repairs will probably be required, and can often be found to be more extensive than first suspected.

When fireplaces are redundant and internal chimney breasts are removed, quite often we find that the higher-level parts of the structure have not been supported adequately, or at all. There is potentially an unseen problem is chimney breasts have also been removed to the same structure but in the adjoining house. Nowadays appropriate support is normally considered to be a steel beam resting on masonry supports, whereas years ago the brickwork was often corbelled (stepped-back) or steel brackets were used.

For Victorian houses, both ground floor structures and upper floors can be areas for potential problems. For ground floors this might typically be due to damp-related defects, whilst for upper floors problems might be due to a weak structure. The risk of dampness can be reduced by having adequate ventilation under the ground floor structure; often original airbricks have been removed, or blocked by soil or paving externally.

Victorian houses often have fairly complicated roof arrangements, with numerous intersections and concealed aspects. At the junctions between pitched roof slopes there are normally valley gutters, which tend to be constructed with lead-sheet lining fixed over a wooden structure. Valleys tend to block-up and deteriorate with age, and rainwater can get past the valley gutter and cause damage to parts of the structure, including rot and areas of partial roof collapse. Roofs should be regularly checked and cleared, and subject to regular maintenance. Inadequate maintenance is the cause of many building defects.

Inter-war housing

The period between the two World Wars involved a massive programme of housebuilding in the UK, but much of the housing was built to a poor standard. A typical 1930’s semi is now approaching 100 years old.

Plasterwork to walls or ceilings will often have been lath & plaster: plaster applied to a background of closely-nailed thin/narrow wooden strips. Many original lath & plaster ceilings are now dilapidated, or have deteriorated significantly. The solution is to overboard the defective plasterwork with plasterboard, or replace altogether with plasterboard, the latter being the preferable option.

Most typical 1930’s houses locally were built with clay or concrete tiled roofs. If the original tiling remains this by now at the end of its expected lifespan, but may still be serviceable for a number of years with some ongoing maintenance. The tiling may allow rainwater ingress to some extent and vulnerable features, such as valley gutters or around chimneys or firewalls may be particularly susceptible to problems. If work beyond that which is relatively minor is required, then it is probably more economical to re-roof entirely.

Metal casement windows, often known as Crittall windows were common in inter-war houses, especially local authority properties. These are usually fitted within wooden sub-frames, rather than directly to the brickwork. Older metal casement windows tend to have distorted opening sashes or fanlights and are inherently prone to condensation. Replacement with a higher-performance modern alterative may be preferable to trying to repair or improve, but the appearance of newer windows with thicker “sightlines” is not to everyone’s liking.

1950’s and 60’s

Cavity Wall ties, which connect the inner and outer leaves of masonry in a cavity wall, can rust, expand and snap, leading to cracking, brickwork disruption and potential instability. In the 1960’s the standard of material sand workmanship could be quite poor and the thickness of protective zinc galvanising to metal wall ties was reduced. For this reason, houses built during the 1960’s can be particularly prone to wall tie failure. Remedial wall tie installation is quite routine work nowadays and not too expensive, if access to a wall is straightforward. Checking the wall ties in a house that pre-dates 1970 is normally prudent, especially to walls that face the prevailing weather.

Concrete lintels are often present to window and door openings in 50’s and 60’s buildings. These can deteriorate from the outside with embedded steel reinforcement rusting, and they also tend to be prone to condensation on the inside, because of “cold-bridging”. It is not always necessary to completely replace a defective lintel. Instead, an in-situ repair can be done, or helical stainless-steel lintels can be formed within the brickwork above an opening.

1970’s and 80’s

Asbestos was in very common use in all buildings, particularly from the 1950’s to around the mid 1980’s. Houses built or refurbished in the 1970’s can often contain asbestos based materials in a wide variety of places. These include roof-line soffits, door linings, wall and ceiling panels, textured coatings (artex), floor tiles and a whole host of other possibilities. Asbestos materials tend to be very durable, rot-proof and fire-proof, but have the potential to release harmful fibres if damaged or deteriorated. Whilst Asbestos materials can often be left in place if in sound condition and not in a vulnerable position, they can potentially be disturbed unintentionally. If we encounter Asbestos materials, or suspect their presence, in a survey we will report on this and the associated risk. Some materials can remain in place with no action required, others can be coated or concealed and others might be best removed. Depending on the type of Asbestos product work and / or disposal may need to be undertaken by a licensed contractor, and disposal will need to be undertaken properly.

From the early 1970’s it became common for larger housing developments to use pre-fabricated wooden roof structures, rather than traditional cut-and-pitch roof construction on-site. Such roof construction is now common, even for one-off new builds. Earlier roofs built in this way often lack adequate bracing to hold the individual trussed rafters together and the roof can therefore become distorted, particularly due to the effects of wind. If bracing is lacking, this can simply be remedied by a carpenter or general builder adding some diagonal braces of small-section wooden planks, and is not expensive.

Flats

Some older purpose-built flats have poor soundproofing, either to the walls, between floors, or both. This may not be apparent from a survey, unless notable noise is heard by the surveyor during their visit. A structural solution may involve relatively expensive works to the walls, floor or ceiling, and sound proofing is a complex area, involving different approaches to deal with airborne sound to sound that comes through the structure.

Many leases of flats require that most or all rooms in a flat must have carpets or sound-deadening floor coverings, to reduce the chance of nuisance caused by hearing neighbours above walking around their flat, including dogs trotting around (if the lease allows pets!). Many modern refurbishments have involved laying hard floor coverings, perhaps of wooden laminate or LVT, but these might constitute a breach of the lease. We often encounter action being taken against leaseholders for matters such as this, which might seem trivial to many people. Therefore, if we encounter hard floor coverings when surveying a flat, we normally draw this to the attention of our client, so that their lawyer can check the lease accordingly.

Dampness due to condensation is a common problem in residential property, and almost certainly the main type of dampness that most surveyors see. It can be more common for flats than houses simply because there is normally less space and people inevitably dry clothing indoors. Construction features and methods in some flats make them more prone to condensation, especially around window apertures and in the corners of rooms. Resolving or reducing condensation involves getting the right balance of heating, ventilation and moisture-production, and it is not always essential to undertake costly works or to have to install a fan. We can normally determine where signs of dampness are likely to be condensation, rather than a problem relating to the building structure, and advise appropriately in our report.

Fire safety

Fire safety is of great importance to any householder, but particularly in respect of flats, due to the extra height involved and because the building is shared with other households. For flats there is a “Responsible Person”, which may be an individual or any organisation, who has to undertake a Fire Risk Assessment and act upon recommendations. This normally entails matters confined to the common parts rather than within individual flats, but not necessarily so. Fire doors to the flat entrances is a common point of concern.

Separately, since the Grenfell Tower fire there has been a focus on fire spread via the cladding or exterior structure of blocks of flats, particularly taller buildings. This is a complex area of assessment and normally beyond the scope of a typical pre-purchase survey, but we may advise further investigations depending on what we see upon inspection.

Please contact us is you need a survey, or are concerned about other defects