Inspection Flashcards
RICS guidance in this area?
RICS Surveying Safely Guidance Note 2018
Aim of RICS Surveying Safely Guidance Note 2018?
- Ensure RICS regulated firms and members are responsible for ensuring health and safety procedures are being adhered to.
- Provides guidance of different health and safety issues.
- Main guidance - safe person, PPE, risk assessments, lone working.
What is the Safe Person concept?
Each individual assumes individual behavioural responsibility for their own, their colleagues’ and others’ health and safety whilst at work.
What is a risk assessment?
- Tool used to cover eventualities of job.
- Can’t cover all eventualities but provides steps to minimise greatest risk.
Surveying Safely advises that risks should be…
Understood, managed and minimised.
What is important to note when undertaking risk assessments?
Every persons perception of risk is different.
What is the guidance on risk assessments?
- Identify hazards
- Decide how might be harmed and how
- Evaluate risks and decide on precautions
- Record findings
- Regularly review
What is a dynamic risk assessment?
Changes to assessed risks on the day/ whilst working on the job.
Types of inspection tools?
- Measuring - tape measure/ laser
- Discovery - hammer/ chisel
- Recording - pen/ paper/ camera
- H&S - phone / PPE
Purposes of inspections?
- Valuation
- Pre-acquisition
- Condition
- Dilapidation
What information would you obtain on a desktop search?
- Locational info (Google maps)
- Environmental issues (Flooding, EPC etc)
- Land registry (site boundary)
- Organise H&S for site visit
- Obtain plans
- Gather equipment
What information would you obtain from a locality search?
- Neighbouring properties/ occupiers
- Nature of local area
- Local transport infrastructure
- Advertising boards
- Nearby watercourses/ contamination
Types of inspections?
- Desktop research
- Locality/ Immediate area
- Exterior
- Interior
What would you look for when inspecting the property?
- Layout
- Condition
- Check if tenant is complying with leasehold obligations
- Type of construction
- Age
- Specification
- Facilities
What are the types of defects?
- Movement - subsidence/ heave/ horizontal cracking
- Damp - rising/ penetrating/ condensation
- Defective/ non performance - roof leaks to roof lights/ blocked valley gutters/ efflorescence
What is rising damp?
Stops 1.5m above ground level.
What is penetrating damp?
Caused by water ingress. Evidenced by staining/ damp patches
What is condensation?
Caused by lack of ventilation or heating.
Types of roof coverings?
- Clay tiled
- Slate
- Profile steel clad
- Asphalt
Types of roofs?
- Flat
- Pitched
- Mono pitched
- Double pitched
Types of windows?
- Double and single glazed
- Timber framed
- Aluminium cassette
- uPVC
Advantages and disadvantages of roof lights?
+ provide natural light/ better distribution of natural light
- sunlight could harm products being stored/ potential for leakages from roof lights/ difficult to maintain
Eaves vs Haunch
Eaves - highest point from metal frame to rafters
Haunch - lowest point for where frame intersects steel column
Why do we obtain eaves and haunch?
To help determine cubic capacity of unit.
Construction types?
- Steel
- Concrete
- Timber
- Brick and block
Indication of cavity wall?
Only stretcher bricks
Indication of solid wall?
Header and stretcher bricks
Benefits of steel frame construction?
- Flexible
- Quick to install
- Good for longer spans
- Lightweight
Issues with steel frame?
- Corrosion
- Sulphate attack from atmosphere or groundwater
What is asbestos?
Hazardous fibrous material.
Banned in 1999.
Found in buildings constructed between 1950 and 1990.
What are the 3 types of asbestos?
- Blue
- Brown
- White
How do you know asbestos is present?
- Age
- Check asbestos register
Where is asbestos typically located?
- Roof
- Guttering
- Ceilings (tiles and artex textured)
- Stairwells
- Lift shafts
What is the current asbestos legislation?
Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012
Implements:
- If asbestos in good condition, can be left.
- If responsible for maintenance, have a duty of care to manage asbestos.
- Any works in the property with asbestos must be recorded and managed.
Institutional spec of a shop?
- Steel or concrete frame
- Services capped off
- Shell condition to allow occupier to fit out
Institutional spec of office?
Steel portal frame or concrete construction
British Council for Offices:
- Full access raised floors
- Air con and double glazing
- Passenger lifts
- Open plan
- 8 sqm to 10 sqm workspace density
- Parking - 1 space per 250 sqft (OOT) / 1 space per 500-1000 sqft (CC)
Institutional spec for industrial?
Steel portal frame construction
Minimum 8m eaves
10% roof lights
Minimum 30KN/sqm floor loading
Profile steel and brick (up to 2m) cladding
Full height electric loading doors
5-10% office content
Mains coverage capped off
40% site coverage
Loading bay depth - 35m to 50m
1 loading door for every 10,000 sqft
Factors of inspection that may affect value?
Condition
Layout - suitable for current use?
Proximity to local transport infrastructure
Specification
Hazardous vs deleterious materials?
Hazardous - harmful to health
Deleterious - degrade with age causing structural problems
Example of deleterious material?
High alumina cement (HAC)
- Widely used in 1950-70s.
- Prone to chemical attack when exposed to water for long period.
What is Japanese Knotweed?
Purple stems with heart-shaped (ace of spades) leaf.
White bell-shaped flowers.
Difficult to identify when not in bloom.
6 common defects in property?
- Rot (dry & wet)
- Damp
- Movement
- Subsidence
- Decay
- Infestation
What causes rot?
Damp and ventilation problems (moisture in timbers).
Signs of dry rot?
- Smell of mushrooms
- White fungal growths with yellow and lilac colouration.
- Deep cracking in timbers.
Signs of wet rot?
- Distortion, softness, discolouration and cracking of timber
- Loss of timber strength
- Sometimes fungal growth is visible
- Damp, musty smell
Signs of damp?
- Musty smell, mould or mildew on the walls
- Staining to walls/ wallpaper
- Fragmenting plasterwork, blistering paintwork
- Signs of salts coming from plaster walls
- Timber decay, rust mark on angle beads within damp walls
- Discoloured wall
- External mortar failings/ crumbling
Types of movement?
- Lateral restraint
- Cavity wall tie failure
- Falling Lintels
Generic information included in inspection notes?
Address
Name
Weather conditions
Inspection risk assessment Location
Description
Site
Car parking
Environmental hazards
State of repair
Occupier’s
Signs of changes to the property
How to identify Japanese Knotweed in Spring?
- Red/purple coloured stems
- Slightly curled up leaves
- Fast growing
How to identify Japanese Knotweed in Summer?
- Bamboo like stems
- Heart shaped green leaves with zig zag pattern
- White clusters of flowers
How to identify Japanese Knotweed in Autumn?
- Bamboo like stems turned dark brown
- Leaves turning yellow
- Roughly 2-3 metres tall
How to identify Japanese Knotweed in Winter?
- Stems becoming brittle and starting to snap
- Leaves turned brown and started to fall off the plant
- Lots of dead stems on the floor that won’t decompose
Relevant Law regarding Japanese Knotweed?
Environmental Protection Act 1990
RICS guidance regarding Japanese Knotweed?
RICS Guidance Note - Japanese Knotweed and Residential Property (2022)
