Practical Building Repair

This section of RICS ISurv Building Surveying - Pathology provides advice on how to repair the defect once the pathology inspection has been carried out. This section within ISurv will mainly focus on residential buildings, but many commercial buildings will share similar characteristics. There is considerable overlap between the two types, although publications have in the past tended to separate types of use rather than types of building. There are many factors to consider before you start, such as business matters and job planning, contracts and tenders, specifications and planning permission. Not to mention building control, and health and safety. Then there are neighbourly matters to consider and the possibility of things going wrong. Repairs for individual elements are discussed under: Walls Roofs and rainwater goods Floors and flooring Joinery, doors and kitchens Flues, fireplaces and chimneys Drainage Plumbing and heating Electrics and miscellaneous items This section adopts a holistic approach to pathology. This is because even if your interest is solely linked to the recommendations section in your pathology report, with others undertaking the works, it is necessary to understand the full implications of the repair to ensure holistic best practice. Your report will be the first thing a client is likely to read on the problem, and will therefore be the first signpost of the scale of the project in front of them. In terms of construction works, some repairs can be low-cost and straightforward; the professional complexity comes from ensuring safe platform access to allow the repair to take place. The complexity of access, regulatory permissions or health and safety can in some repair situations be more expensive than the works. This section works on a crude practitioner’s rule of thumb: the more obvious the repair defect that has triggered a request for a surveyor report, then the more likely it is that advanced professional guidance is needed to facilitate the repair solution. So work on the basis that, if it is obvious and easy, why has someone not undertaken the works already?!