Age and type of house
The oak sill of a historic frame is soft and the posts standing on it are hard. Which timber is the decay note about?
The decay note is about the oak sill, which is soft, and not about the posts, which are hard. The sill is the horizontal timber the posts stand on, and it is the piece that takes damp at the foot of a historic frame. The survey has called that sill. It has not called the posts decayed. Soft oak in the sill is the finding. Hard posts are why they were left out of it. The survey has not opened the joints to see whether softness has entered a tenon. The note names the sill.
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?
Historic frames often decay at the sill first. That timber sits in splash and against a damp wall, and it stays wetter than the posts that rise out of it. Breakdown follows the moisture, so a sill can be soft while the post above still feels hard. The survey separated them that way. It did not send timber away for a laboratory test, and it did not condemn the frame as a whole. The decayed piece in the note is the oak sill.
Ask a timber specialist who knows historic frames to confirm the sill and to look at the joints the survey did not open. Tell the solicitor the posts were hard and were not the decay note. The Property Care Association describes wet rot as a problem in timber that stays damp. This report has not specified a new sill or any other repair. Those would be a later scheme. Until then the decay note remains the soft oak sill, not the posts that stand on it.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Is the decay note confined to the soft oak sill?
- Were the posts hard, and therefore left out of that note?
- Did you leave the joints between sill and posts unopened?
What are the typical next steps?
- Treat the oak sill as the decayed timber.
- Leave the hard posts out of that decay note.
- Ask a timber specialist to check the joints if the extent must be known.
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 posts are oak as well, should they be condemned with the sill?
Not on this note. The posts were hard and the sill was soft. Sharing a species does not share the decay. The survey called the sill and did not call the posts. A later look at the joints may find more, but that look has not happened. The decay note stays with the soft sill.
Does a hard post prove the joint inside it is sound?
No. Hardness is what could be felt on the post. The joint where that post meets the soft sill was not opened, so the timber inside the joint is undescribed. The decay note is still the sill. A hard face on the post is not a cleared joint, and the report has not called it one.