Red Ash / Red Shale in Stafford

[border]

hi everyone , im buying a house in tennyson rd and have been advised that i may need to have a red ash test done. has anyone in the area had the same advise and had the test done ,what was the results ? or has anyone got any advise

 

[Gramaisc]

The red ash test is largely a con, although I have little experience of the Tennyson Road area.

 

[Admin]

Hi border, welcome to The Forum.

 

[Wyred]

Inspect the gound floor to see if any of the tiles are loose or uneven, depending the severity, the recommendation is to dig up all the floors and relay them. Apparently we are in an area where it is a common occurance in domestic buildings built between the mid 40s to the early 70s. This is due to waste materials, such as burnt colliery shale blast furnace slag and red ash being used as "fill in" material for concrete floors.

 

[border]

thanks for your advise , i am inclined to think red ash can be a problem this test is a way of making money...........

 

[Gramaisc]

The problem is largely one of 'heave' in solid floors. It's not the end of the world and seems unlikely to suddenly manifest itself in a 40+ year old house.

The test is more a way of taking money, I think.

 

[basil]

red ash test = shes ratted, which sums up Tennyson Road nicely..........

 

[John Marwood]

One Randy Snot

 

[Slainte]

I too had to have one of these tests done for a house myself and a friend were considering buying couple of years back, was a complete waste of money but unfrtunately its a problem test that seems prevalent in the Stafford and North Staffordshire area in houses built from 1945 - 1975 approx.

 

[tek-monkey]

Hmm, not been asked for one of those and my potential place is 1950s I think.

 

[Slainte]

if you haven't been asked then don't mention it as its just an unnecessary cost for you that you don't need when trying to buy a property. We found it was the mortgage company that were insisting on it

 

[tek-monkey]

Mine are fine with it, just the drains they don't like!

 

[Slainte]

oh yes we had the drains issue as well, we ended up pulling out of thesale in the end

 

[tek-monkey]

Turned out bad then? We don't know on mine yet, silting in the main drain but the feed for it runs under the kitchen. Will see.

 

[Rikki]

So is there deffinatley no access chamber in the kitchen floor then? If it's covered with something such as laminate walking about stamping and listening for a hollow sound will give it away. Alternativley you can hire tracer machines to track the run above ground. If there isn't one it's not neccesarily a big deal IMO. There would have been one originally and once you can tell where making it accessable won't be to much of a problem.

 

[tek-monkey]

Just been on the phone to the solicitor, she wants to contact Severn Trent herself as we've not been given any info. She is writing to the other solicitor to request permission to do so.

As for the drain, something just clicked in my head. The access hatch for the public sewer is at the side of the extension, the public sewer runs parallel to the houses (according to STs map anyway), which means the extansion is over a public sewer not just my own feed into it. I suspect this has greater implications than it just being my own bit of sewer, as lots of other peoples waste is flowing through it?

Have to say my solicitor is being great on this, can't fault her. She's chatted to another surveyor about it, and is calling mine now to find his opinion. I'm still getting a CCTV survey (tuesday) regardless, but I need consent from ST to have a dwelling built over their sewer and that does not appear to have been done.

 

[daisy1980]

Hi,

We're looking to move to Weeping Cross in the very near future. Does anyne know of any red shale / red ash foundations in this area? Someone has mentioned to me that this is something to be wary of as it was used in certain staffordshire areas at the time the house was built.

Obviously we will have a survey, but I'm just wondering if anyone in the Weeping Cross area has ever had any problems with this?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Floss]

I know all too well about flooring in stafford. We live in a 1930's house and prior to renovation discovered we had black ash a mixture of coal, bichumin and stone. We started to have rising damp in the dining room that's how we discovered it and to top it all the floor boards were laid directly on top of this, with no air space between. We ended up having the whole downstairs dug up and relayed with concrete and all the Walls damp proofed internally and re plastered, a costly and messy experience. We had it done in two phases so we didn't have to move out. I would think very carefully before buying a house with red ash. I know someone who had that and it took ages to sell his house, as it kept falling through due to the red ash problem.

 

[Vicky]

Hi everyone,
I have lived in my house for almost a year now, we had a survey done and it said there was some red ash in the floor however the level was so low it was not a problem. I have put it in to this conversation rather than starting a new one as it could be linked to the ash in the floor?? I have discovered though this patch on the wall in the kitchen (see pic) it looks like bubbling under the paint - possibly damp? It has been painted over but the problem must be in the wall as the bubbly bits are really hard and are not covered up by painting!! I dont really have a clue so I am hoping someone may be able to suggest what it might be please! It has been there since we moved in but I think is getting worse - it was originally by the fridge I saw it, now its round hte corner on the other wall and theres a very small patch by the door. Any suggestions welcome please as to what it could be, thanks

Also, on the outside of the kitchen wall, but not in the same place as the bubbly paint bit, the bricks are going white! I cant see the wall on the inside because the kitchen cupboards are behind them, but is this something to sorry about also? Thanks.

 

[Rikki]

I'm no expert but it looks like rising damp to me. Your seeing the salts in the bricks/mortar etc being brought out as moisture evaporates.

Get a good builder to come take a look it might not be as bad as you think to fix.