Condition ratings
Wide gaps between old pine boards are noted. Are those gaps a structural condition rating 3?
No. Wide gaps between old pine boards are not a structural condition rating 3. Gaps of that sort are usually shrinkage and wear in the boarding itself. They are not, on that note alone, a broken joist or a failed wall. The surveyor can still say the boards need attention. They have not, merely by recording the gaps, condemned the floor structure.
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?
Old pine boards shrink across their width. Gaps between them are a common note in a house with original flooring, and they are a comment on the boards, not on the joists that carry them. Rating 3 would mean the defect is serious, urgent, or both, with written quotations before legal commitment. Gaps, without a spring, a break, or a drop the surveyor has called serious, do not meet that definition. They may be rating 1, no repair currently needed beyond living with them or normal maintenance, or rating 2 if the surveyor thinks the boards should be repaired or overlaid and that work is not urgent. Neither of those is a structural failure.
Do not translate a boarding note into a joist replacement when you write to the agent. The what to do now note advises you. It does not invoice the seller, and it applies the quotation step to rating 3, not to every gap. The undersides of the boards and the joists are concealed if nothing was lifted, and concealed parts are not guaranteed sound, but they have also not been declared failed. Fitted coverings, if any stayed down, were not lifted. Ask whether the gaps are the whole finding. If the report never mentions the structure, leave the structure out of the demand.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Are these gaps a boarding note only?
- What rating did the boards get, if they got one?
- Did you see anything that puts the joists, rather than the pine, at rating 3?
What are the typical next steps?
- Keep the gaps as a note about the pine boards.
- Do not describe them to the seller as a structural failure.
- Ask which rating, if any, sits on this floor.
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
Can draughts through the gaps be rating 2 without being structural?
Yes. Rating 2 is a repair that is not serious or urgent. Draught is not a broken joist.
If one board is also broken, do the gaps become rating 3?
Not as a group. A broken board is that board. Ask whether the surveyor rated it, and at what number.