Top 5 external checks before buying a house 

Top things I look out for- excluding your very sensible suggestions. 1. Signs of poor drainage around the house 2. Dodgy looking neighbours/close to pubs/nightclubs 3. Access for cars/deliveries 4. Good Water pressure/gas/internet etc 5. Velociraptors

3:22 water the biggest enemy of any house.. had to laugh.. so true with our latest place lol

The other thing I found with an older property is the lack of window and door lintels. They built with "structural frames" and no lintels BUT when window replacements are made, you are often never advised of this and end up with sagging brickwork.... which can fall out if it also needs pointing!! Quite a few our way like this. I've had lintels retrofitted and brickwork re-pointed on my 1935 property.

Interesting overview Andy 👍 In my experience, dampness is a complex issue to properly solve. Once the usual suspects are parked aside, you have a number of other factors which are often combined, hence confusing the picture. I had pretty much all of the issues you mentioned at once in my old 150y detached house when I bought it (in need of TLC). Fixing the roof, gutters and drains for good were just the starting point. Lack of subfloor ventilation, the neighbour's garden above our damp proof course, seaside air humidity, lack of interior ventilation, abuse of concrete flooring next to the house's external walls...the list went on and on. And not every issue can be adressed/fixed in a economically viable or practical way either. Some solutions do exist to make damp issues less intrusive but I would strongly recommend people not to be tempted by these building firms pretending to be magicians of damp fighting who just put a thick layer of solid cement against all ground level walls. Hide the stuff away, yes, but just make the issue far worse after 10 or 20y...we discover exactly this shortly after buying our house and going back to bare bricks was the only option for the walls to breathe and dry up. Anyway, dampness could be worth a 6h long video !

Useful video Andy and you're right Roger Bisby is, like you, an excellent "no nonsense teacher" who very often tells it like it is...his recent Mira shower tray is such a case...

I almost bought a house once that looked really nice. it was on a 10 acre lot, the house was only about 1000sqft but had all new everything and a metal roof. Anyway, we were about to leave and get started with the long process of buying it but I decided to open the attic just to have a quick look. There was no roof sheeting or insulation, and it was framed with regular 2x4 not truss with no perlins, All were toe-nailed in to the house frame and a single 2x4 that went across the center at the top. After seeing that I could only imagine how the rest of the house was constructed. My wife thought I was making a big deal out of it but we later found out that the house had to be completely torn down and rebuilt because it was deemed unlivable. I also doubt we would have been able to purchase it after the bank sent their appraiser and he saw that.

Some good tips in the video and how some of the surveys available leave to many unanswered questions. However when going to view a home I think some sellers would be reluctant to let you start flushing toilets and looking into lofts unless there is a loft ladder and it's boarded out.

Good point on the surveyors. Finding a good surveyor is essential. Don't just go with whoever your conveyancer wants to use for the sake of convenience - do your research. We made that mistake. Paid for the top-tier survey package and the results were promising. Not until we moved in did we find issues that were supposed to have been covered by the survey - rainwater coming in down the side of the chimney (which there was very clear evidence of if he'd have bothered to look in the loft as he was supposed to have done!) among several other things! Fortunately all fixed now, but extra expense and hassle - shouldn't have been this way if he'd have done his job properly.

Japanese Knotweed would by my no-no deal breaker.

Andy, thanks. My first point to check is - where is the nearest river or pond, my second point is are you happy with the surroundings, is it convenient for work and school, then - is the roof straight and sound, then - can you smell dampness anywhere inside, then - have the electrics been checked and certified, then lift the drain covers if you can. But we have bought steadily newer houses with each move, we've done 7 in 50 years of marriage! Happy days!

Greats videos always. Coincidentally I'm selling my house to buy a new one

Excellent video, I learned a lot. Please do more videos like this!

Good share Andy.

Always check your lintels for rust . Tell tale is cracking at the top of the frame each side plus cracks running up diagonally which is the angle iron rusting and “ jacking “ up the brick work above . Sagging over an opening usually means no lintel . Horizontal cracks roughy ever 4- 500mm is also rust jacking but this time it’s the tie wires . Great video 🤙🏾🤙🏾🧱👍🏽

Fantastic video Andy. Your mock walls was great way for people to visualise the issue. Your 5 tips are spot on. I have used the same when i have purchased properties. I walked away from a purchase once due to subsidence caused by 450mm diameter sewer. I can tackle most things but apparently fecal matter gets absorbed by bricks and plaster work.

