Inspection Flashcards
What are the FOUR steps when carrying out an inspection?
- Consider your personal safety (firms Health and Safety procedures for a site inspection)
- Inspection of the local area
- External inspection
- Internal inspection
What should you take on an inspection with you (M, T, L, F/P, P, P/D)?
- Mobile phone
- Tape measure/laser
- File, plans and other supporting information
- Personal protective equipment (PPE) such as a fluorescent jacket, steel-toed boots, non-slip soled shoes, ear defenders, gloves, goggles and hard hat
- Pen and paper / Dictaphone
What should you consider in the immediate surrounding area of the property when conducting an inspection - 3 categories-
(L/A/L/P/B)
(C/E/F/H/E)
(C/L/A)
- Location / aspect / local facilities / public transport / business vibrancy
- Contamination / environmental hazards / flooding / high voltage power lines / electricity substations
- Comparable evidence / local market conditions / agents’ boards
What should you consider when conducting an external inspection (5 broadly)?
- Method of construction
- Repair and condition of the exterior
- Car parking / access / loading arrangements
- Defects / structural movement
- Check site boundaries with OS map and / or Title Plan
What should you consider when conducting an internal inspection (L/S, R/M, D, S, S, F/I, C)?
- Layout and specification - flexibility and obsolescence
- Repair and maintenance
- Defects
- Services - age and condition
- Statutory compliance e.g. asbestos, building regulations, health and safety, Equality Act, fire safety and planning
- Fixtures and fittings and improvements
- Compliance with lease obligations
What are the different ways that you could date a building (6)?
- Asking the client
- Researching the date of planning consent or building regulations approval
- Land Registry
- Local historical records
- Architectural style
- Architects certificate of practical completion
What are the THREE different purposes of inspection?
- Valuation - valuation influencers
- Property management - policing the lease
- Agency - marketability issues
If inspecting a property for valuation purposes, what would you be looking out for (7)?
Valuation influencers -
Factors which can influence the valuation of a property such as location, tenure, aspect, form of construction, defects, current condition, occupation details
If inspecting a property for property management purposes, what would you be looking out for (Occ/Unoc)?
Policing the lease -
• Occupied: check the lease compliance, statutory compliance, state of the building, requirement for repairs/redecoration, user and details of the actual occupier
• Unoccupied: check statutory compliance, state of the building, repair and maintenance issues, security arrangements, landscaping, risk of vandalism and damage to the building
If inspecting a property for agency purposes, what would you be looking out for (5)?
Marketability issues -
Current condition of the building, repair and maintenance issues, statutory compliance, services, presentation and flexibility of the accommodation and its marketability
What are the FOUR common forms of foundation (T/R/P/P)?
- Trench or strip footings - generally used for residential dwellings, for walls and closely spaced columns
- Raft - a slab foundation over the whole site to spread the load for lightweight structures. Usually used on made up/remediated land and sandy soil conditions
- Piled - long and slender reinforced concrete cylinders (piles in the ground to deeper strata when less good load-bearing ground conditions/high loads
- Pad - a slab foundation system under individual or groups of columns so that the column load is spread evenly
What determines the type of foundations used (3)?
- Age of the building
- Ground conditions
- Size of building and loadings required
What are the TWO types of wall construction used?
- Solid wall construction
2. Cavity wall construction
What is a solid wall construction?
Solid brickwork with headers, normally at least one brick thick, with different bricklaying patterns incorporating headers (e.g. Flemish bond) to tie together the layers of brick
What is a cavity wall construction, and what can provide evidence of it (3)?
- Two layers of brickwork are tied together with metal ties, with a cavity that may be filled with insulation.
- No headers used
- Evidence of a cavity tray, air brick or weep holes may be seen
What is a stretcher?
Brick laid horizontally, flat with the long side of the brick exposed on the outer face of the wall
What is a header?
Brick laid flat with the short end of the brick exposed
What is efflorescence (cause, how forms)?
- White marks caused by hydroscopic salts in the brick work
- Formed when water reacts with the natural salts, by way of a chemical process, contained within the construction material and mortar
- Water dissolves the salts which are then carried out and deposited onto the surface by the natural evaporation that occurs when air meets the surface of the wall
What is spalling/cause?
