Condition ratings
Sheet vinyl is glued across the kitchen and was left down. What floor construction under it is outside the notes?
The floor construction under the sheet is outside the notes. Sheet vinyl is glued across the kitchen and was left down, so boards, joists or a slab were not available to describe. The notes stop at the covering. They do not contain a construction for the hidden floor, and they do not award it a pass. Rating 1 would mean no repair currently needed, and that label was not given to a floor the survey did not see.
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?
Condition ratings speak only to inspected parts. Rating 2 means defects that need repair but are not serious or urgent. Rating 3 means serious and/or urgent repair, replacement or investigation. NI means not inspected, not a pass. None of those grades can be borrowed for a deck still under glued vinyl. The ordinary home survey does not peel a bonded sheet. Leaving it down is the limit of the note, not a quiet approval of whatever is underneath.
Tell the solicitor the kitchen construction under the vinyl is outside the notes. If a rating appears for the kitchen finishes, do not stretch it under the glue. Ask the seller whether any hatch or loose board exists. Do not tell a lender the floor structure was satisfactory. Until the sheet is up, the report should stay silent on the construction it could not see.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Was the sheet vinyl left glued down across the kitchen?
- Is the floor construction under it outside the notes?
- Have you refused to rate a deck that was not seen?
What are the typical next steps?
- Leave the hidden floor construction outside the notes.
- Do not stretch a kitchen rating under the glued vinyl.
- Tell the solicitor the sheet was not lifted.
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 vinyl has no bubbles, is the slab sound?
Bubbles, or the lack of them, describe the sheet. They do not show the slab, the boards or the joists. That construction is outside the notes. Rating 1, no repair currently needed, was not given to a floor that was not seen.
Could NI be written for the hidden floor?
NI means not inspected, not a pass, and it is the honest label when something was not seen. It is not a finding that the floor is defective, and it is not rating 3. The construction under this vinyl stays outside a positive note.