Hello all,
we have found a nice house built circa 70s. Surprisingly enough for such and old house in Vic, it is built on a concrete slab.
It has two parts, the major one seems fine but the extension slab has sunk (you can see cracks in a tiles and all that curvy floor)
Nevertheless, it still looks like a good buy. But we want to make sure there will be no future slab cracks.
Does the usual building inspection cover that or do we need to bring in somebody else (i.e. land surveyor or whoever does the slab thing? )
Your help is very much appreciatedHi Shelen
Doesnt sound too good if the slab is sinking. When you say a good buy, what are you comparing it too?
I would def get a building inspector in there.
You need to find out how much it will cost to rebuild the second half of the propety in the event it does continue sinking. Also, what are your plans for the property, if you plan to sell it to someone else in the future it may be a bit difficult.
Can you knock down the existing property and maybe build 2 or more?
I would make my decisions based purely on facts and figures and not get emotional at all even if it is a good price.
If this opportunity passes, there are plenty more around.
One of my client's properties had cracks in the walls. This prevented them from getting finance as the lender didn't want to lend. Had to go to a different lender who then demanded a engineer's report.
Terryw | Structuring Lawyers Pty Ltd / Loan Structuring Pty Ltd
http://www.Structuring.com.au
Email MeLawyer, Mortgage Broker and Tax Advisor (Sydney based but advising Aust wide) http://www.Structuring.com.au
shelen I've had some bad experiences with so called building inspectors/engineers, some are just purely using guess work as they will when they inspect the slab.
There really is no possible way to determine what is going on with the slab. Im sure an engineer will give you the thumbs down when it comes to putting it in writting just to cover their own ass.
The slab base may have not have been compacted in some areas or there might have been water laying in the area it's totally guess work.
At that age I'd predict that the slab has now settled , as for cracks in slab that's virtually a standard even on new slabs.
So many factors can contrbute to slab cracks and movement it's near impossible to pin point.
If I was to select between a new or old house with such a problem I'd go with the old.
WIth out really seeing the problem first hand it's hard to determine how bad if at all bad the problem is.
As for cracks in tiles ect you can always top coat the slab or use a rubber compound for resurfacing the slab with tiles.
I'm guessing the property is timber framed ? If not check for wall cracks around windows and doors on the outside.I'm no expert but I'm a qualified builder and trade concretor/ carpentar with bad english/gramma..lol
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