This is a typical Structural Engineers example report but shortened for ease of reading. Explanatory notes have been added to assist.
Reasons for contacting Structural Engineers Reports Ltd (SERL)
A prospective buyer of a terraced property contacted us following a failed mortgage survey. The valuation surveyor was concerned about various cracks inside and out, together with a more general history of movement.
N.B. Although this report was for a buyer, some twenty per cent of our enquiries are from owners who are either concerned about their property generally or, alternatively, are about to market their property for sale and wish to have a report which they can share with prospective buyers.
Summary
N.B. We always provide a one-page, easy-to-read summary at the beginning of each report.
We are satisfied that the property remains strong and shows no signs of any modern day movement. The various cracks noted were all considered historic and entirely normal for a period property more than one hundred years old.
The structural significance of the cracking can be conveyed to you numerically on a scale of one to ten, where one is minor and ten is severe. In this regard we would rate the cracks in this property at about two to three out of ten.
N.B. We often use a medical analogy and would in this instance describe the property as requiring a proverbial paracetamol rather than open heart surgery, open heart surgery being analogous to major underpinning or strengthening works.
Once the repairs have been carried out we would consider the property to be a normal lending and insuring risk.
N.B. When assessing the risk we consider the geology, proximity of trees and drains, etc.
Brief
We confirm your recent instructions in conjunction with your intended purchase of the above family terraced house.
You explained that your mortgage survey has highlighted cracking of some concern and the bank requires a chartered structural engineer’s report before considering the mortgage application. We further understand that the cracking is widespread inside and out.
Given the bank’s requirements you will need our general report, known as a General Structural Inspection, on all the main loadbearing walls inside and out. We have agreed to provide guidance regarding costing for repairs and can provide the names of specialist repair contractors.
N.B. Less frequently we provide a more localised report, known as a Specific Structural Inspection, where concerns are very limited such as for example a single crack in a single bay window.
We trust we have interpreted your brief correctly but please contact us immediately if not.
N.B. A formal report would include more details and would refer to guidance notes provided to clients prior to receiving confirmation to proceed with our inspection so clients are quite clear what we do and what our deliverables comprise.
Description of Property and Geology
The property is a very standard mid-terrace family dwelling house on two floors plus loft conversion.
The construction appears to comprise normal solid brick external walls with suspended upper timber floors and roof framing. Elevations are all yellow stock brickwork. The architectural style is typical of early 1900s construction.
The house layout is traditional with primary rooms in the forward part of the house between party walls and secondary rooms within the narrower but original rear projection adjoining the right hand party wall. There are no modern day extensions or significant changes to original room layouts.
The property occupies a fairly level site. Our geological mapping records indicate London Clay subsoil. There is a large London plane tree close to the front left-hand side of the property within five metres. The tree is some fifteen metres tall. The drains appear to pass beneath the property from the rear towards the front. The house is in good order decoratively but has not been well maintained externally. An RICS Surveyor will comment on this in more detail.
Site Observations
Background context
Most of our detective work is carried out externally, since it is the bricks which form the main skeleton of the house, together with just one or two internal loadbearing walls.
We are mainly concerned with any cracks of a “structural Engineering nature” generally described as those cracks which occur on both sides of a loadbearing wall, eg inside and out in the case of an external wall AND where crack widths exceed about 3mm. This acknowledges that almost all building materials together with the soil mass, expands and contracts from time to time causing normal/ seasonal movements which do not compromise the structural integrity of a property.
In detail
The property exhibits a pronounced slope from right to left away from the front door and towards the bay window and the left-hand party wall.
There are various cracks dotted around the front elevation, typically between 1‑3 mm wide. In particular there is vertical cracking where the bay window abuts the main front elevation of the property, but all of this cracking is extremely discoloured and clearly of long standing.
Our internal observations note the decoration is old, at least ten or fifteen years in our estimation. Crucially there is no corresponding cracking internally, which confirms our suspicion that the cracking is long-standing and dormant.
The various brick arches over first floor bedroom windows are in good order.
The brickwork and pointing generally is also sound and your RICS surveyor will comment on all of this in more detail from a maintenance and general repair point of view.
At the rear of the property there is minor cracking where the front and rear halves of the property adjoin, which is very common. Internally there is an old crack in this location but this too shows no signs of any modern movement.
Internal floors slope from right to left, consistent with the cracking noted externally both within the front part of the house and the rear projection.
N.B. A formal report would include more detail that this.
Conclusions
See summary at the beginning of the report for an easy-to-read précis.
The property shows normal signs of historic settlement, from right to left, commensurate with the age of the property. We suspect that most of this early age settlement occurred soon after construction as the weight of the house squashed into the soft soil.
There has clearly been a minor to moderate dose of subsidence in the medium term past, approximately some twenty years ago, but crucially there is no sign of any ongoing movement.
The cracks require a routine resin repair and we estimate costs of approximately £3,000-£5,000 in this regard. We can recommend appropriate repair contractors for this work, which ideally should not be undertaken by a general builder. We recommend that you allow for testing of and minor repairs to the drains as part of your early planned maintenance.
Ideally the Local Authority would be encouraged to reduce the height of the tree, given that it is far too large for the urban environment.
It is obviously important that you maintain building insurance, and specifically subsidence cover, for any period house, particularly those on London Clay soils and fairly near large trees. It is however the nature of owning a period property that there is always a residual subsidence risk, but fortunately there is no sign of any recent movement here within the last twenty years or so.
Report signed by Chartered Structural Engineer.
