A Party Wall Matter

Party Wall workWe recently acted as a Party Wall Surveyor for an adjoining owner, in Newbury, Berkshire.

The works being undertaken by the next door neighbour included an extension to the rear of the building and some cutting in and weathering of the Party Wall.

The owner that we acted for was concerned that their second floor flat may be affected by the works. We checked that the Party Wall notice that had been issued was valid, contacted the building owners surveyor and liaised with them to confirm the method and approach to which works affecting the Party Wall should be undertaken. In addition we took a schedule of condition of the property prior to the works commencing.

We have now issued an Award and works are underway.  Our final piece of involvement should be to attend site once works have been completed to ensure they have been undertaken satisfactorily and have not affected our appointing owner’s property.

If you have a Party Wall enquiry or have been served with Notice under the Party Wall Act, please contact us on 01635 579208 or by using the contact form. We will be happy to act on your behalf.

Dilapidations Instruction in Newbury

DilapidationsWe have recently been instructed to undertake a terminal Schedule of Dilapidations for a commercial building in a prominent location in Newbury, Berkshire.

Our instruction is to serve a costed schedule of dilapidations on the lessee, in order that the Landlord can recoup any costs in relation to breaches of the lease. The instruction is complicated by the fact that the Landlords lessee has long since vacated the premises and sub-let the premises to a sub-lessee.

If your lease is coming to an end and you are either a Landlord requiring a schedule of condition to be compiled, or a Tenant who has been served with a terminal schedule of condition, please contact us as we will be pleased to assist.

Traditional Building Pitfalls

ricsRMA Surveyors Ltd, Newbury have been reading an interesting discussion on RICS regarding the care and repair work of Victorian and Edwardian age buildings and the pitfalls often made that result in ‘inherent defects’ in later life.

RMA Surveyors Ltd are a proud member of RICS, with experience in dealing with traditional buildings and period properties. If you’re looking for advice from a local, trusted chartered surveyor in Berkshire, please call us or complete the form with your query.

Read the full article or see the snapshot below:

The top 10 inappropriate works commonly carried out on traditional buildings

  1. Replacing original good quality sash windows with inappropriate modern aluminium or PVC-U casements and stripping out original period doors.
  2. Unnecessarily injecting chemical damp-proof courses (or injecting them incompetently), and re-plastering or rendering main walls with cement-based materials rather than traditional lime, thereby  trapping damp in the walls.
  3. Encouraging damp, rot and beetle infestation by blocking ventilation to floors and roofs, and by allowing high ground levels (such as flower beds) to build up against external walls.
  4. Removal of chimney breasts or load-bearing internal spine walls without providing adequate support to the remaining masonry above.
  5. Neglecting badly eroded mortar joints to external masonry, allowing damp to penetrate and frost damage to occur.
  6. Re-pointing walls with cement mortar that prevents walls from ‘breathing’, and re-pointing in visually dominant ‘show off’ styles (such as protruding ‘weatherstruck’ pointing).
  7. Botched repairs to flashings to stacks and roofs with short-life materials such as self-adhesive tapes or mortar fillets.
  8. Failure to provide enhanced structural support to roof structures where original lightweight slate coverings have been replaced with heavier concrete tiles.
  9. Not lining old flues before lighting fires or using appliances, and failing to cap and ventilate disused flues.
  10.  Weakening floor joists with excessive cutting for cable and pipe runs.

RICS members have a pivotal role to play in both these areas to ensure that the future of our important stock of traditional buildings does not continue to be carelessly endangered.

Residential Extension Advice

Residential extension postWe recently undertook design, specification and project management of a residential extension, in Winslow, Buckinghamshire.

Our client required a kitchen and partial re-design of the ground floor bathroom. The property had a lean-to timber addition, which was in a dilapidated condition.

The extension we provided was a single storey kitchen extension with attached shower room, bathroom and utility room. We re-designed the ground floor layout to make better use of the floor space and enhance the new kitchen extension.

We provided a design and specification which we successfully took through the planning process, as the property is located in a conservation area, and also through the building regulations building control application process. We took the specification through the competitive tendering process and identified a contractor capable of undertaking the project. We also dealt with Party Wall matters, under a separate instruction, and dealt with any on-site queries the contractor had.

The project budget was approximately £60,000 and the contract period was approximately 3 months.

