Two Questions Those Who Are Renovating Their Newly-Purchased Home Should Ask Their Building Surveyor

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Have you recently bought your dream home? There may be some things you want to add or change about your home. Here are two questions those who're renovating their recently-purchased home should ask their building surveyor. 

What structural issues need to be considered when planning the renovations?

A person in this situation will need to ask their building surveyor if any issues that were identified during the evaluation of the property might affect their renovation plans. For example, the property owner might want to add windows to several load-bearing walls within their house. However, if the building surveyor found that all of the house's load-bearing walls are in bad condition, they might advise the owner to carry out repairs to these walls first before doing this. Alternatively, if the property owner cannot afford these wall repairs, the building surveyor might draw their attention to other areas of the building that they have evaluated and found to be structurally sound, where they could add these windows instead. They might, for instance, recommend fitting skylights in the structurally stable roof.

Similarly, if the property owner wants to add a patio right beside the house's exterior, but the building surveyor has assessed the foundation and discovered that the area of it that's near the preferred patio construction site has already sustained damage and undergone reinforcement to repair this damage, they might advise the owner not to add the patio to this area. The reason for this is that if the patio were to develop drainage issues that resulted in rainwater seeping from the patio towards the house, this could cause damage to the already weakened section of the foundation.

Are there energy efficiency-related recommendations that should be considered when renovating the property?

The property owner should also ask the building surveyor if they have any recommendations regarding how to make the building more energy efficient when renovating it, and whether the house is in good enough condition to add energy-saving features to it. For example, if the building surveyor evaluates the roof and determines that it is structurally sound with no signs of sagging or cracking, then they might deem it stable enough for the owner to add solar panels to it.

The building surveyor will also, as part of their evaluation, assess a lot of features that can influence a building's energy efficiency levels. They will, for example, check the condition of the windows and the insulation. If they discover that the windows are single-glazed (or that the double-glazing has deteriorated) or if they find that the insulation materials are old and ineffective, they might advise the owner to consider replacing the windows and upgrading the house's insulation, to improve the building's energy efficiency levels.

To find out more, contact a company like TRIDENT BUILDING SURVEYING.


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