Dwarf walls.

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Brian01

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Hi everyone!

I'm new to this forum and am looking for some building advice please. I've had a building survey done on a property and the surveyor has noted a "dwarf wall" to the side (gable) of the property. Googling 'dwarf walls', I'm not sure that this is a dwarf wall, but it's what the surveyor has called it. I've included a photograph. Please ignore the paving stones in the photo, these belong to the neighbour and the surveyor has advised that these be moved away from the dwarf wall as soon as possible. The surveyor thinks that this wall was built by the developer after the main house was complete, perhaps to create an additional barrier from rainwater sloping down the neighbour's drive and into the side of this house. However, the surveyor cannot be sure why it was built, because it also encourages rainwater to sit on the top of the wall and penetrate downwards and into the main wall. They surveyor advises removing this dwarf wall entirely, or having roof lead flashing applied to the top of it, so that rainwater falls away from the house and not in-between the main wall and dwarf wall. There is no internal damp at the moment thankfully.

I've noticed these dwarf walls on other properties since it was highlighted in my survey. I'm attaching a few example photos.

Can someone please advise what their purpose is (other than decorative), and any advice regarding this particular dwarf wall (other than getting the neighbour to move away his paving stones)? Perhaps it's best to do nothing - not to remove or apply lead flashing?

Any advice much appreciated. Thank you very much.

Brian.
 

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I think I'd call it a plinth.

It's just possible it was added to hide something wrong with the wall, since it looks to me like it was added after the wall was built. Can you see where the DPC is?
 
Brian01 said:
Hi everyone!

I'm new to this forum and am looking for some building advice please. I've had a building survey done on a property and the surveyor has noted a "dwarf wall" to the side (gable) of the property. Googling 'dwarf walls', I'm not sure that this is a dwarf wall, but it's what the surveyor has called it. I've included a photograph. Please ignore the paving stones in the photo, these belong to the neighbour and the surveyor has advised that these be moved away from the dwarf wall as soon as possible. The surveyor thinks that this wall was built by the developer after the main house was complete, perhaps to create an additional barrier from rainwater sloping down the neighbour's drive and into the side of this house. However, the surveyor cannot be sure why it was built, because it also encourages rainwater to sit on the top of the wall and penetrate downwards and into the main wall. They surveyor advises removing this dwarf wall entirely, or having roof lead flashing applied to the top of it, so that rainwater falls away from the house and not in-between the main wall and dwarf wall. There is no internal damp at the moment thankfully.

I've noticed these dwarf walls on other properties since it was highlighted in my survey. I'm attaching a few example photos.

Can someone please advise what their purpose is (other than decorative), and any advice regarding this particular dwarf wall (other than getting the neighbour to move away his paving stones)? Perhaps it's best to do nothing - not to remove or apply lead flashing?

Any advice much appreciated. Thank you very much.

Brian.
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It's a plinth complete with cant plinth specials to finish the top. Looks afterthought-ish but original. Probably done when they realised the finished exterior ground levels would breach the DPC.
 
OMG, chuckling at the "surveyor's" description of this being a dwarf wall, and more so his concern of this causing water to get in to the main wall.

You can ignore his opinion and advice on this, and hope it does not reflect the rest of the report
 
I was under the impression that a dwarf wall was a short wall in the footings of a property to hold floors up?
 
It looks like the floor may be very low in relation to the outside paving? In which case it may be some kind of botch to address this.

I wouldn't buy a house that's not at least two brick courses above the outside surface, otherwise you'll have many issues.

Perhaps the wall itself isn't a big deal, but the floor level possibly is? I'd walk away if there isn't a step up to the door. It looks sunken, like they got the levels wrong while the topsoil wasn't on-site. The front windows look weirdly close to the ground. You often see this in older houses, where the soil/paving level has been built up over the years, but not nearly new ones.

Are the blue bricks under the DPC or on top of it? It's normally at internal floor level.

The wall is weird, the horizontal surface on the top of the bricks should be built in, not stood out like that. Makes me wonder what else has been patched over and hidden.
 
Ivor Windybottom said:
I wouldn't buy a house that's not at least two brick courses above the outside surface, otherwise you'll have many issues.
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Not really, no. Especially with modern (cavity wall) houses. Also, many developers now use FL rated masonry throughout to counter any potential frost damage.
 
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Providing wheelchair access means that level thresholds need different details like trays at DPC level.
 
This...

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Looks really odd to me. Imagine standing inside that window on the left looking out of the window. Unless the window sill is at knee-height, the floor must be at or below the outside ground level. I'm assuming the lintel is only slightly below the ceiling. Just compare the difference in height between the wall above and below that window.

Also there are no steps or ramp to the front door that I can see.

I've seen this sort of thing with old houses before, never on newbuild. Round here, they're required to build them really high due to flood risk. If disabled access is needed then there will be a long ramp.

I wouldn't just remove the extra wall, I'd want to know why they felt the need to spend £1000 or so building it - there must have been a reason, builders don't just blow money building stuff that's not needed so it may well have been a desperate botch to cover up a major issue.
 
...and what I missed in the original picture - it's a boundary wall that separates off from the OPs garage(?) wall and looks to retain the change of level in the neighbours driveway...

Screenshot_20240524-111102_Chrome.jpg
 
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