Age and type of house
The sole plate of a historic frame is below the floor and was not exposed. What decay at that plate is simply not in the report?
Any decay in the sole plate is simply not in the report, because that plate was below the floor and was not exposed. The survey cannot describe rot, insect damage or a sound section it never saw. A historic frame often meets damp masonry at this lowest timber. That is why the hidden plate matters. The report can say the plate was not opened up. It cannot say the timber is decayed, and it cannot say the timber is clear.
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?
The sole plate is the horizontal timber the posts stand on. Where it sits against masonry, moisture can soften it long before anything shows in the plaster above. None of that length was uncovered, so the report has no decay to record and no clean length to praise. Photographs of floorboards are not the plate. Guessing a repair from the age of the house would invent a defect the inspection refused to invent.
If you need to know the plate, ask a timber specialist to expose a short length where it can be done without wrecking sound fabric, and to say what they find. Tell the solicitor the survey's limit is the unexposed plate, not a diagnosis of rot. Do not agree a price reduction for decay that is not in the report, and do not tell a lender the frame was passed at a timber nobody saw.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Where is the sole plate relative to the floor you could lift?
- Did you leave decay at that plate out of the report because it was not exposed?
- What, if anything, in the frame above the floor did you actually see?
What are the typical next steps?
- Read the sole plate as not inspected, not as sound or rotten.
- Ask a timber specialist if a short length must be exposed.
- Do not price decay that the report does not contain.
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 look dry, is the sole plate included?
No. Dry posts are the timbers above the floor. The sole plate was not exposed, so decay there is not in the report either as a finding or as a clearance. The survey has not followed the posts down through the boards. A dry upper frame does not describe the plate it stands on.
Can the age of the house stand in for the missing plate?
No. Age explains why a sole plate is worth finding. It does not put decay into a report that never saw the timber. The inspection has recorded a limit. It has not diagnosed rot from the date of the frame, and it has not cleared the hidden plate either.