Chaps

Just had survey report back on prospective new house. The surveyor has noted that one of the external walls is slightly bowed and he has recomended that a check on the wall ties would be necessary to confirm their condition. How would this be carried out? The house dates back to the late 1920's and is brick built with pebble dash to the extenal walls plus it has had cavity wall insulation done about 4 years ago.
The comment made on the survey did state that the movement noted did not look recent and that it didn't appear to be anything to worry about.

There was also an issue with chimney stacks but I'll come back to that some other time.

Thanks

Gammy

Replacing wall ties isn't a particularly difficult job (the making good afterwards is the difficult bit) but you'll never get the bow out of the wall without major surgery.

If the ties have rusted away on this wall, chances are they've rusted away everywhere.

Unless you really love the house (or can afford the cost of repairs) then maybe think again?

There are specialist companies who do wall tie replacement, they should be able to give you some idea of cost.

Apparently it does.
I am going to see the vendors this weekend to see what, of any, info they have from when they bought the place 5 years ago - surveys etc.

Gammy

Chaps

Things have progressed since last I posted. Full details of survey have been revealed & repairs have been quoted for.

Wall ties have been found to be corroded by way of metal detector & optic endoscope. Approx number of new drilled & resin grouted S/S ties will be 404 over 3 external walls. Additionally existing 'fish tail' wall ties will be isolated from outer brickwork at a total of £3110 + vat.

Woodworm treatment in loft will be £360 + vat using Tritec 120 wood preserving insecticide concentrate and guaranteed for 25yrs.

Repointing of chimney stack brickwork in loft at £120 + vat.
Issue of leaning chimney stacks to be discussed.

Will be seeing the vendor on Friday evening to negotiate reduction in sale price to cover the costs plus a little on top for the 'hassle factor'

Funny thing is that none of the above was noted in the Full Structural Survey that was carried out 5yrs ago when the vendor bought the place - mortgage free!!

Gammy

I know that there are houses from the late 1800's with cavity walls, not sure what they used for ties though.

Is the woodworm known to be active or is it just respraying a non-problem?

What condition is the pebble dash in?   I would wonder if its original or if it is covering up old problems?  Shouldnt be an issue though.

If the worm isnt active you dont need to do anything.

Presume the beams are substantial ?  Then just getting them sprayed is fine.  Just be aware that you might need to do it agin next year, single treatment doesnt always deal with it.

If you are going ahead and want a woodburner you might want to get a chimney liner put down while the scaffold is up and they are working on the chimneys.  Saves needing a cherrypicker later (assuming that if they need scaffold to check the chimneys then they are high).

hotline chimneys were cheapest when I bought. Strictly you might not need a liner but building regs seem to be very keen on you having them these days, if you dont want to bother you need to get the internal condition of the stacks checked.

Chaps,

Thanks for the replies. Hadn't thought about the need for liners for the stove. Won't the existing flue be able to cope with the heat? Why are liners necessary?
As regards the woodworm, I,m told that the signs of current activity is that the holes / blemishes are yellow coloured rather than dark brown. Is this correct or is there a more technical method of detection. According to the vendors survey of 5 years ago there were signs of woodworm in the loft but is was deemed to be inactive and that it had already been treated. No paperwork to back this up is available.

Had a meeting with the vendors yesterday and they have agreed to reduce the sale price by the full amount of the repairs identified to date. They have also agreed to fund the scaffolding, inspection and making good, if reqd, of the 2 chimney stacks. The brief being that they have to be certfied as being in a safe condition. There is definitely some repointing needed.

I also need to decide whether the existing straight clay pots on top of the stacks are suitable. There seem to be numerous shapes and sizes of pots available but I don't know in what circumstances they should be used, eg gas fire, open fire, woodburner etc. Any information gratefully accepted. This can get done when the scaffold is up to reduce costs.

I did get to see the wall tie 'bulging' as descibed in my survey. The render has visible horizontal lines evenly spaced up the wall. To the untrained eye it looked like the renderer had finished one section and started another without feathering it in very well.

Anyway thanks for your help so far, it has been much appreciated.

Regards

Gammy

Chimney liners serve several purposes.  On an old house you will prob find that the existing chimney is big and wide.  That means a large column of cold air sitting over the stove which affects the draught flow of the stove.  Putting a 6" (which is the minimum you want for a woodburner) liner in reduces this.  Better again if you insultae the liner as well.

The gasses produced by combustion are corrosive, and the internal (probably lime mortar) lining of the chimney that you have will have deteriorated.  You may even have leaks from the chimney, any sweep will do a smoke test to check - again easier with the scaffold in place they light firematches and fill the chimney with smoke, slap a cap on the top of the chimney and look for (very smelly) smoke escaping into rooms / attic.  

The stainless steel liner protects.  You can have concrete poured into the chimney - I would not recommend that because you are putting significant extra weight on the stack and more importantly you are doing something which is not easy to reverse.

Chimney pots are more about original architecture than purpose.  There are some interesting shapes about which are designed to reduce backdraught or improve flow but thats less important if you line it and put a stove in.  You will want a cowl though.   I went with a combined cowl and suspended hanger for holding the top of the liner.

btw liners are dropped in from the top, not pushed up, so it is worth doing if you have the scaffold up.  It may be worth thinkning about for open fires as well, you have a steel gather fitted in the top of the fireplace and get the benefits of a liner.

I think that it is a requirement of a gas fire that a liner is fitted?

On the woodworm I would be looking for frass which is the  wood powder which is put out as they emerge.  should be visible in the holes and below the affected area.

One technique also used is to use a flour paste to stick tissue paper over the beams affected.  If beetles emerge (And if they are now is the time May-Sept) they will make holes in the paper, so easy to see.

Certainly can.

Most stoves seem to have either 5" or 6" flue fittings, but a big big stove may go up to an 8" or so - not sure about the big aga's etc.   But easy to check, have a look on some of the web sites, I think the biggest morso are 8".
Some european stoves have a metric sized opening and you need to either source everything from europe or make sure that you can get (or have made up) an adapter to fit our sizes.  6" is the minimum size specified by building regs for a WOOD burning stove.   You will always have a length of solid flue pipe between the stove and the flexible flue liner.   If the stove only has a 5" outlet then you need an adapter as well, either a 5/6 inch flue pipe adapter or a step adapter to connect the flue to the liner.

You need a class 1 liner for solid fuels, they are commonly sold in two grades of stainless steel, giving typically either a 10 or 20 year guarrantee.

But yes if the liner is fitted and hangs down to the fireplace opening you can fit stove and stove pipe later.   When I did mine we had the flexible liner hanging down into the fireplace for a week (wrapped up well - the cut edges are sharp) because I was too busy with other stuff to fit it.