Damaged brickwork where the surface of the bricks starts to crumble because of freeze/thaw action, after it has become saturated in the winter months
What are the institutional specifications for shops (5)?
- Most are constructed either of a steel or concrete frame
- Services i.e. gas/water/electricity are brought into the unit and capped off at source
- Concrete floor
- No suspended ceiling
- Let in a shell condition with no shop front, ready for the retailer’s fitting out works
What are the two main methods of construction for new office buildings/what impact will that have on internal space?
- Steel frame: have less columns and a wider span between the columns
- Concrete frame: more columns, lower floor heights and a shorter span between columns
What can you refer to if you’re unsure about what form of construction is (2)?
- Architect’s drawings and specification
* Building manual
What are the different types of air conditioning systems, and what benefits/negatives do they offer (7, V, F, V, S, M, H, C)?
- VAV - variable air volume (highest capital cost but most flexible)
- Fan coil - usually 4 pipe (lower initial costs and good flexibility but higher operating and maintenance costs)
- VRV - variable refrigerant volume. Invented by Daikin (lower capital costs but higher operating and maintenance costs)
- Static cooling - chilled beam and displacement heating. Natural approach to climate control (lower capital cost and operating costs but less flexibility
- Mechanical ventilation - when fresh air is moved around the building
- Heat recovery systems
- Comfort cooling - a simple form of air cooling system
What became illegal to use in air conditioning systems from 1st January 2015, and with what obligation for existing systems?
Use and replacement of the low temperature refridgerant R22
Existing R22 refridgerant systems needed to be modified to become more environmentally friendly
What is a shell and core fit out?
Where common parts of the building are completed, and the office floor areas are left as a shell ready for fit out by the occupier
What is the difference between a Category A (may include 4) and Category B fit out (may include 3)?
- Category A: basic level of finish above that provided in shell and core. May include raised floors, suspended ceilings and internal surfaces, along with basic mechanical and electrical services
- Category B: fit out complete to the occupier’s specific requirements. May include installation of cellular offices/furnishings, enhanced finishes and IT
What is the main method of construction for industrial buildings?
Steel portal frame building with insulated profiled steel cladding walls and roof
What is the current institutional specification for industrial buildings (8)?
- Minimum 8m clear eaves height with 10% roof lights
- Minimum 30 kN / sqm floor loading
- Plastic coated steel profiled cladding with brick or blockwork walls to approximately 2m
- Full height loading doors (electrically operated)
- 3 phase electricity power (415 Volts)
- 5-10% office content and WC facilities
- Main services capped off
- Approximate site cover of 40%
What is the difference between an inherent and a latent defect?
- Inherent defect: defect in the design or a material which has always been present
- Latent defect: fault to the property that could not have been discovered by a reasonably thorough inspection of the property
What is the purpose of snagging a newly built property?
- 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 FOUR steps should you follow if you identify any building defects during an inspection?
- 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 / non-performance / deterioration of building materials
What is subsidence/what could cause it?
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 is heave/what could cause it?
Expansion of the ground beneath part or all of the building. This could be caused by the removal of trees and subsequent moisture build-up in the soil
What are the common causes of cracks in a property (6)?
- 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 is wet rot/caused by? What are the signs of wet rot (4)?
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/what damage can it do (2)? What are the signs of dry rot (5)?
Caused by fungal attack. Can destroy timber and masonry. Signs include:
• Fungus (mycelium) which spreads across the wood in fine
• Fluffy white strands
• Large, often orange mushroom-like fruiting bodies
• Strong smell and red spores
• Cracking paintwork and cuboidal cracking / crumbling of dry timber
What is rising damp? What are the signs of rising damp (3)? Where does it usually stop?
- Caused by moisture from the ground travelling up through the wall by capillary action. Usually caused by the failure or absence of the damp proof course
- Signs include tide marks of salts, dark patches on walls that can be damp to touch, damp and musty smell.
- Usually stops around 1.5m above ground level