Help with bay window movement in new property

[Mandie15]

Hi

I was wondering if anyone could please help. My husband and i are in the process of buying a new house. The valuation survey came back with the following information.

'Inerstory bay at front of property has moved. Possibly due to when windows were replaced. A suitable qualified and competent building contractor should investigate vertical supports to the bay and lateral restraints needed.’

We now have a £2000 retention by our mortgage lender. Does anyone know if the above is a big job and expensive?

We are in the process of trying to find a builder to look at the above, we are also having a full structural survey done and we are just trying to find people to look at the house and quote how much it will cost.

However i am now starting to panic as the above looks scary, any help would be appreciated.

Thank you very much.

 

[^woody^]

When built, the downstairs window would be timber, and strong enough to hold up the bay. When people fit plastic windows, these should have steel support bars in the frame. Sometimes they don't, but most times they do - but even so there can be some movement of the bay above when replaced.

It's hard to say without looking at it, but from my experience, this tends to be a once only movement and does not require anything other than some repointing or resealing.

The problem you may have is that anyone looking at it will tend to advise some significant investigation and repair work to cover themselves.

 

[Mandie15]

Thanks for your very quick response. That sounds reassuring.

This part is worrying though "The problem you may have is that anyone looking at it will tend to advise some significant investigation and repair work to cover themselves"

My husband is going to ring some builders up tomorrow to go and see. We asked the vendors if they would have the work done prior to exchange, but they did not want too.

 

[^woody^]

Yes its always a problem.

No-one knows what will or wont happen with the bay. But good experienced people should be able to say with a high degree of certainty what may be happening, and what may happen - but they may be wary of saying so, instead going for the easy option of a lot of checks, and additional/unnecessary work

Obviously you want a correct diagnosis and any necessary work identified, but in these litigious times, people tend to play safe.

You do need to be vary wary of getting advice from builders for this though - especially those you don't know. Builders have a vested interest in getting this work, so would be more than happy to quote you for doing the work which they recommend.

Some builders will give you accurate honest opinion though, but just be wary. Always get several quotes/opinions. You may want to ask them how many similar jobs on similar houses they have done - can they provide addresses? You wont need to check but it can give a very good idea if they know what they are talking about.

 

[Mandie15]

Thanks Woody,

We are going to get in a building surveyor prior to getting in builders.

Do you think a building surveyor would know whats happening? Or would we need a structural Engineer? I am hoping if they say exactly whats happening then it might be more straight forward with the quotes?

 

[^woody^]

A building surveyor should be able to say what's going on, but again may not. Larger practices may have several surveyors of different levels, so could select an appropriate one.

When you go to instruct a surveyor, ask if he is experienced/qualified to comment on structural matters such as bay movement - give them the valuers report. Tell him that you want specific advice on the bay as part of their more general survey, and you don't expect him/her to refer you to a builder or a structural engineer - ie you want him/her to diagnose what's going on. If they are not prepared/able to, then find another who will.

Structural engineers will tend to be more cautious, but pragmatic ones are out there. An engineer will comment on the bay, but may not be able to survey the rest of the house like a surveyor would.

So it depends what other parts you want surveyed.

 

[Mandie15]

Thanks again, that information is really helpful. I will relay this post to my husband for when he is contacting the surveyors.

 

[cjard]

When you say "new house", how many years old is the building that you are buying?

 

[jeds]

When you say "new house", how many years old is the building that you are buying?

Same here, I thought you meant 'new' house. Reading above I think you must mean old house, new to you. Can you post a photo. Bay window movement is very common and they were built in dozens of different ways. £2k would normally be enough to sort it out but it would help to see it.