What are inspection reports - Childs Property Inspections

What is a Building Inspection Report?

A Building Inspection Report is as carried out for a Vendor prior to selling, or a Purchaser prior to buying a property. The report will identify significant building defects or problems and provide repair costs for the defects found. The inspector will compare the property inspected with buildings of similar age and construction and will give an overall rating for the dwelling.

What is a Pest Inspection Report?

A timber Pest Inspection Report will report on all areas to the homes sub-floor, roof void, internal rooms and reasonably accessible areas within 50 metres of the dwelling or within the boundary lines.

What is a Strata Report?

A Strata Report details the financial state of the body corporate, management matters, past known building problems etc. A strata inspection will also report on any major works that may have been planned or if any special levies have been placed on the owners.

What is a Dilapidation Report?

A Dilapidation Building Report details the existing condition of a structure, road, footpaths etc prior to building work being carried out on a neighbouring property. Most Councils, as part of a development application, will require a dilapidation report be carried out on neighbouring structures.

A dilapidation building report will itemise each defect found and also include a photo of each defect. The inspector will report on all internal and external areas of the structure and where required, the Council assets including roads and footpaths etc.

A building dilapidation report is useful in defence if any claims are made by the owner of a neighbouring property against you for damage they believe your building works have caused to clearly determine damages.

What is a Building Completion Report?

A building completion report is a report carried out on a new property and is a detailed report of all defects found, including cosmetic and structural. Where a standard building report will not usually comment on cosmetic defects, a completion report will comment on the same defects as a standard building report and will ALSO itemise cosmetic defects such as scratches on cupboard doors, poor internal paint finish to walls and ceilings, marks on floors and carpets etc.

Building Terms & Descriptions

Aluminium Core Dampcourse	Aluminium core damp courses provide a very effective membrane. They consist of metal centres coated with bitumen.
Brick Veneer	Brick Veneer consists of a timber or steel frame structure having an outer leaf of brickwork as the external cladding. A cavity is formed, usually 40mm wide between the frame and the brickwork, which is fastened to the studs with metal or plastic ties. This type of construction gives an external appearance of an all brick construction.
Concrete Slab Footings	A concrete slab footing is one that covers a whole area on which a building is constructed. The slab is concrete re-enforced with steel sitting directly on the foundation material.
Concrete Tiles	Concrete tiles, unlike terracotta tiles, will not fret but will tend to loose their colour and will support fungal growths. Fungal growths may change the colour of the concrete tiles but do not cause any weakness or damage to the tiles.
Corrugated Steel Roofing	By using corrugated steel sheeting as the roofing material, decking profiles can have quite a low pitch profile. Corrugated steel is highly water resistant when well maintained.
Cut & Pitched Roof	A timber cut and pitched roof is the traditional way of roof construction. All framework is cut and erected on site.
Fibre Cement Sheeting	Fibre cement sheeting has a number of excellent qualities that make it a good choice: it is long lasting, not effected by water, is easily painted and readily available and it will not rot or be eaten. Over time the material may become slightly brittle and heavy impact will break the sheets.Asbestos fibres have been used for many years as reinforcement for roof and wall sheeting. Its main defects are brittleness with age, a tendency to explode in fires and low insulation values for heat and acoustics. The asbestos cement sheeting may become brittle with age and crack.Asbestos cement has been phased out in Australia because of the great danger of raw asbestos. Existing asbestos cement sheeting presents no known danger to health as the fibres are bound into the material. If cutting or removing asbestos cement sheeting care should be taken to minimise exposure to airborne asbestos fibres. When working with this sheeting you must comply with the Worksafe Australia requirements. Removal of asbestos cement sheeting entails a rigorous safety procedure.
Gypsum Plasterboard	Gypsum plasters are widely used as the core of sheets that are heavily paper covered on both faces and have a very smooth surface. these sheets can be glued or nail fixed to timber or metal framing and can be used to build a fire resistance rating in partitions and walls.
Metal Decking	Metal decking should always be well maintained with a painted surface to avoid rust damage. Paint is not essential to prevent rust but the decking itself is only minimally rust resistant. Metal decking comes in a variety of profiles. The strength of the decking is reliant on the thickness and profile, therefore some of the decking can be walked on but some may buckle under such pressure.
Mortar Bed	The mortar, which holds the ridge capping in place, may crack due to movement in the roof, the usual expansion and contraction, or by branches falling on the roof. It is important that the ridge capping be secured with mortar to avoid possible leaks into the roof space.
Pier and Strip Footings	Pier and strip footing construction consists of brick, concrete or stone piers and walls on re-enforced concrete strip and blob footings. The whole structure is supported on these footings, which transfer the load into the foundation.
Pitched Roof	A pitched roof has two or more slopes all meeting at the top ridge point.
Polythene Dampcourse	Polythene damp courses are made of virgin polymer with some having a metal centre. It is one of the most effective damp course materials
Skillion Roof	A skillion roof is a single pitched roof.
Steel Lintels	A major problem with lintels is that they are exposed on the exterior of a house and, when made of steel, are prone to rust. If this is treated early – by cleaning, priming and painting – you will have few problems. If rust is advanced, the lintel will swell, causing the brickwork to crack and eventually causing considerable damage.Galvanised steel lintels will outlast the primed mild-steel variety. Galvanised steel lintels may last up to 100 years without requiring any maintenance against rust.
Terracotta Roof Tiles	Terracotta tiles, although brittle, are very permanent in resisting most temperate to hot weather conditions, however they may not be immune to damage from salt spray in coastal areas.Because of the brittleness of these tiles, walking on them should be done with care or avoided completely if possible.
Timber Frame	A timber frame house is clad internally and externally. The timber frame does all the structural load bearing work, supporting the roof, ceiling and wall cladding.
Truss Roof	Trusses are engineered complete roof frames that are commonly used in modern buildings. They are very accurate, designed to stress requirements and are supported only on the outside frames of a house.Trusses give few problems, but in aggressive environments it is worth checking the nail plates for rust. If rust is found, treat it with anti-rust paint.If any of the cords (timber lengths) of a truss breaks or is damaged, the truss will not operate properly and the joint will have to be repaired.
Vinyl Siding	Vinyl siding comes in two types: very thin sheets which perform best if attached to an existing backing such as sheet cladding or weatherboards, or thick PVC boards which are a cladding in their own right. Vinyls are colourfast and do not need repainting, but must be securely fixed. The thicker boards can simply be nailed up in the same way as ordinary weatherboards.
Wet Rot	Wet rot or decay is caused by excessive and continuous periods of dampness that results in decomposition of the fibres. One of the most common areas of the home to suffer from wet rot is the timber structure under the shower or bath recess. This will occur if the water proofing of the bathroom is penetrated. To remedy this, the damaged timbers may need to be replaced and the leaking area will need to be repaired.To prevent wet rot in all areas of the property, sub-floor timbers should be kept dry and external timbers should have paint maintained and the surrounding area of the ground level timbers should be well drained.

Book an inspection

Please choose one of the following