Single Skin Gable Wall Victorian end terrace advice pls

Rozee1957

I have just lost 2 buyers because the gable end of my 1900 victorian end terrace has a solid single skin throughout its entire height with no cavity. On investigation I found out the Surveyor acting for Barclays put a £0 valuation on house and said no lender would lend against it and advised buyers not to proceeed. No issues when I bought in 2000 and as I had a standard valuation & report for mortgage purposes which described building as solid wall & cavity insulation. If I were to have either internal/external insulation applied to current building regs approval would this give me back my market value of £120,000 but more importantly would house then be mortgageable?. Are there any grants/funding in place at all given the issue with single skin properties has come about because of the Govt's drive in recent years to push energy efficient homes.

martinsurrey

Rozee1957 wrote: »

I have just lost 2 buyers because the gable end of my 1900 victorian end terrace has a solid single skin throughout its entire height with no cavity. On investigation I found out the Surveyor acting for Barclays put a £0 valuation on house and said no lender would lend against it and advised buyers not to proceeed. No issues when I bought in 2000 and as I had a standard valuation & report for mortgage purposes which described building as solid wall & cavity insulation. If I were to have either internal/external insulation applied to current building regs approval would this give me back my market value of £120,000 but more importantly would house then be mortgageable?. Are there any grants/funding in place at all given the issue with single skin properties has come about because of the Govt's drive in recent years to push energy efficient homes.

hmmm something doesn’t stack up here,

Solid wall construction is not going to lead to a £0 valuation by itself, or every pre 1890(ish) house would be worthless which is not the case, I’ve recently had a mortgage valuation on an 1880’s solid wall house done, and all was fine.

There must be another reason... is it because the structure of the wall has deteriorated leaving the house unstable?

Without more info, you wont get much useful help.

lincroft1710

If the gable wall is only a single brick thickness with no support nor buttressing then it is very unusual and also very unstable. It's more likely to be a solid 2 brick thick wall of either Flemish or English bond, which many houses in Whittlesey and every other town in the country have.

If this wall is genuinely only of single brick construction then just adding insulation won't help matters, it needs either another wall building and keying in or the existing wall strengthening or buttressing then insulating, or even the existing wall demolishing and a complete new cavity wall erecting.

I agree with martinsurrey that there must be other reasons why this house has no value.

RAS

Was there by any chance another adjecent property that has been demolished? Sometimes the wall between terrace houses is only a single brick wall and is just rendered when the other one is demolished.

Fire_Fox

Rozee1957 wrote: »

I have just lost 2 buyers because the gable end of my 1900 victorian end terrace has a solid single skin throughout its entire height with no cavity. On investigation I found out the Surveyor acting for Barclays put a £0 valuation on house and said no lender would lend against it and advised buyers not to proceeed. No issues when I bought in 2000 and as I had a standard valuation & report for mortgage purposes which described building as solid wall & cavity insulation. If I were to have either internal/external insulation applied to current building regs approval would this give me back my market value of £120,000 but more importantly would house then be mortgageable?. Are there any grants/funding in place at all given the issue with single skin properties has come about because of the Govt's drive in recent years to push energy efficient homes.

You had no issue in 2000 because you didn't have a proper survey completed on a period property as RICS recommend. TBH if you are getting £0 valuations there is a major problem here way above just insulation, you might be best trying to get more detail about what the surveys said.

Alternatively pay out for a structural engineers report and act upon that. You can use this report and paperwork relating to the remedial work you have completed to reassure the next buyer/ surveyor. Sorry but you may find this is going to be pricey.

I doubt you will find any grants or funding if this is down to you not doing due diligence when you purchased the property. A small number of structural problems like subsidence are covered by buildings insurance, no idea if this would be.

http://www.rics.org/Global/Downloads/RICS_Home_surveys_information_sheet_2011.pdf
http://www.structuralengineersreports.co.uk/faqs/

Ciderarmy1987

We looked at a house that had a single skin kitchen extension and were told by a lot of lenders to not even bother getting a survey done as they wouldnt lend on it. We got a quote from a builder for them to dig down to the footings and put in a second layer of bricks and this would have cost 8-9000 for a pretty small kitchen. We there for had to pull out of the sale as we couldnt afford this.

From what our mortgage adviser said it has always something that has been an issue with some lenders; however over recent years it is something that is increasingly common for lenders to be cautious of and is difficult to get a mortgage if any of the living parts of the house are single skin:

A big thing to not here is that single skin is very different a solid wall with no cavity. Single skin is a wall one brick thick (much like a garage or brick shed) and the main issue is to do with structural soundness rather than no insulation

Rozee1957

Thanks for replies. We have luckily been able to get a copy of the survey done for the mortgage lenders and only issues are the single skin (it is only one brick thick width on old victorian 2 up/2 down part of the gable). The Surveyor has said there is no evidence of movement and the house is structurally sound but thats not to say there won't be in the future. The house has withstood an earthquake and tornado in the last 5 years and there are no cracks present anywhere and there are no structural deteriorations in the wall at all.

