Victorian house Life in years

PasturesNew

Just put £100/month minimum into a maintenance fund and it'll be there when you get a surprise. I had one length of lead flashing that was needed at one point, L-shaped house, it was the valley where the two parts of the roof met: £400 was the quote. A few odd jobs like that a year and it soon eats up your money. There's always a new surprise to discover.

diable

PasturesNew wrote: »

Just put £100/month minimum into a maintenance fund and it'll be there when you get a surprise. I had one length of lead flashing that was needed at one point, L-shaped house, it was the valley where the two parts of the roof met: £400 was the quote. A few odd jobs like that a year and it soon eats up your money. There's always a new surprise to discover.

Your wife leaves you for the roofer ;o)))

PasturesNew

diable wrote: »

Your wife leaves you for the roofer ;o)))

Well, that wouldn't happen to me... being a hetero female myself.

Roofer's apprentice was hot enough to consider though

diable

PasturesNew wrote: »

Well, that wouldn't happen to me... being a hetero female myself.

Roofer's apprentice was hot enough to consider though

raaarrrrrrrrr then flirt for a discount.......

Greymarl

Don't forget the surveyor will be covering himself as well, and are notoriously pessimistic with regards to just about everything, so that it can't come back to bite them.

1880 isn't old or got no life in it, honestly. I've seen houses built in 1980 that needed far more work than Victorian properties. There will always be work to be done with any house, but like anything if you take care of it it'll last, I very much doubt it's about to fall down around your ears, like someone else said, they built things solidly in those days compared to now.

casper_g

sarah_id1 wrote: »

I got the chance to meet my surveyor on site for the 1880 Mid Terrace victorian house(East London) I plan to buy. He pointed out few issues and estimated cost. Although there is no serious issue like subsidence or cracks etc but his comment was "You need to appreciate the fact that this is very old house house so as time goes it with deteriorate". I dont understand how do I understand this statement.

I rather suspect the surveyor's words were, in a way, supposed to be reassuring rather than worrying. Houses will deteriorate in minor ways, and things like cosmetic cracks, woodwork, flashings etc will need maintenance and repair. This is inevitable. He may have been trying to say "any problems you can see are only to be expected as this is an old house and they go with the territory."

sarah_id1 wrote: »

How much life should I expect in this 120 yr old victorian house?

>Does local council play any role in time to time advising about such issue
>Do council suggest the house is unsafe to live and if so do they extend any help!
>Is Insurance company of any help!

To try and answer your specific questions,
1) Age in itself is not usually a problem. Look after the house and maintain it well. Above all, keep it weathertight and heat it adequately, and there is no reason it should not last another 120 years and more.
2) The local council isn't really in the business of advising private property owners about how to care for their buildings. Their role is limited to granting or withholding planning permission, or giving building regulations approval to any changes you make. You would mostly need to rely on professional surveyors and tradesmen for advice, unless you have family/friends who are able to help.
3) The council won't take any interest in your house except in very unusual circumstances, e.g. they get a complaint from a member of the public that it's in a dangerous state of disrepair and could collapes on passers by.
4) Your buildings insurance might well be of help in the situation where the house needs unexpected repair work. Read the policy documents to see what the insurance covers!

neverdespairgirl

diable wrote: »

Fcuk the heating bills.............

Heating? My mother doesn't believe in it. Heating is for wimps.

Theirs is a timber-and-plaster hall house, not a castle, though (-:

dopester

G_M wrote: »

But old houses need maintaining. The pointing (cement between the bricks) wears down and needs renewing (every 30 years? - depends on weather etc).

Sometimes considerably longer.. 50 or even 80 years?

And when you're looking to get repointing done... research it first. Then more research.

Not getting it done well can cause lots of problems. I saw an "expert" at work a few days ago doing repointing.

He was good, but even he didn't do everything correctly to my understanding of things (after he removed mortar and brushed clean, he didn't spray water to clean away any extra dust, nor used a spray bottle to damp down the old mortar before adding new mortar, for each section. Damping it down allows the new mortar to get a much better bond to the old mortar) .

Ideally you want the mortar to be of the same colour as the existing mortar, and it has to be a good ratio mix. One house on our street now has a concrete looking pointing instead of the nice yellow/lime mix of like the rest of the houses, and how it was originally. It looks pretty bad, and I'm convinced they might have really really bad spalling problems down the line.

Also look at the problems caused when too hard a mortar is used!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIpIyFcugQM

You want someone who knows what they are doing. The house on our street which was repointed a few years ago has pointing just like in this YouTube video above! The consistency of the mortar should stick to the trowel when you turn it over.

More intelligent info - but loads more sources too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vV5-vB4fRw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMNA23_jNE4

mlz1413

i bought a very run down 1900's terrace that has now been re-roofed, re-plastered, new floors, new windows, kitchen & bathroom so pretty much the only original thing left are the bricks.

some of the pointing has been re-done as the back of the house seems to get the driving wind and rain whereas the front did not (and still does not) need doing over 100 years later.

so in my opinion (hope) no major works will need doing this century and I'll not be the owner in 2100 unless the doc's have worked out eternal life!

I think the surveyor is covering himself, but questions for the OP:
What is original on the house?
if replacements have been done are they recent or over 10 years ago?

Running_Horse

I remember the term nail rot in the report on my first terrace, and after a few years some of the floorboard nails had pretty much rusted away. I guess they would use galvanised ones these days. I just screwed down any creaking boards before recarpeting. An original roof might have original nails, but would most likely have been replaced long time ago.