Wall ties and cavity insulation
The report asks for a borescope of the wall ties and none was used on the day. Has that further look already happened?
No. The further look has not happened. The report asks for a borescope of the wall ties, and none was used on the day, so the recommendation is still open. A sentence that requests a camera inspection is not the inspection. This home survey did not see the ties in the cavity and did not complete the further look it asked for. The brickwork and the written request are what you have. Until a borescope survey is done and written up, the tie question the report raised is unanswered.
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?
Further investigation is recommended when something matters and the visit could not reach it. Wall ties sit in the cavity. The outside brick does not show whether they are corroded, enough in number, or properly embedded. Asking for a borescope says exactly that. It is easy to feel the recommendation means the look happened in the background. It did not. No camera was used for this report. The PDF is waiting on another job, not recording a result that was never obtained.
Instruct a wall-tie inspection that uses a borescope, and give that person the paragraph so they know the question. Your solicitor should see the recommendation as outstanding. A lender may ask whether the ties have been investigated. The accurate reply is that a look has been recommended and not yet done. Do not let a guess from the pavement stand in for the camera. The home survey has not turned its own request into a result.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Which elevations does the report want inspected with a borescope?
- What reason does it give, so a specialist knows what to look for?
- Is there an older tie report you might confuse with this open request?
What are the typical next steps?
- Mark the borescope recommendation as not done.
- Instruct a wall-tie specialist and quote the survey paragraph.
- Tell your solicitor and any lender that the further look is still outstanding.
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 you buy without the borescope, has the survey withdrawn the request?
No. The request stays in the report whether or not you follow it. Choosing to proceed is your decision. It does not turn an unfulfilled recommendation into a clear result on the ties. The ties were not inspected with a camera on this visit. If you skip the look, the limitation remains written down.
Can the same survey quietly include a borescope without saying so?
Not silently. If a borescope had been used, the report would be expected to say so, and you know none was used on the day. Any later camera inspection should be a dated extra, not an assumption inside the first PDF. Until that paper exists, the further look has not happened.