Electrics and gas
An air-source heat pump is bolted to a timber bracket on the wall and the bracket is soft. What support of that unit was not designed in the report?
The support that was not designed in the report is the support for this air-source heat pump. The unit is bolted to a timber bracket on the wall, and the bracket is soft. The survey has seen that fixing and the soft timber. It has not designed a replacement support, has not calculated the load, and has not decided a repair detail. Soft timber carrying a bolted unit is the observation. A design is what the report does not contain.
Last reviewed 24 October 2026. Written for buyers in England and Wales unless this answer says otherwise. No named surveyor has signed this page. It is general guidance, not a report on your house, and not legal advice.
What is the fuller explanation?
An air-source heat pump is a heavy outdoor unit, and the bracket has to hold it on the wall through weather and vibration. Timber that is soft has lost the firmness you would want in that support. The surveyor can see softness and bolts. They are not, in this report, designing a steel frame or a new bracket, and they have not opened the unit or assessed the refrigerant circuit. The home survey records a weak-looking support. It does not become a structural design because the bracket matters.
Ask a structural engineer or a heat-pump installer, as suits the fault, to design a support for the unit rather than treat this report as that design. Tell the solicitor the bracket is timber and soft, and that no support was designed in the survey. Do not read a running pump as a designed fixing. Keep any manufacturer installation sheet separate from the soft timber that was seen.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Where is the timber bracket soft, and how is the heat pump fixed to it?
- Did the report design any replacement support?
- Was the unit's refrigerant circuit part of this note, or only the bracket?
What are the typical next steps?
- Ask a heat-pump installer or a structural engineer to design a support for the unit.
- Tell the solicitor the bracket is soft timber and no support was designed.
- Do not read a running pump as a designed fixing.
Costs vary with the building and with who you instruct. Where this page does not cite a published figure, ask the surveyor, a relevant specialist, or your solicitor for a written quote. Do not treat a forum average as the price.
Also asked about this
If the heat pump is running, has the bracket been designed in the report?
No. A unit that runs has not been given a designed support by this report. The bracket is timber and it is soft, which is what was seen. Operation on the day does not calculate the load and does not replace the design the survey has not written. Running is not a bracket detail.
Did you assess the refrigerant circuit, or only the soft timber bracket?
No. The survey did not assess the refrigerant, the efficiency, or the controls. It recorded the unit bolted to a soft timber bracket and did not design the support. Those mechanical questions belong to a heat-pump specialist. They are outside the visual note about the bracket.