Excellent advice, thanks 👍🏻

Nice one Andy.👍

This is a brilliantly timely video, we’re looking at properties at the moment and it’s a mine field.

Thanks Andy, always worth watch, I'll be forwarding this to all my young adult children for reference as they are at or near the stage of thinking about buying ! Andy Mac channel - Subscribed ! ☑

Hi Andy, Great tips there to watch for for an old house. My house is 126 years old and made of sand stone and we been living here for 27 years it's a good old house. first job was a rewire which I did my self back in the day when you were allowed to your own electrics and to standard at the time that was 16th edition and was checked out by my uncle who was a electrician. we fitted new guttering there are vent bricks with good air flow odd thing is 2 vent bricks on one side and 3 on the other I think one was replaced with a brick but good air flow. It does get cold in the winter but with good heating and modern upvc widows it's all good. Great video and sound advice ,take care👍

Some great tips and not massively difficult for an inexperienced person to check. I was chatting with Al from Al's Hack Shack/FWT at Makers Central (would have been good if you were there) and we were saying how much we've picked up watching the videos. So you've absolutely achieved the goal of showing people how a house is commonly built to aid future maintenance.

Thanks, your videos have helped me out so much. Very nice build.

Too late for us..... Good Video for next house purchase.

Great stuff Andy! I know this video is all about buying, but I would add a general "Get surveys done when _selling_ !" suggestion: if you're selling your house and you think there's anything that the house might "fail" on (roof, electrical wiring, DPC etc) get your own surveys and repair estimates done in advance. You're then equipped with costs and prices when a potential buyer has _their_ survey done and enters a tiresome process of trying to beat you down on price with further surveys of their own. For instance - if you know that your house needs rewiring and you get a quote for £5,000 to fix it, it's a lot harder for your potential buyer to show you their own quote of £8,000 and demand that you reduce the asking price accordingly. Sorry for the irrelevant sidestep here! Keep up the excellent work!

Great advice

Thanks Andy. Some great tips here. They don’t do surveys here in Aus like they do in England, so when we bought this house we got a local builder in to check the house out. What we didn’t know was that he was a friend of the (then) owners and he gave us the go ahead and we bought it. Things he didn’t tell us about? Termite damage, no insulation, one wall didn’t have a beam and so the roof was resting on the window lintels! That was to name but few. We’d fallen in love with the place, but have spent the last 17 years making it good. So my advice would be to go with your head, not your heart when buying a house. Just wondering, Andy, now you’ve been living in your house a good while, if it’s working well for you, and if there’s anything you’d change? It’s looking magnificent, especially now the garden is coming into its own.

Good tip about checking the roof. The join between my roof and my neighbours is a bodge job by the previous owner which i should have spotted. This has caused a slight leak above the deviding wall. I had a few roofers around to quote and only one of them explained that it wad a bodge and needed property sorting out. All the others just quoted to redo it as a bodge. Eventually my neighbour got fed up of waiting for me to decide on a roofer and went with one of the latter. Fixed for now but suspect there will be problems in the future. Not that this would have put me off buying the house, as your obviously going to have to do some maintenance when buying house.

I totally agree with these 5 items being main problems. I had 3 of them, all related with the last 3 items of your list, being a broken clay pipe right at the corner where the cellar is, spoiled cavities and that on a major scale and pavement and soil levels above the damp courses. Things you can fix if you are handy by yourself, but a lot of work, especially taking bricks out each meter to get the rubbish out of the cavity. Tip is to get four bricks out in a diamond pattern but leave at least 60cm between the holes, so you won't harm the structural integrity of the wall. The larger access hole is much easier to work with, a piece of rebar with a hook bent on the end can be used to rake the debris out

