Dwarf walls.

Ivor Windybottom said:
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.
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On the new site we're working on, they've gone for level (with DPC) exteriors, so as to simplify access and kept the garage floor level with the house.
They double-damped and CT'd and used FL bricks.
No dramas.
 
It doesn't look like much of a hill to me, and why does it wrap around the front... if this is a photo of the actual house and not just a similar example.
 
Why's the wall touching the house side wall at the front and away from it further back?

I'm now thinking the photo of the front is a different house. The little wall may have been built and is owned by the neighbour, and is actually on their side of the boundary.

If so then the neighbour is an arse, and I wouldn't want to live next to him.
 
Ivor Windybottom said:
Why's the wall touching the house side wall at the front and away from it further back?

I'm now thinking the photo of the front is a different house.
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It is a different house - after rereading the OP, that is one of the "example photos".

The only original image is that of the slabs against the wall.
If I'm correct about it being a retaining/boundary wall for the neighbours drive, it probably isn't the OPs wall to take down!
 
I wouldn't like to buy any house where you don't own at least 1m of land surrounding all sides. That rules out most newbuilds, which is probably a good thing for lots of other reasons.
 
Ivor Windybottom said:
I wouldn't like to buy any house where you don't own at least 1m of land surrounding all sides
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Well done you, if you can afford to stick with that principle! :)

Meanwhile, millions of us, in the real world, live in terraces, semi-detached properties... and even flats :eek:
 
We've had stupid neighbours in the past. As a result we now live in the countryside. I'd recommend not living too close to the riff-raff.

We moved areas to achieve this. I highly recommend it. You couldn't buy a flat within most of the M25 or most cities for what we paid.
 
Thank you very much to all those that replied, it's very much appreciated, and I’ve learnt a lot, as well as a few chuckles!

To clarify, only the first photo is of the house, the photo titled ‘a.jpg’. The other two are examples of other houses where I have seen similar walls. Apologies if this wasn’t clear, I should have taken my own photos at the time, but I am relying on the surveyor’s photos for the time being. In ‘a.jpg’, the actual house, the house is on the left of the photo, and the driveway to the right belongs to the neighbour. This house’s double driveway is on it’s left, the neighbour’s driveway to the right. The two houses are built on a slight slope, with the neighbour’s house and thus his driveway slightly higher.

The reason for the original post was two-fold. One, curiosity – what is this wall called and why is it there? And two, what to do about it because the surveyor himself didn’t know the reason for building this wall, but he advised either removing it or lead flashing across the top of it, after contacting the developer for more information, the developer being David Wilson and the age of the house being 6 years.

From the replies here, I think it’s likely called a plinth wall. I’ve Googled that name too:

buildingdefectanalysis.co.uk

Wall Base Plinths - Are they a Good Idea?

Are wall based plinths a good idea? Original ones are a good idea but retrofit ones are not. Neither is painting over the
buildingdefectanalysis.co.uk buildingdefectanalysis.co.uk

Why is it there? Again, I think from the posts here, it makes sense that because the two houses are on a slight slope, rainwater flowing right to left in the photo, down the neighbour’s driveway and into this house, hence the need for an additional barrier, perhaps because the DPC was too low? I’m no expert but I presume the DPC is on top of the black bricks, so significantly higher than the neighbour’s driveway, or below the black bricks and therefore just slightly below the neighbour’s driveway?

There is some moss on the top of the wall, see attached photo please, which I presume should just be lightly brushed off, without using excessive water or chemicals. Reading the replies, I think this wall is best left as it is after the neighbour’s paving stones have been moved further away onto his driveway.

I am not sure if the boundary is this actual plinth wall, or the stone chippings, perhaps something to clarify with my solicitor (who may not be able to tell from the plans).

Thank you for all the replies, it’s been of great help, and saved me making things worse!

Best regards,

Brian.
 

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So we can conclude that it's a retaining wall, to hold back the neighour's higher driveway.

The problem is that it's in contact with the house and is bridging the DPC, i.e. potentially allowing transfer of moisture upwards past it.

The answer should have been for the wall to be perhaps a metre away from the house, and to make this strip between the walls your property. But of course a housebuilder wants to whack in as many houses as possible so didn't do this.

The bigger issue is that flat top, the thriving moss that's already there proves that it's trapping moisture, probably around the level of the top of your skirting board. Of course there's a cavity beyond that before it gets inside but that's full of insulation. It doesn't mean that the house will be damp inside, but it crosses one of the key defences against it happening. It's definitely unconventional, and does look like a botch. Definitely check every square millimetre of the interior to check for any swelling skirting or bubbling paint.

I suppose it comes down to how keen you are on the house. If there's another that's the same price and all else but without this arrangement then buy the other. But of course that won't be the case.
 
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