I have carried out historic research on the property and established that there never has been any houses adjoined to this one which leaves a puzzle why this end of the row is single skin (and it is one layer of brick) and the other end of the row of 6 houses is 9" standard. In this overall opinion the Surveyor said it is his experience that there is no lender that will give mortgage on a single skin property and he was therefore placing a nil valuation on the house.

Even had I obtained the full homebuyers report when I bought the house back in 1999 although it would have highlighted the single skin gable, as this did not appear to be a problem back then with lenders, I do not believe this would have made a difference to whether I purchased the property. Obviously now with the Govts push for for thermal efficient homes, this has altered current legislation and thus banks policy on providing mortgages against this type of property. From research I have established there are over 6 million houses of this type and yes I cant believe it can be given a nil value but believe this is for mortgage purposes as my Estate Agents said the Surveyor has been unbelievably harsh and they said the house is worth its market value. Any other comments on how to tackle the problem would be appreciated as I have been told applying an extra skin or exterior insulation would be sufficient but I am unclear whether this would solve the issue and make the house mortgageable. Given potential costs of adding a skin, I believe the way forward is probably to look at doing a 2 storey extension to make what is currently a 3 bed house with downstairs bathroom to a large 3 bed, 2 bathroom by getting bathroom upstairs and recoup costs by resolving the single skin issue and adding value to house. My Partner is not convinced
and wants to do most cost efficient route but the other options mean have to absorb the costs and thats dead money which cant be recouped. Ideas please?.

lincroft1710

Get quotes and advice from two or three reputable builders on both second skin and extension options. I can't see why a properly executed and insulated second skin won't solve the problem.

BTW didn't realise Whittlesey suffered earthquake and tornado within the past 5 years.

Fire_Fox

Rozee1957 wrote: »

Thanks for replies. We have luckily been able to get a copy of the survey done for the mortgage lenders and only issues are the single skin (it is only one brick thick width on old victorian 2 up/2 down part of the gable). The Surveyor has said there is no evidence of movement and the house is structurally sound but thats not to say there won't be in the future. The house has withstood an earthquake and tornado in the last 5 years and there are no cracks present anywhere and there are no structural deteriorations in the wall at all.

I have carried out historic research on the property and established that there never has been any houses adjoined to this one which leaves a puzzle why this end of the row is single skin (and it is one layer of brick) and the other end of the row of 6 houses is 9" standard. In this overall opinion the Surveyor said it is his experience that there is no lender that will give mortgage on a single skin property and he was therefore placing a nil valuation on the house.

Even had I obtained the full homebuyers report when I bought the house back in 1999 although it would have highlighted the single skin gable, as this did not appear to be a problem back then with lenders, I do not believe this would have made a difference to whether I purchased the property. Obviously now with the Govts push for for thermal efficient homes, this has altered current legislation and thus banks policy on providing mortgages against this type of property.

From research I have established there are over 6 million houses of this type and yes I cant believe it can be given a nil value but believe this is for mortgage purposes as my Estate Agents said the Surveyor has been unbelievably harsh and they said the house is worth its market value. Any other comments on how to tackle the problem would be appreciated as I have been told applying an extra skin or exterior insulation would be sufficient but I am unclear whether this would solve the issue and make the house mortgageable.

Given potential costs of adding a skin, I believe the way forward is probably to look at doing a 2 storey extension to make what is currently a 3 bed house with downstairs bathroom to a large 3 bed, 2 bathroom by getting bathroom upstairs and recoup costs by resolving the single skin issue and adding value to house. My Partner is not convinced and wants to do most cost efficient route but the other options mean have to absorb the costs and thats dead money which cant be recouped. Ideas please?.

Why aren't you reading the thread? Everyone is telling you this is a structural concern NOT simply an insulation issue. It may not be structurally unsound now but surveyors and lenders look at the risks associated single skin properties in general. Estate agents are not qualified building professionals, they are salesmen. The house clearly is not worth that or it would have sold, you have had two sales fall through!

A Homebuyers Report is not 'full' anything it's a halfway house recommended for certain types of properties, usually newer ones. On a period property the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors recommends a full structural survey - see their website which I linked to earlier. If this had been done and missed the single skin completely you would have been able to claim against the surveyor for all your losses.

From your OP it seems that you and your lender were unaware this building is single skin, so the lender did not know they had given you a mortgage on that, they thought they had loaned against "solid wall and cavity insulation". Even if they had been willing to lend on a single skin back then, you would have had the chance of reducing the purchase price by the cost of adding a second skin.

Sorry to seem harsh but I am really concerned you are dismissing your role in this nightmare and will maker the same mistake again.

Rozee1957

Many thanks for all the replies. I do appreciate all the advice I have been given. I know that I need to get a full structural report first but had posted the problem to get as much feedback and advice as I could get to educate me and possibly help others looking for answers for similar problem.