I'm selling my house - it's a solid brick wall being Edwardian. The buyer's surveyor I had (chain just fell through) was surprised that my house had no damp at all, as pretty well the houses round here do. I do have some blown double glazing, so that's another thing to look for, but it isn't a massive expense to replace. As it was a flip when buying it, I chatted to the neighbours about the work done. When viewing, I hired an elderly structural engineer, and he pointed out things like windows not 100% level, but as the area is clay, it was to be expected to a small extent - the ones to avoid were well out of line. There was also no insulation in the loft, the room carpets had no underlay, and half the doors didn't shut properly, which we missed. One question - if the ceiling have been re-plastered, why don't they remove the old lathe stuff? BTW I'm moving to your neck of the woods, as my eldest son is already there. When looking at properties, I've spotted yours, and no, I'm not about to stalk you. The studio shows up on satellite pics. There were 2 for sale in your road, one was like yours when you bought it, and the other was totally modernised, but a bit out of my budget. Not sure I want a garden that big either. I'll buy you a pint when/if I finally make it.

Internally, look to see what they are obstructing. All the family stayed sitting in the kitchen when I visited. Their table and chairs were along the front wall so I didn't see the evidence of damp. It was the part of the house with the highest outside ground level. My surveyor spotted it and numerous other issues I didn't see. His report was substantial and he pointed me to ways of rectifying the problems. We are such a courteous species, we don't ask people to move, to allow more poking about.😉

Always check for fish down the back of radiators.

Thanks for the video Andy. I thought the house was a new build from the thumbnail! Looks really well.

Great advice. 1. Look at the house

Tatty bye Andy. Great video but now I’m worried my house has every illness. 😂. Seriously, tonight, as my French daughter in law taught me, I go to bed less stupid.🌞

Needed this 3 years ago 😢

My first house had. Subsidence, walls half built on the foundations, bowing concrete floors, bad electrics, drainage and rotting window frames and radiators... But apart from the electric and gas I have managed to do most of the work myself. Apart from having some guys help to dig out the concrete floors and foundations so I could get it all redone I have done all of it myself and I'm most of the way through it.

Hi Andy, great video as always, me and the wife have been admiring from afar as we are doing our own renovation all by ourselves. we are actually just over a year in and this weather is getting us down. any tips on how to get some motivation when you need to do external work in the pouring rain like today?

Hi Andy. As regards the problem of wall ties , they do a metal rod method that can be installed from the outside which looks very effective . One thing I’ve often wondered with your new extension , which has a fairly shallow pitch . Have you ever forgotten to close your skylights and the rain has poured in 😂. Because it’s happened to us a few occasions, it’s obviously not a problem on a standard angled roof but they don’t seem to cope so well on shallow floors . Kind regards as always 😀👍

Surveyor said It had damp. Turned out to be inches of water in subfloor after rain. And water coming down open chimney (no pot) had to put in a puddle pump to remove it as a stop gap. Before installing a French drain around footings and new rainwater drain to manhole. Its 80 years old and has a 50mm cavity rainwater was passing straight through at foundation level. Also runoff from driveway ( installed channel drain) Plenty of woodworm too. Oh I've had fun. 😂😂

Great video. Thanks. I'll start looking at the rest of your library. Out of interest, how do you check if your clay pipe is broken way from the inspection hatch? Do you have to employ someone to come out with a camera to inspect it? Cheers.

I remember the medta telling us about 20 odd years ago that tens of thousands of houses were at risk of collapsing due to the wall tie issue. Guess they over egged it again. Isnt dot staining a potential clue to this too. Or have i just imagined that.

My terraced house (1880) has those "tie" bricks you have shown. Damp and cold bridging 😭 it takes careful house management to negate the humidity

Determining who your new neighbours are is a factor. No matter how nice your house is, a neighbour from hell could raise regrets in your purchase.

I would add to that - asbestos!! Good video 👍🏻

My dad is a retired architect and would get swept into lawsuits once in a while because the soils engineer had messed up (and the owners just sue everyone involved). The fix was always outrageously expensive, if it was possible at all. (There was that recent event in Utah where half a dozen houses on a street all fell off a cliff!) So I'm very wary of any potential signs of subsidence or major soils issues. Also, a flat roof is just a huge water problem waiting to happen (or already happening and you just don't know it yet). Thirdly: I would be cautious about buying a newly renovated house, but I probably would run screaming from a "flipped" house. House flippers just care about making it look pretty enough for a halfhearted inspector to pass, spending as little as possible to maximise profit. And, as you said, the surveyor can't usually take down plasterboard or take up floorboards to see how bad it really is. (I do respect that many surveyors don't have enough time in the day, but I really wish there was some recourse when a surveyor misses something major that should have been caught.)