If you would like advice regarding a residential extension, please contact us on 01635 579208 or complete the form and we’ll get back to you.

 

Listed Building Repairs

Wood Boring BeetleWe were privileged enough to undertake a building survey of a Grade II Listed building in Aldermaston. The property was built originally in the 1600’s with further extensions and additions added in the 1800’s and 1900’s. The original property comprised of a timber frame structure with facing brick work in fill panels, the later additions were formed in solid masonry construction.

The property had undergone extensive refurbishment during the 1800’s and the mid 1900’s and additional upgrading and repairs and addition of services had been undertaken more recently.

Many of the more recent repairs had not been undertaken in sympathy with the original construction. Most significantly many repairs had been undertaken using a cement mortar, where lime mortar would have been originally used.

The internal faces of the timber frame walls were lined with wattle and daub and we found evidence of fresh wood boring beetle damage to the wattles and staves where the wall had been exposed to prolonged high levels of damp. Gypsum plasters had been used internally, originally a lime plaster would have been used and evidence of which was visible where gypsum plaster was coming away from the wall. Modern gypsum plasters are less impervious than lime and earth plasters and gypsum is hygroscopic, meaning that it absorbs water from the air.

We also found damage to lintels buried within the wall which were also affected by damp and excessive vegetation to walls, some of which was growing through the walls. The walls had been rendered with a cement render, which was preventing evaporation from the wall and water was accumulating in the walls and allowing the structure to become saturated. The cement repointing was also having a similar affect and affecting the exposed timber within the wall.

Unfortunately these defects are extremely common with Listed Buildings where contractors and specifier’s who do not understand the performance of traditional buildings have undertaken repairs in good faith but have caused more extensive damage to the structure as a result.

Often such repairs can be more expensive to remediate as materials such as strong cement mortars can damage brick work when removed, leading to further work and repair.

If you have a Listed property, or you’re thinking about purchasing a Listed building, and would like some advice regarding appropriate remediation and repairs, please contact us on 01635 579208 or complete the form with any queries.

Asbestos Concerns

One common item we often raise in our building surveys and homebuyer reports is the potential for asbestos to be present in textured, decorative coatings, such as Artex to ceilings and wall surfaces internally.

Following guidance by the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) http://www.hse.gov.uk/asbestos/ and the Asbestos regulations, we have an obligation to make mention of potentially asbestos containing materials.

Asbestos encapsulated in textured, decorative coatings is often only in very small amounts and provides no risk, unless it is disturbed and the fibres become airborne.  Textured, decorative coatings installed after the year 2000 are unlikely to contain any asbestos, as the use of asbestos was prohibited after this date.

RMA Surveyors Ltd are not asbestos surveyors; however, we are trained to identify potential asbestos containing materials. We have also worked alongside licenced asbestos testing and removals contractors to identify the presence of asbestos and arrange for its safe removal.

It should be noted that just because asbestos is present in a material, does not mean that the material is inherently unsafe but it should be left undisturbed, to avoid the asbestos fibres becoming airborne, at which point they do become hazardous. Professional advice should be sought.

For information and advice regarding asbestos in textured, decorative finishes, further reading is available on the HSE website.

If you have any asbestos related queries that you would like to discuss with RMA Surveyors Ltd, please contact us on 01635 579208 or by completing our ‘Contact Us Today’ form.

Multiple Party Wall Awards

party wallWe undertook an instruction as Party Wall Surveyor to act on behalf of a building owner who was developing a site in Newbury.

The site itself was bounded by some residential properties at the front and a commercial property to the rear. The residential property at the front also had a retail unit on the ground floor.

To properly undertake the instruction notice was required to be served to all adjoining owners with an interest in the property. This included the freeholder of the residential units, the leaseholder of the retail unit and the freeholder of the commercial unit to the rear. Fortunately, the leaseholder and the freeholder of the commercial unit were the same party.

All parties dissented to works and required the appointment of their own surveyor to act on their behalf. In actuality, one of the adjoining owner’s surveyors acted on behalf of two parties, with a second adjoining owner acting on behalf of the other party.

Three separate Party Wall Awards were required to be issued. In order to minimise the cost to our appointing owner who would be responsible for all fees, we made assessment of adjoining owner’s fees and agreed a reasonable rate. We also organised to meet all surveyors out on site on the same day, to minimise time on site while discussing the critical issues that needed to form the basis of the Party Wall Award.

