no GCH in the house

ramagates

I am looking for a house to buy and I found one which is reasonably good condition and ready to move on.

There is no central heating in the house and the shower is on a small electric as well. each room has a electric heater (guess they are storage heaters) and fitted in the wall which has temp controls and etc.

as i read through the other forum topics the GCH seems to be save lots of money on bills. so at some point this needs to be changed and I guess it will cost around 4K-5K.

Is it worth to buy a house without GCH and then do it by our self. my friend told me that when we install the GCH we may also need to repaint and do some touch work after the installation as they need to lay the pipes all the way.

my other friend told as only 2 people moving to the house we may also just use the electric heater as it will work only in one room and it will still save some money over GCH.

also wonder if i want to do the GCH will there any damage on the walls and other stuff

i need some advice on this

theartfullodger

Only a qualified, GASsafe, engineefr should install/commission any gas applicance..

ramagates

I understand this, however my question is about is it worth to buy a house without GCH? the reason is the seller is asking bit more than the market price as the house is in good condition

pimento

We bought a house with no gas central heating. We deliberately didn't lay carpets until the heating had been installed so the pipes could be laid under the floorboards more easily.
If we had left it any length of time it would have been a good deal more hassle.

You do need to have it installed by someone Gas Safe though. Don't want to blow up the house!

ramagates

yes I totally agree that this should be done by some registered professional.

my confusion is about weather to buy this so look for some other property with GCH

thanks for the replys

pimento

Depends if the house + the cost of the gch + the hassle = a fair price.

camptownraces

ramagates wrote: »

I understand this, however my question is about is it worth to buy a house without GCH? the reason is the seller is asking bit more than the market price as the house is in good condition

Certainly I would not have expected asking price to be relatively high if no GCH. When you say market price, is this for a similar place with GCH?

As others have said, if you were to install it you would expect the floors and walls to be damaged, and therefore would have to be made good if you installed gas CH. Plasterers don't come cheap.

Would be difficult if there is no mains gas. Is there mains gas connected to the property?

Could also be difficult with concrete floors, as pipes would have to go round walls. Newish houses tend to have concrete on ground floor. Does this house?

ramagates

thanks, the energy performance certificate is about 15 (Group G). this is due to the central heating I guess. I spoke to a gas/electric engineer and they told me that after installing the GCH this wont be an issue. is that true

ramagates

there is a main gas line coming into the property but not connected to any.

Not sure about the floors. the seller told that the walls are concrete

G_M

central heaing pipes can be
a) hidden under the floor - so you need to find out if the floor is concrete (solid) or wood (suspended)
b) around the walls jusy above floor height (visible - not to everyones taste)
c) as be but boxed in so invisible (more expensive for the boxing.

The price you pay should reflect the cost of gch installation (£2-4K?)

ramagates

thanks and will this increase the energy performance rating (currently group G)