Black discs on side of house - Help/ advice please

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Have made an offer on a victorian house in kingston and noticed these 2 black discs on the side of the property. was wondering if anyone could advise me on what they are, if they are common and if i should be going through with the property purchase?

I imagine they are there to perhaps stabilise some movement in the wall?

images below.





many thanks,

Laurence
 
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thanks, any reason why the wall would have these put in? response to bowing perhaps?
 
Yeah there to stop the walls spreading. Pretty common in old buildings especially ones that have none existent or poor foundations, and ones whose usage may have changed over time increasing loads in the upper parts of the buildings(imagine a warehouse/mill/industrial building converted adding floors where there once were none- the loads imposed can push out the walls so these "tie-bars" are used...) Pretty common and as long as the walls aren't fractured or bellying out there'll be no probs...
They look pretty old btw.....
 
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many thanks for the response, the property is a standard 2 up 2 down victorian semi - is this something the surveyor will jump all over?

the wall doesn't looked bowed and had a builder round today who doesn't think the cracks are anything out of the ordinary.

should i be wary/ worried?
 
also, i imagine it is reasonably common to add wall ties but the ones that go in these days are a little less intrusive as a bonding/ resin is used to hold the ties in is used rather than a big ugly plate?
 
many thanks for the response, the property is a standard 2 up 2 down victorian semi - is this something the surveyor will jump all over?

if you have a home buyers survey it will tell you nothing it is for the building society to tell them its worth what they are lending
the roof can be collapsing and the walls falling down as long as its worth what they are lending

it looks fine to me but i am a bench joiner :D
if you are serious and concerned get a full structural survey that will be answerable to you
 
These are nothing to worry about.

Yes they do tie the flank walls, but not because of a problem, but merely because it is old building technology, and we do things differently nowadays
 
Guess I'm just concerned that this is the only house in the road that has them.
 
Guess I'm just concerned that this is the only house in the road that has them.
you will only see them on the ends in terraces as the structural timbers go back to front so hold it together
have you checked other end walls :D
 
There are about 40-50 houses of identical design and style on the same road and this the only one with these discs on the side wall.
 
Yours is known as a pattress plate, but other common names are wall plate, s or x plate. They connect to a long steel bar called a wall tie or wall brace which spans the building

Google on any of those temrs and you will find more details and see just how common they are

The pertinent point is that these are so old fashioned now, that it would have been inserted at the time or soon after the property was built, and so not really something to raise any concern on a survey

A surveyor will (or should) still look for any signs of movement as he would on any property and the existence of the tie wont make much difference
 

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