Wall ties and cavity insulation
Butterfly ties were seen only in a pier the seller has already taken down. What of the standing walls was never opened?
The standing walls were never opened, so their ties are unknown. Butterfly ties were seen only in a pier the seller has already taken down, which is a demolished fragment, not a sample of the walls that still carry the house. Butterfly ties are a twisted wire form, and finding them in rubble shows what that pier contained. It does not show the spacing, the metal or the condition of ties in the walls left standing. The survey did not open those walls and did not test them. The fallen pier speaks only for itself.
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 pier the seller has removed is convenient to look at and useless as a survey of the elevation that remains. Ties vary from wall to wall, and even from one height to another, with age and with how wet the cavity has been. Rubble on the ground is not the cavity of the standing wall. The survey recorded the ties it could see in that fallen work. It did not bore the walls that are still doing their job, and it did not run a detector over them.
Tell a lender, if they ask about ties, that butterfly ties were seen only in a demolished pier and that the standing walls were never opened. A specialist test of those walls would be a new instruction. Do not describe the house as tied in the same pattern because one pier happened to show that pattern. The fragment is evidence about the fragment. The walls you would buy are still unopened.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Were the standing walls opened, or only the demolished pier?
- Do the butterfly ties in the rubble describe the walls still standing?
- Was a tie test done on the elevations that remain?
What are the typical next steps?
- Treat ties in the standing walls as unseen.
- Tell a lender the sample was a demolished pier only.
- Do not copy that pier's ties onto the walls that remain.
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
Does matching brickwork mean matching ties?
No. Bricks can match while the ties inside differ, or while some walls have lost theirs. The survey saw butterfly ties only in a pier already taken down. It did not open the standing walls. Similar facing is not a cavity inspection. Leave the standing ties unknown.
Can the seller rebuild the pier and close the question?
Rebuilding would be works, not an inspection of the walls that were never opened. A new pier does not reveal the ties in the rest of the house. The survey's limit stays: the only ties seen were in fallen work. Any test of the standing walls is still a separate instruction.