Age and type of house
Plasterboard lines the barn walls and the stone was seen only at one opening. What of the original wall is the survey not able to describe?
The survey cannot describe the original stone wall that stays behind the plasterboard, except at the one opening where stone was seen. Thickness, bond, pointing, cracks and whether the masonry is wet are all hidden by the lining. The visit can describe the plasterboard and that one reveal. It cannot treat the lining as if it were the stone, and it has not opened the boards to inspect the barn wall. Most of the original wall is undescribed because it was not visible.
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?
A converted barn often gains a new inner face so the rooms can be finished. That face is what you live with. The stone is the old structure. One opening, a window reveal or a doorway, shows a slice. It does not show the next bay, a filled slit, a bulge or a damp patch under the boards. The survey should say the limit in those words. Guessing a uniform stone wall from one reveal would invent a building the inspection did not see.
Ask the seller, through your solicitor, whether any opening-up notes or conversion photographs show the stone before it was lined. Those pictures are evidence of a sort. They are not the same as the surveyor seeing it now. If you need the wall described, agree access to lift a board. Do not pull plasterboard down yourself. The home survey has not assessed the hidden masonry, and a smooth lining is not a structural description.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Where exactly was stone visible, and how small was that opening?
- What of the wall thickness and pointing could you not see?
- Have you kept the plasterboard as a lining, not as the stone wall?
What are the typical next steps?
- Treat the stone description as limited to the one opening.
- Ask the solicitor for any pre-lining photographs or opening-up notes.
- Do not remove plasterboard yourself to inspect the barn wall.
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 reveal looks dry, is the lined wall dry?
No. The reveal is one edge. Damp, salt or a crack can sit behind plasterboard a short distance away and still be invisible. The survey has not described the stone it could not see. One dry edge cannot stand in for the lined length of wall.
Does new plasterboard mean the stone was repaired?
No. New board means a new lining. It does not record repairs to the stone, and the survey did not see those repairs. The original wall behind the boards remains undescribed. Boarding the rooms did not expose the barn masonry.