Advice on buying a house with cracked floor due to soil movements and beside a drain

[abottleofsand 0]

Hi all,

I saw a house which we were very keen to get as we liked it except for 2 issues:

1) cracked and slopping floor  - which we understand could be due to the soft soil; hence soil movements. Quite concerned if this meant further structural issues and whether it would be a liability a couple of years later. Any experts who can help? 

2) there is a big drain around the perimeter of the house - would this mean more rats and pests? 

thank you so much for your valuable insights! Deeply appreciated! 

[mamamiasimmy 0]

I think your builder/consultant will be able to do soil test to determine the soil condition of the house for you to solve this issue.

Big drains probably have more cockroach inside, probably as covered you would not face the problem.

[snoozee 98]

12 hours ago, abottleofsand said:

Hi all,

I saw a house which we were very keen to get as we liked it except for 2 issues:

1) cracked and slopping floor  - which we understand could be due to the soft soil; hence soil movements. Quite concerned if this meant further structural issues and whether it would be a liability a couple of years later. Any experts who can help? 

2) there is a big drain around the perimeter of the house - would this mean more rats and pests? 

thank you so much for your valuable insights! Deeply appreciated! 

you would need to so a soil test before construction. the PE would then design the house's structure based on this report. assuming that you are doing a rebuilt, the PE usually would request for a plate bearing test to be done again prior to the foundation works. this is to make sure that the foundation design is correct. the main reason is that normal soil investigation is done either at the front or side of the house before the existing house is torn down. but soil conditions may vary throughout the site (if really unlucky). so the plate bearing test is done in the middle of the site to confirm accuracy of design especially if piling is not involved. if there's any issues down the road, the PE who signed on the structural design would be the first to face the music.

pests would be around for any houses. even if you keep your house super clean, the pests would come over from your neighbours so there's nothing much you can do about them "crossing the borders".

for house next to drain, please buy the PUB SIP and DIP first to check if the house is subjected to any drainage setbacks and have sewers running through the land. if there are drainage setbacks, then you can't built the house as much as you want. if there's a sewer, then you would need to build away from the sewer or construct a RC trench to protect the sewer. the RC trench could cost more than 6 digits depending on how long and deep is the sewer. if the sewer is more than 1.5m deep, ERSS needs to be done to stabilize the ground before excavation and this ERSS would cost tens of thousands to erect. just  FYI, the ERSS for my sewer cost me more than 50k as my sewer was just below 3m deep and about 9m long (width of my site).

Edited October 9, 2020 by snoozee

[petetherock 13]

IMO

a cracked floor is a significant warning sign..

Getting a PE is vital. Don’t end up with a massive rebuild bill unless you’re ready for it

[abottleofsand 0]

Thank you so much all for your advice! I don’t intend to rebuild actually... just intend to renovate and change piping; wet works etc 

In this case, is a PE still the right expert? If so, any recommended PEs to help assess? Thanks again all! 

Edited October 9, 2020 by abottleofsand

[snoozee 98]

You can still engage a PE to access the house for structural issues.
If the cracked and sloping floor is outside the house, it might not be that bad. just that you may need to redo the floor. But if inside the house, then it might be a sign of potential issues. 

[abottleofsand 0]

Thanks snoozee! The cracks and sloping floor is outside the house.  
wonders now if it’s worth risking it or we should look for another place instead ?

[snoozee 98]

honestly speaking, if the intention is to just buy a house and spend a minimal sum of money to renovate it, then I would suggest to move on from this house.

even though the cracks and sloping floor outside the house may not indicate that there are structural issues with the house, fixing these issues outside the house will eat into your renovation budget of which the money could be used somewhere else.

[abottleofsand 0]

Thanks again for the advice! Makes sense and even if I fix it now; since it’s the overall soil condition ... the issues might crop up again years later 

[Begonoss 0]

With a question like that, I think you'd better go to a company specializing in residential real estate surveying. I don't think anyone here can please you. I have used S Jones Surveying several times before for home surveys. You can read more about this company at www.sjonessurveying.co.uk. The communication with Stephen was brilliant, and he answered some of our questions. His report was outstanding and very detailed, and he provided numerous photos to support it. I will only continue to contact this company in the future.