Building Defects Flashcards
How do you look for defects?
Start from the roof and work your way down
What is an inherent defect?
A defect in the design or the material which has always been there
What is a latent defect?
A fault to the property which could not have been discovered through a reasonably thorough inspection
What is the purpose of snagging?
- Check the newly built property to identify defects in the build
- Enables you to highlight them to the developer to allow them to fix the issues
What did you do to identify any building defects?
- Take photos of the defect
- Try to establish the cause of damage whilst on site
- Inform your client of your investigations
- Recommend specialist advice from a building surveyor or in the case of movement, a structural engineer
What are the three common causes of defects?
- Movement
- Water
- Defective or deterioration of building materials
What is subsidence?
The vertical downward movement of a building foundation caused by the loss of support of the site beneath the foundation. This could be as a result of changes in the underlying ground conditions
What does heave mean?
The expansion of the ground beneath part or all of a building – this could be caused by a tree removal and the subsequent moisture build up in the soil.
What are the common causes of cracks in a property?
- Subsidence
- Heave
- Cavity wall tie failure (indicated by horizontal cracking in brickwork)
- Shrinkage cracking (often occurs in new plasterwork during the drying out process
- Settlement cracks
- Thermal expansion / movement
What may horizontal cracking indicate?
May indicate cavity wall tie failure
What may shrinkage cracking in a building indicate?
New plasterwork – in the drying out phase
What is wet rot? What are the signs of wet rot?
Caused by damp and timber decay
Signs include wet and soft timber, a high damp meter reading, visible fungal growth and a musty smell
What is dry rot and what is it caused by?
Caused by a fungal attack
Signs include mushrooms, spores, cracking paintwork and crumbling of dry timber – can destroy and masonry
What is rising damp?
Comes from ground and travels up through the brickwork – generally stops at 1.5m above ground
What can condensation be caused by? What are the signs of condensation?
Caused by lack of ventilation and background heating
Signs include mould and streaming water on the inside of windows / walls
What are the causes of damp?
- Wet rot
- Dry rot
- Rising damp
- Condensation
- Leaking plumbing / air condition units / pipework
What are the common building defects with period resi/office/retail properties?
- Dry rot
- Wet rot
- Tile slippage on the roof
- Death watch beetle
- Damp penetration at roof and ground floor level
- Water ingress around door and window openings
- Structural movement / settlement
- Regent Street disease - water penetrates the building and rusts the steel frame. Can damage the masonry attached to the outside e.g. Portland stone, terracotta or brick
What are the common building defects associated with modern industrial buildings?
- Roof leaks around roof lights
- Damaged cladding panels
- Cut edge corrosion
- Blocked valley gutters
- Water damage from poor guttering or burst pipes
- Settlement / cracking in brickwork panels
What are the common building defects with modern office buildings?
- Damp penetration at roof and ground floor level
- Water damage from burst pipes or air conditioning units
- Structural movement
- Damaged cladding
- Cavity wall tie failure
- Efflorescence
- Poor mortar joints in brickwork
