Why does a boot scraper or a hollow in a Victorian threshold matter?

What is the fuller explanation?

Old thresholds were often cut for a scraper or worn into a dish. Rain then stands against the door until it soaks the timber or runs inside. A home survey can see the hollow, the rotten end of the door and a stain on the board inside. It cannot tell you the wall is rising-damp because the step holds a puddle. Government damp guidance starts with the cause. Here the cause may be the step.

The Property Care Association’s point, in plain terms, is that moisture has to be understood before anyone sells a treatment. A chemical course in the wall does not empty a dish in the stone. Ask whether the surveyor saw rot in the door, a gap under it, or only the hollow. Do not let a damp quote skip the threshold because the meter beeped at the skirting.

What should you ask your surveyor?

• Does the hollow hold water against the door, or is it only a worn stone?
• Is the door or the floor edge soft, or is the comment only about the step?
• Are you calling this rising damp, or water sitting at the threshold?

What are the typical next steps?

1. Show a joiner the door and the hollow before you show a damp firm the skirting.
2. Do not fill the hollow on the seller’s step before exchange.
3. Keep any rising-damp comment separate unless the survey actually made one.

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

Which pages should you read next?

• What if the coal cupboard under the stairs was full of junk and not entered?
• Should a later side addition on a 1930s semi be described as if it were the original cavity wall?
• Map cracking in the render of a Wimpey no-fines house follows no structural line. Why is that pattern not the same evidence as a horizontal tie-failure crack in a cavity wall?
• Guide: What should you look for in a Victorian or Edwardian terrace survey?
• All UK home survey questions

Sources

• RICS: RICS Home Surveys (Home Survey Standard)
• Property Care Association: Structural problems, including damp, dry rot, wet rot and woodworm (homeowner advice)
• GOV.UK: Damp and mould: understanding and addressing the health risks for rented housing providers