Back in August my wife and I put an offer in to buy a bungalow in Carbis Bay, St Ives, Cornwall.

Even though the Estate Agents assured us the property was structurally sound, and the lode that ran beneath the property was "nothing to worry about" we were advised by Stuart Dann to get it drilled to check for voids, so we went ahead and did this, at great expense.

Sadly the drilling showed several voids at 20 meters within the lode backfill, below running the whole length of the property..... so we pulled out.

Following this, the property was withdrawn from the Estate agents website.

Now it's back on the same website with a statement saying:

AGENTS NOTE. The vendor has informed us that the property is now back on the market "with all mining issues completely resolved".

As there are adits at several levels running all along the road at various depths going down to over 1000 fathoms, my question is:

Does anyone on here know how this 200 year old problem could have been "fixed" in just a few weeks? :blink:

Incidentally, the same estate agent sold the property next door a year previous. This needed £40,000 spending to "fix" a similar problem. We found this out by speaking to the owner the day "after" we had our potential purchase drilled. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.

The sad part is that estate agent knew all about this prior to us waisting money having it drilled but conveniently "forgot" to mention on our initial enquiries!

Below are just two pages from our extremely detailed drilling report. The red area is 'extracted mineral', now backfilled. (probably with old tins cans)



[img]http://www.aditnow.co.uk/showimage/Personal-Album-15900-Image-98680/?h=677[/img]

Assuming this estate agent is a member of a professional body, I would write to the body with all these details.

Assuming this estate agent is a member of a professional body, I would write to the body with all these details.

I think I would do the same.

Estate Agents trumpet their "local knowledge" as a selling point for their services, but they can easily forget things, apparently.

However, they do cover themselves with lots of small print, and by saying the property is "structurally sound" they are not lying. It could well be a sound building, sitting happily on top of a hole.

How old is the house? Any record of Site Investigation before construction?

Sounds like you have had an escape - I'd buy Mr Dann a pint or three and write it off to experience.

Based on personal experience I would avoid certain St Ives estate agents like the plague.

Lozz.

I think the knowledge of Mr Dann, whatever website name he chooses to post under, is greatly undervalued.

A few people probably owe him pints.

And as a general message I would urge anyone thinking of posting derogatory comments to think twice, even if they have to have his posting translated from 'Stueyease' into normal English.
:lol:

I think it a few years maybe before the expression "Yogurt weavers" appears in any dictionary.

EDIT
More thoughts. This guy could actually sit and write about V.A.T. and you would want to read it over and over.
:lol:

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The Agent has passed the can back to the vendor to say all is cleared. Ask for full details of what as been done and they should have an Engineers report to back what has been done which will put it onto his insurance.
If they have no Engineers or Chartered Surveyors report to back it, forget it.
Charted Surveyors have several sections, ie Surveyor, Estate Agent, Mining Engineer. Not all cover this type of work. It should be noted that many unqualified Estate Agents have bought the qualification due to experience but no exams.
Work like this should be covered preferably by a Structural or Civil Engineer.
A rule of thumb for the bulb of pressure under a house is 17m deep.
Any ifs and buts from Estate Agents and lack of report back out.

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Assuming this estate agent is a member of a professional body, I would write to the body with all these details.

Something I plan to do. The next potential purchaser might not be so clued up about this forum and what goes on beneath the ground.

I'm sure that this site dedicated to the leisurely pursuit of historical mining will not be enriched, nor is a platform for the discussion of matters which could be construed as work.

I am very much on here informally and continually change my internet ID regularly to stop anyone (with their work hat on) getting too much of a handle on my internet tourettes. ie:- ranting about lefthanded lesbian trombonists up at county hall, or lefty yoghurt weavers sticking a spanner in the works!

I also refuse to comment about anything which is work related. It's just not happening.

I have an anecdote which paints a picture of the situation and you can draw from that what you will.

I was talking to one of the drillers about people getting irritated about their activities. They were drilling a semi-detached place in a seriously mined area and the chap next door came out and started moaning about "what the hell is that and what are you doing with it?" When the driller/geo explained that there were looking for mine workings, the old man exclaimed "there are no workings under here". The old man was having none of it and was quite cross about all the noise and unnecessary fuss. Finally, the driller exclaimed (I like to think in a hushed, angry, Clint Eastwood style sneering tone) "There are workings under your house, your house has a hole under it". "How do you know?" "If you look in your garage, you'll see cemented up holes in the floor, it's where we drilled it a short time ago".

On that note, hopefully I can draw my input of non-trivia to a close.

Hi
What is wrong with work? on this site?
It is interesting to read what work Roy is on with, and others to open up or make safe existing works in the various mines.
There are some very knowledgeable people on this site who are willing to help others, and reading the replies is very interesting.

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I suspect Tony Blair is trying to differentiate between ones employment status and ones 'hobby' status as regards the term 'work'?

Having ones active profession linked to a real name is not really on, however good the intentions.

In defence of Tony Blair, I suspect his uses this pseudonym as it's so striking that most people will realise, or ask the question at least, that it is just that: a pseudonym. Much more obvious than, say, John Smith (oops, bad example, another Parliementarian! - think of a normal name that would not raise eyebrows)

A colleague of mine, for similar reasons as quoted by Mr. Blair, calls himself "Mr. Luxury Yacht" on a forum.

I look forward to Mr. Blair's next identity. Boris Yeltsin might be good, then again, I've always found Noris McWhirter a comical name 🙂

Mmm
In the past I could have used the name "Scrap Yard Mazda" then everyone would have known who it was
:lol:

ps Skoda is going the same way now

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ps Skoda is going the same way now

The way you drive, that's hardly surprising!! ;D

Chris.

:lol:

This is going ridiculously off thread.

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Page 1- NAWT allowed!!

Back on topic - I'd have that estate agent and his shyster by the gonads quoting "sale of goods act et&c......", nowt like a goood choir!!! - roasting chestnuts over a Cornish Boiler!!

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Page 1- NAWT allowed!!

Back on topic - I'd have that estate agent and his shyster by the gonads quoting "sale of goods act et&c......", nowt like a goood choir!!! - roasting chestnuts over a Cornish Boiler!!

The estate agent is Harding Laity in St Ives. 3 Bedroom Bungalow in Whitehouse Close, Carbis Bay.

When I read the disclaimer on the description, I nearly fell over!

Shame on them!

I wouldd be taking legal advice with the view to recovering drilling costs from the estate agents for mis representation etc....

I wouldd be taking legal advice with the view to recovering drilling costs from the estate agents for mis representation etc....

Beats me how you can fix a 200 year old problem. You plug one hole, but whats beneath that one, and so on.

One thing or sure, no one will ever get a mortgage on that place.

I wouldd be taking legal advice with the view to recovering drilling costs from the estate agents for mis representation etc....

Beats me how you can fix a 200 year old problem. You plug one hole, but whats beneath that one, and so on.

One thing or sure, no one will ever get a mortgage on that place.

I wouldn't have thought so no!

But either way its a well documented problem and was falsely advertised. I would be doing everything in my power to get my wasted money on drilling back from the estate agents.