The effects of rust

I was asked this week to inspect a low rise flat development in Oxford as cracking has been noted on the corner of the building at roof level. The development was built in the 1960’s with cavity walls and a flat roof with a low parapet around the edge of the roof.

Prior to my inspection I had asked for the cavity to be opened up because the Managing Agent thought there may be a cavity wall tie problem. It was immediately clear that the cracking was not associated with cavity wall tie failure or missing cavity ties. Indeed the metal ties are in very good condition although many are bridged with mortar droppings from top to bottom of the wall.

Each flat has a patio door which has a railing across it. The railings had been removed prior to my visit and whilst there, the builder opened up the brickwork at the sides of the patio door opening. The balcony rails were fairly typical for a 1960’s flat with a painted metal frame and hardwood handrail. The steel of the balcony rail was built into the brickwork on either side of the door opening. It looked in good condition although there were signs of surface rusting where the paint finish was peeling off.

The frame was made up of flat bar or T shaped steel 5-6mm thick. Where the steel had been cut off adjacent the brickwork of the patio door it was clean and in good condition. When the wall was opened up it soon became clear that where it was built into brickwork of the wall, the 6mm thick steel had reduced to just 2mm and could be easily bent and twisted with a hammer. The steel had rusted. The rusting process had caused expansion of the steel whereby it had doubled in width so that the 5mm wide bar had grown to 15mm wide; that expansion causing the brickwork to crack and move.

The exposed steel had been painted and protected against rusting but the short length of rail that was built into the wall did not have any rust protection and over the 40 years since the rail had been installed the rail had rusted, that rusting process had lead to expansion and in at least one case almost failure of the steel

A check of the other rails of the other flats showed that similar cracking was present on virtually all other balconies. It is a good example of the energy involved in the rusting process of steel.

Changes to EPC Regulations

The Government have announced a number of likely changes to the EPC regulations that will see the regulations for commercial property having some parity to the requirements for residential property. Mostly notably is the removal of the words that allow the production of an EPC to be left to the very last minute in the property transaction. Many Agents argue that nobody ever asks to see the EPC so what’s the point. You don’t have to look very far on the Internet to find them bleating about how much extra work they may now have to do to press print on their computers. Yet few Agents understand what the EPC is let alone understand the technical recommendations. To keep life simple Agents don’t make purchasers or potential lessees aware that an EPC is available hence no one asks to see it. Whilst the property that has a poor energy rating may be more difficult to sell or let, the ones with a good rating should be promoted because a good rating means lower running costs. Energy costs are only going to get more and more expensive. I had a conversion with a client last week who had a new boiler fitted to replace his old antiquated one. The new boiler was at least 30% more efficient than the old one. He commented was that he hadn’t noticed his bills going down. Arh I pointed out the price of oil has risen by at least 40% in the last six months. Yes he agreed at some thought, his bills hadn’t gone down but they hadn’t risen that dramatically either. Another change to the regulations is the period during which an EPC should be produced. I don’t think this will change anything other than help to promote the idea that an EPC must be produced when a property is first put up for sale or let. It will be interesting to see how many Agents do this. Publishing the full EPC with the sales particulars seems a bit over the top. A commercial EPC has one useful page and the Recommendation report has perhaps 2 useful pages out of a likely 8 pages. It would much better to have a way of summarising the Recommendation report. It will be interesting to see if the proposed changes are approved before the likely implementation date of 1st July 2011. Hopefully they will and it will see greater emphasis placed on the EPC and more people asking to see it and wanting to understand that the EPC and the Recommendations will save a building user real hard cash.

Energy Performance Certificates

There is no doubt that you get what you pay for and never has the term ‘pay peanuts get monkeys’ been more apt. I provided a fee quotation recently to assess an empty resturant building. My recent fee quotation was just too expensive for the Landlord but nevertheless my quotation to the incoming tenant to prepare his Schedule of Condition was considered acceptable.

I just happened to be at the property when my cheaper ‘competitor’ was at the property preparing the EPC. I was interested to observe their technique whilst not revealing that I was also an Energy Assessor. No apparent measuring equipment was used to collect the floor areas or window sizes or floor heights. I’m sure all of the software for preparing EPC’s requires such data especially when the available architectural plans were inaccurate and only at 1:200 scale.

I was even more surprised though to see the completed Recommendation Report that accompanied the EPC. In it was a recommendation for cavity wall insulation. The building we were both in was at least 150 years old and had solid brick walls.

I was also puzzled how an assessor can complete their survey, which should include the roof spaces when they didn’t have a ladder with them. Have extendable legs become or stilts become standard issue now? If so how do I get a set?