Without our professional input, the developer may have found difficulty in identifying the correct parties to serve the notice on, issue applicable notices, liaise with adjoining owner’s surveyors and form a Party Wall Agreement.

It is often thought by building owners that the Party Wall process is easily managed by themselves but we have often found that parties that have issued notice have issued invalid notice, which can delay works or can become confounded by the detail surrounding the Party Wall Act and can quickly find themselves out of their depth when matters become more complex.

If you have any Party Wall issues, please contact us for advice on 01635 579208 or complete the form below and we’ll get in touch.

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Project Managers for Repairs

Project Management. Repair & Redec Block of FlatsRMA Surveyors Ltd acted as project managers for an external maintenance and repairs programme to a block of flats in Cockfosters, London.

The contract included roof repairs; including repairs to parapet walls and the repair of roof coverings, maintenance to external doors and windows; including repairs and redecoration, providing insulation to tank rooms located on the roof, internal plaster repairs to common areas and redecoration and masonry repairs; including crack stitching and repointing repairs to arches and lintels above openings.

The contract value was for £70,000; we provided specification, tendered the works and oversaw the works in two phases. Unfortunately the initial contractor went into liquidation between phases, so we were required to re-tender the works and oversee phase two using a different contractor.

We saw the work through to completion, awarded final certification and ensured the work was undertaken to a satisfactory standard.

If you require a project manager for any similar repairs, redecoration or refurbishment contracts, please contact us using the form below or call us on 01635 579208.

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Project Manager for Fire Reinstatement

Melted LightbulbRMA Surveyors Ltd have recently been instructed to act as project managers for the restoration of a fire damaged flat in West Ilsley, Berkshire.

The property has been significantly damaged by fire within a couple of rooms, while the rest of the property has been heavily damaged by residual smoke and water, where the fire was extinguished.

Our instruction required us to:

  • appoint and oversee the initial clean up and restoration – cleaning smoke residue, removing items such as white goods and furniture, cleaning surfaces and removing floor coverings and soft furnishings;
  • advise the client to have the electrical services isolated, as they had been badly damaged by the fire;
  • and draw up a specification and schedule of works to issue to tendering contractors.

Once a contractor has been selected, we will be responsible for overseeing the works through to completion. This will include regular site visits, liaison with the building contractor and the client, valuing and certifying works at key stages, liaising and reporting back to the loss adjustor and dealing with any ad hoc queries as required.

When works are completed we will certify and sign off the work. Works will be tendered and executed under the JCT Minor Works Contract. The fees for our appointment as project managers are covered by the insurance policy.

Appointing a project manager can help to reduce the stress that such potentially distressing situations can cause. As Chartered Surveyors, acting as project managers, we are able to use our professional knowledge and expertise in order to facilitate a swift and effective remediation process.

RMA Surveyors Ltd are highly experienced in insurance reinstatement work and as such we provide a service that is cost effective in regards to managing spend for the insurance claim and one that gives the client peace of mind that the project is being overseen and undertaken by professionals.

If you have been affected by fire, flood or other insured risk, please contact us on 01635 579208 or by completing the form below.

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Issuing Party Wall Notification

Terraced housingWe were recently instructed to act as Party Wall Surveyors in Pangbourne. We were acting on behalf of the building owner to issue party wall notices to two adjoining owners on a Victorian Terrace.

Our client had already approached their neighbours and explained to them the works to be undertaken, then requested we issue formal notification of works to them.

Sometimes, as in this case where there is more than one adjoining owner, party wall notification can be more complicated. It is our role to determine who has an interest in the adjoining properties and which are the correct notices to serve under the Party Wall Etc Act 1996.

Our client had quite a tight deadline in which they wanted the Party Wall Agreements to be in place, as their appointed building contractor had an extremely busy schedule. So we acted efficiently and effectively to ensure everything was in place.

If you would like any advice regarding the Party Wall Etc Act 1996, please contact us on 01635 579 208, or complete the form below with your enquiry.

For further reading on Party Walls read our Understanding a Party Wall page.

Contact Us

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  • If you are requesting a survey quotation please provide the address and postcode of the property.
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