Our house has be surveyed and he mentioned about damp and they chimney stack has no support..Please I need some advice

[fluffy apple]

We are moving house and our buyer has just had had ther survey on our house. Whilst he was here i asked how it went..no expecting an answer!!! Long&short is that he siad we have damp at the lower part of our downstairs walls including internal walls...There is no smell of damp and paintwork and paper is fine even new plastered walls are fine...Can this be right?

Also he mentioned that they will need to see proof of how the chimney is being supported as whoever lived here before removed it from our kitchen. But the chimney is still in my bed room and we still have a stack. This didn't come up on my survey. How will I get proof of this.

Lastly the people buying it I know want be interested in this and will pull out once they recievce this report.

Please can anyone been in this situation advise me.

Thankyou

[gina32]

i had a survey done on my previous house and was told that i had damp in the walls and the purchaser was told to get an expert in to sort it, so they paid for an expert only to be told that there wasnt any, so that was money wasted, i sometimes wonder if these people are on commission

[fluffy apple]

Thanks ever so much for replying. As you can see im really worried as we really don't want to loose the buyer purchasing our house or the house we are buying.

There is two small blocks in my kitchen which look as if they are either side of which would of been the fireplace in my kitchen. Would that be anything to do with the support

[fluffy apple]

Also would this be us who investigates to the ceiling or floor boards or should we wait until the buyer recieves the report

[terence7556]

damp meters are or can be so sensitive that the palm of your hand can register damp and it feels like a set up especially if your own judgement feels like its ok
if you have a pillar type support in your kitchen this may be a good sign so prove it by lifting a floorboard or two, or rip some plaster off the ceiling.if its good news and there is a suitable support, great .photo it and be glad to replaster a small area.
if not exposing the plaster will be a necessary job to instell some temporary supports (acrows) to fit a support
(rsj)
its not a major job so dont feel like it will stop the sale.
prove there is a support to the buyer, if necessary leave it exposed to show them before redecorating
about the damp is the house old?,is there a dpc

[doirecormac]

i had the exact same problem with the chimney stack where the downstairs breast was removed and the upstairs was still there. I lifted a couple of floorboards and inserted an RSJ under the stack and replaced the floorboards. A builder wanted �600 plus for doing it - the RSJ cost me �45 - you may need a hand though to help lift and manoeuvre the RSJ

[fluffy apple]

House is 1930. So things are expected to come up on the survey its the particular couple who are buying are the most FUSSY people.

Did you have to have building regs etc for putting the rsj in? Its two small blocks either side where the chimney breast would of orginally been.

Ive put the heating on as I thought maybe that would help??Only there is no sign what so ever of damp i.e smells stains on walls, wallpaper and plastered area's are fine. Would rising damp do these things or is there different signs? Sorry naive that I sound but I dont no anything about these sort of things

Many Thanks for replys. Really appreciate it

[fluffy apple]

yes they are small blocks at the top between wall and ceiling each one is about 4 inches wide. We will get the floor boards up in our bedroom and investigate.

Thankyou

[buildersmate]

Chimney support
Most of what you needed to know has been covered by others. Yes, taking out the support in this way requires an RSJ or similar and a Building Control application to show that the support is strong enough to hold up the structure above.
However you are where you are, and the thing has fallen down. If you make a retrospective BC application now, BCO will want the thing uncovered to see what's underneath. A Structural Engineer will want to same. An alternative is to investigate a single premium indemnity insurance policy in respect of this - might be cheaper than hacking around with the wall to show what is underneath.

[buildersmate]

Oops, should say the thing has NOT fallen down!

[fluffy apple]

so if we was to raise a couple of floor boards from the room above would we see the RSJ?

Many Thanks for your replies