Investigating defects

Building surveyors will also look at how a building’s weight and all those items on or within in it are distributed down to the foundations; and if any of the designed features have been tampered with, altered or removed.

Looking back at the roof, how is this huge weight supported and how is the load transferred down to the foundations? Is it an old roof that has been added to (dormer extensions/heavier roof tiles), or trusses cut away to convert the space into a room? Has the property been added to by way of additional floors? Has next-door built higher and chucked all of their rainwater onto the roof?

If the answer to any of these is ‘yes’, is there any knock-on evidence that load paths have now been altered? Are non-load bearing walls now starting to take the strain and show signs of cracking? Are window arches dropping?

The next question is whether or not the foundations are up to the task of taking this additional load, or, if not, is the building envelope showing signs of the foundations giving way?

This approach should be taken with all buildings elements. For example, the surveyor should be looking at how the floor is constructed and how the weight of the floor and all of the contents on and above it are being transferred to the outer walls and down to the foundations. One common example is the addition of heavy safes in houses that were converted into offices. Were they designed to take this weight? The same could be said when domestic home owners knock out load-bearing walls to form open plan kitchens and dining rooms. Have they thought about the consequences of removing an entire load bearing wall?