Guttering replacement and future sale

malcolmffc

We live in a 1930s mid terraced house where the original cast iron guttering and wooden soffits need replacing. The guttering had rusted and water has come through to make the soffits go rotten.

The plan is to replace with uPVC guttering and soffits. Is this likely to significantly affect the value of the house? Also, is it something a future buyer of our property may inquire about? If so, are there any standards etc. that I would need to prove the work was done to?

Thanks
Malcolm

olias

Bottom line is to look at the others in the terrace - If they are all original (cast rainwater googs and wooden soffits), and the houses themselves sympathetically restored, then doing yours in upvc will not look good.
If however they are all upvc replacement, then I don't think you need to worry too much about replacing yours with upvc too.

Just make sure you either have a personal reccommendation or an established local firm with good references to complete the work. Do not just use a handyman out of the local paper, or worse still, someone calling door to door offering to do it.

Olias

Davesnave

It is most unlikely that a row of 1930s houses will all have been kept original-looking, as the style was not valued at all until fairly recently.

Having lived on a 30s estate myself, I know how most people mess up completely when they replace the windows, so a few upvc gutters/soffits aren't going to affect value. However, they are a great joy to own, compared with the evil things they replace!

I believe it's possible to get plastic gutters & downpipes that mimic cast iron if you are really worried about this, but you'll no doubt have to pay extra for them.

cattie

The majority of surveyor's will comment on cast iron guttering not in good order & suggest it is replaced with Upvc asap, so can't see that having it replaced before sale is going to affect the price of the house. In fact, it will make it more appealing in that it doesn't need to be updated by new owners.

phoebe1989seb

Our last house had original cast iron gutters/down pipes, some of which was defective and we negotiated to have this replaced before we exchanged on the purchase. We insisted (and the vendor was happy to comply) that the replacement was also cast iron as it suited the character of the property so much better. That was a detached period house though and plastic would have ruined the overall look

On a mid-terrace property, whilst cast iron would still be preferable, I guess it wouldn't look out of place to replace with (black) UPVC.

IMHO if you have to go for UPVC, the square stuff looks better.......

lincroft1710

Replace with uPVC, gives the impression previous owner(s) believe in maintaining their home. Rusty rainwater goods and rotten soffits give the impression that there could be other maintenance problems.

G_M

lincroft1710 wrote: »

Replace with uPVC, gives the impression previous owner(s) believe in maintaining their home. Rusty rainwater goods and rotten soffits give the impression that there could be other maintenance problems.

but replacement with cast iron guttering & wooden soffits gives the impression of previous owner who believes in maintaining their home AND doing so sympathically, despite the extra cost.

olias

Depends really if its a £30000 in the NE or a £500000 in London really as to whether its worth it.

olias

malcolmffc

it's a £265,000 in London so half way :-)

Furts

phoebe1989seb wrote: »

Our last house had original cast iron gutters/down pipes, some of which was defective and we negotiated to have this replaced before we exchanged on the purchase. We insisted (and the vendor was happy to comply) that the replacement was also cast iron as it suited the character of the property so much better. That was a detached period house though and plastic would have ruined the overall look

On a mid-terrace property, whilst cast iron would still be preferable, I guess it wouldn't look out of place to replace with (black) UPVC.

IMHO if you have to go for UPVC, the square stuff looks better.......

I like the square section and sourced Osma SquareLine in brown to renovate a 1980 house. But I do not think square section is appropriate for a 1930 house.

malcolmffc

Yes, the original guttering is half round solid be replacing it with that. As the neighbours still have their original guttering (for now) it had to be the same shape as theirs anyway!