Good vid Mr Mac. But the burning issue is. When are you doing the decking and step?

3:01 I thought down pipes went directly into drains these days. My parents' house (Cambridgeshire, 40s/50s) had downpipes and a sink drain that fed into grates like that, and it was pain to clear them out. My current house (Brum, 1970s) has all downpipes disappearing directly into drains.

Do you have any experience in these tips for 'adapted' homes please? Eg a bungalow with a driveway/path that are level with the front door Or a ground floor flat or house that has a concrete ramp to be level front door. As I assume both places the damp proof membrane would be below the entrance so would be bridged?

Wow, with those wall tie you really see a difference in building quality... Not sure the new stuff is going to last 100+ years

cant believe the amount of moss on your neighbours roof!!

My bungalow has brick movement at wall plate level due to dormer part of roof sagging and some rafters slipped 4" replaced roof and braced all the timbers. Not picked up by surveyor...

We are currently in a Hellway Homes New build (year old) they have the large air bricks (150mm top to bottom) mated to a 75mm periscope vent behind for gas measure. Should be the 75mm plastic air bricks like you have. They are refusing to change them. Just cosmetic apparently they say. Also these large air bricks are then too close to the ground (like just below finished ground level) again Hellway not doing anything

Never bother with a surveyor. Met one good one in my entire life...61 years. Got a whole batch of horror stories...

It bugged me when you were installing it & it still bugs me now - the spacing of the downpipe clips on your new extension. OCD overload!

Cannot the insulation in cavity walls act like a bridge for the damp ?

Didnt realise blocking ventilation caused woodworm, thought it was just rot.

Number 1 no no for me is flood history. Built on flood plains or poor drainage down slope😰. There are flood maps available, that is risk and history. Visit a property in foul weather to see problems. My roof line is wavy but the property is much older and built of stone. The mortar is delicate and rats and mice can erode it. It's an old farm house so lots of historical residents!🐀. I've seen masonry bees making holes between the rocks! 😉 Thanks for the video.

I tried to get free cavity insulation for my 1930s semi. They wouldn't do it because there was stone masonry above the DPC. My guess is that the builders had reused stone from a Victorian mansion up the road which was demolished about that time. I guess that is something to look out for. I'm not sure why stone above the DPC is a bad thing. Anybody know?

👍👍👍

Hi Andy. Did you think about draining the surface water (gutters) to the stream at the end of your garden? My dad did this then you don't have to pay that part of the bill

5.50 let the cat out

How can you tell where the damp proof level is if it's been repointed? I'm fairly certain my 1930s / 1940s semi (1.5 miles east of you) has one, but I can't see it and I believe that's because it's been repointed.

How come the thumbnail changed

You didn't mention the rule number 1. The location. 😊

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The moment you mentioned getting a survey done, my blood boiled. I reckon they just look on google street view and then knock out a report from a template. Worse than useless because they charge for sweet fa.

A faulty roof would send me running for sure.

Looks like you have a rigdge tile missing from your roof at the bottom

Roof, foundations, external walls, d.p.c, rainwater proof building fabric, poor workmanship, crap materials, wrong materials, poor building details, slopes around buildings, drainage, asbestos containing materials, contamination, electrics by handymen, plumbing by handymen, other works by handymen, alterations, additions to building, age of building, (location, location, location) boundary works by neighbours, original build quality, has everything been painted inside or out prior going on sale (red flag) how much will it cost to do up to a good quality, in England freehold or leasehold, burdens on the property, historical problems, public utilities (public sewers, wayleaves, easements) planning permissions of all kinds (house or neighbours plus beyond boundaries of house) adjacent developments, searches by solicitors, title deeds, guarantees, warranties, sale price! Just a short list. Hope this helps.

You didn’t say about checking the area you moving 😢

buying a house? sadly my generation has no use for this video

You talk too nicely about surveyors. They're part of the UK's housing issue. Decent vid though!

too late :)

Boring