Inspection L1

Question 1

What is the process you do when contacted by a client to carry out an inspection?

Answer 1

• Approached by the client
• Ensure competence / resources / PII / Conflicts / Legal
• Ensure the client knows what is required
• Agree instruction
• Identify any health and safety risks
• Carry out desktop study of the property
• Identify equipment needed / plant required
• On site, work top to bottom
• Do external then internal

Question 2

What do you typically look at on a building during a survey?

Answer 2

• Age
• Repairs
• Defects
• Use of the property and surrounds
• Access arrangements
• If defective, work out how.

Question 3

What would you request of a desktop study?

Answer 3

• Leases
• Drawings (Structural / as-built)
• Planning and Building Control
• O&M’s / Guarantees
• Flooding or boundary
• Tenants stock list
• Asbestos Management Plan

Question 4

What equipment would you take to site?

Answer 4

Disto 
Theodolite
Hygrometer (Humidity check)
Protimeter (Moisture content reader) 
Anenometer (Ventilation reader)
Plumb Bob
Ladders
Crowbar
Borescope
Thermal Imaging
Endoscope
Thermometer

Question 5

What era is a Tudor property and how would you identify it?

Answer 5

1485-1558

Black timber frame and white infill panels (wattle and daub)

Question 6

What era is a Elizabethan property and how would you identify it?

Answer 6

1558-1714

Black timber frame more expansive frames and white infill panels (wattle and daub). Square chimneys and symmetrical

Question 7

What era is a Georgian property and how would you identify it?

Answer 7

1714-1837
Georgian windows are often of the large sash variety with panes and they have shallow, tiled roofs, which are often hidden, as are the gutters, by parapet walls. Decorative ironworks.

Question 8

What era is a Victorian property and how would you identify it?

Answer 8

1837-1901
The exterior of the property was usually built using solid wall construction using yellow stock bricks laid in a 1 sand and 1 lime mortar mix in a Flemish bond.

Question 9

What era is a Edwardian property and how would you identify it?

Answer 9

1901-1919

Externally, homes are characterised by steep-pitched roofs. Chimneys were often located part-way down the roof, directly above the fireplaces in the rooms below. Dormer windows with pointed barge-boards are a common feature where the loft-space has been used for accommodation.

Question 10

What era is a Inter-war property and how would you identify it?

Answer 10

1919-1945
The most popular style was the cottage style with gabled, red-tiled roof, brick walls combined with white render. Houses were built in pairs or in short terraces up to five with usually big gardens in the front and in the back.

Question 11

What era is a Post War property and how would you identify it?

Answer 11

1945+
In order to meet demand the construction of houses on a massive scale was undertaken using concrete, a lot of which (but not all) was prefabricated in a factory, transported to site, and put together to form houses and flats.

Question 12

What would you usually find defective in a Victorian house?

Answer 12

Alterations, heavier roof covering, damp, condensation, blocked vents, timber floor issues, over notching, lead plumbing, insufficient modern repairs.