Or anyone with similar experience. Me and the gf have put in an offer on a garden flat, in an old victorian building in Bristol.
Now being first time buyers we didn't really know what to look out for on the outside of the building. Now the gf's Dad has now taken a look at the outside (he's not a structural engineer, but he does seem to know a thing or two), and he's highlighted a few areas that he'd be very concerned with.
There are a number of bay windows which are showing signs of the stress they've been under over the years, with several of the stones having cracks through them, and a number of areas where cracks haved been filled in to patch them up.
Damp, he pointed out that the bay window in the flat above shows signs of where the drain pipes on the roof don't catch enough of the rain water, therefore the water flows down the outside wall causing damage to the upper right corner of the stone work. He thinks that the inside of this flat would have probably suffered from damp quite badly in the past.
Now i'm sure the damp problems could be fixed by better drainage etc.
He did seem very concerned about the bay windows and apparently they don't gradually give but just suddenly collapse.
Obviously this has concerned us enough to consider withdrawing the offer, I don't have pictures to give you i'm afraid (maybe later), so any general advice on what we should really be looking for, whether all bay windows face imminent collapse etc etc..
Now being first time buyers we didn't really know what to look out for on the outside of the building. Now the gf's Dad has now taken a look at the outside (he's not a structural engineer, but he does seem to know a thing or two), and he's highlighted a few areas that he'd be very concerned with.
There are a number of bay windows which are showing signs of the stress they've been under over the years, with several of the stones having cracks through them, and a number of areas where cracks haved been filled in to patch them up.
Damp, he pointed out that the bay window in the flat above shows signs of where the drain pipes on the roof don't catch enough of the rain water, therefore the water flows down the outside wall causing damage to the upper right corner of the stone work. He thinks that the inside of this flat would have probably suffered from damp quite badly in the past.
Now i'm sure the damp problems could be fixed by better drainage etc.
He did seem very concerned about the bay windows and apparently they don't gradually give but just suddenly collapse.
Obviously this has concerned us enough to consider withdrawing the offer, I don't have pictures to give you i'm afraid (maybe later), so any general advice on what we should really be looking for, whether all bay windows face imminent collapse etc etc..
