5M type house

darrenj1

Hi, has anyone ever heard of a 5M type house?

I am looking to buy this type and want some more information.

The agent told me it is 5M, and non standard construction, timber framed.

However there is very little information on this type of house online, specifically the design and materials used. Other non standard construction type houses have lots of information online, which makes me wonder if there is a different term for this one.

Visually it has 2 different constructions, the lower floor seems to have some thin render shell attached, and 2nd floor is tiles all the way to the top, and this has a flat roof.

the estate in Leeds is called stonecliffe estate, and the EPC lists 2 entries for walls
1. cavity wall, as built, no insulation (assumed)
2. system built, as built, no insulation (assumed)

Does anybody know what the materials are, what the layers are? and when these were built?

Been scouring the web for hours? Leeds council do list them as 5M in a FOI request document that was asked for a few years ago.

doningtonphil

you have probably seen this on Wikipedia:


Much of Seacroft was built twice, high demand for houses lead to many temporary prefabs being built in Seacroft shortly after the war. These were generally known as the 'war houses'. In the late 1960s and early 1970s these were replaced by the Cedarwood Corporation Houses (or 5M as they were referred to in council records). These were a quick and cheapm option of replacing the older prefabs. Like their predecessors they were also prefabricated houses, however were intended to last longer. Local people often refer to these as the 'gas houses' in comparison with the 'war houses' and in note of them having natural gas.[5] The exact same style of building was used around Coal Road in Whinmoor and Queenswood Drive in Beckett Park

darrenj1

Yeah that is interesting and gives and idea that it was 1960-70, but only as a guess because the stonecliffe estate is not mentioned anywhere, which I find odd.

jenfa

If you are buying with a mortgage might be worth a quick question to your company as to whether they would mortgage this type of property before you waste any time on it. Some companies were stricter than others when mortgaging non standard constructions I presume they may be even stricter now. If you aren't buying with a mortgage may still be worth looking into in case you want to sell on.

darrenj1

THanks. I am looking for a mortgage, and my broker is working on that, however he simply asked me what its made from. I advised its 5M type, and from what I can describe on the outside, it would be timber AND steel framed, so he has to choose, think he went for Steel framed in the end.
Not sure if its concrete walls, as its clad with a metal coating (painted white so it looks ok).

Mortgage is subject to Valuation comments so that might be when I find out the most information. BRE publishes a book about 5M steel framed houses, but my Estate agent called it 5M timber framed house, and I dont want to pay £15 for a book which is not relevant. Maybe I can email BRE for details.