Replacement RSJ needed or not?

Hi all,

Newbie here hoping for some advice! We are in the process of purchasing a house, and our buildings survey has thrown up a potentially serious issue.

In 1976 the previous owner (now deceased) extended the front of the property. All has been fine but when we viewed my Husband noticed a slight 'dip' in the ceiling towards the front window which moves when pushed. We assumed it was maybe a plasterboard issue or replacement floorboard needed upstairs but the surveyor has said that it may be where the old load bearing wall was removed. He suspects that the support used at the time was inadequate and has suggested that we get it replaced. Surely the house wouldn't still be standing 40 years later if the support wasn't adequate...or would it?

It's looking like a potentially expensive job taking into account the removal and replacement of the ceiling, applying for building regs (£169), getting a Structural Engineer to do calculations and so on.

Can anyone offer me their thoughts not he best way to tackle this please?

If it moves when pushed then it probably is a plasterboard issue. However are their other clues that has made the surveyor suspect the support is inadequate which in turn could have caused the ceiling to sag.

Either arrange to get the beam exposed for inspection if vendor allows it or go for worst case scenario of installing a new beam, £1500 to £2500.

I had a job a while back where previous DIY fanatic owner had made a 2.5m wide opening in front wall of house and rather than use a steel beam or lintel they used 2 pieces of 6"x2" timber nailed together. The timber had a huge bow in it causing the ceiling below to sag but there was cracking in the wall above which really gave the game away.

So you've paid your surveyor, and yet you still don't know what's causing the problem (or indeed if there is a problem)?
Unless someone takes a proper look, you won't know whether it's a cheap job re-fixing some plasterboard, or an expensive job replacing a beam.

If you want the house, buy it.

Either get some money knocked off the price to cover the work, or just bite the bullet.

Beam replacement is not a difficult of costly job, and dont let it cause you to miss the house you want. But it might not be the beam, just the way the floor/ceiling is fixed to it.

For info, supports can gradually bend (deflect) under load over several years. They can then either stop, or can fail if they get progressively more overloaded. But after 40 years failure would be much less likely. You can get it checked now for peice of mind, but it will involve removing plasterboard or taking up floorboards. However that will then give you a much better idea of whats involved, and a better negotiating position.

Thank you all for your replies.
tony - yes that's basically it! We've paid a surveyor £750 to do a full buildings survey but as is usually the case, these reports only ever give the surveyors 'suspicions' as they won't actually lift carpets or move furniture (seems ludicrous to me but there you go).

We've spoken to a few builders who have all said that if the ceiling is still up after 40 years then it's unlikely there is a major problem and that it could just be a case of the plasterboard coming away from the support for whatever reason. However, the fact that when you go into the bedroom above the lounge, there seems to be a problem with the floorboards in the same area (lots of 'give' when heel applied) then maybe it's all connected.

We have had to go through the solicitors to ask for permission to send a Structural Engineer in to examine it in more detail (either lift floorboards or make a hole in the ceiling) so we're hoping the vendors agree. We won't walk away from the house even in the worst case scenario, but it would mean we couldn't move into the house until it's sorted as we have small children so better safe than sorry.

We will definitely try to knock some off the price now although I doubt the vendor will budge as we've already knocked £15k off the asking price of £295k (although our offer of £280k was given when we didn't think we'd need to do structural work).