Solid wall a reason not to buy?

Davesnave

purplestar133 wrote: »

Perhaps I should add that there is a wood burner in the living room so I'm hoping to make use of that with scavenged wood to keep heating costs down. I have never used one of those so I'm sure that'll bring it's own problems!

I'm always intrigued to know where people with wood burners 'scavenge' for wood.

Apart from the odd pallet, there doesn't seem to be a lot of free seasoned wood just lying about!

seven-day-weekend

Old_Git wrote: »

the last mid terrace I owned cost £70 per week to heat .
It had high ceiling three floors and a 20 year old boiler .

Ask to see recent bills for heating .

I have a mid-terrace with high ceilings and three floors,it costs me £74 per month for gas and electricity.

It is also solid wall like most houses of its age. No reason at all not to buy.

xHannahx

We've end terrace, Victorian build, no gas, night storage heaters. Our electric bill is typically around £90-100 between October and March and around £40-50 April - September. We typically pay £75 a month to build up for winter through the summer.
This being our third winter here we finally worked out the best settings for the heaters and it's been lovely and warm all winter.

jamesd

purplestar133 wrote: »

I am presuming this means the house is solid wall. This means it's going to be much more difficult to insulate doesn't it?

No, just more expensive.

purplestar133 wrote: »

Estimates on the energy saving trust website say external wall insulation could cost £5,000 to £18,000 for a saving of £175 a year on bills. Is it even worth it looking at the saving vs the cost of installation?

Both the cost and the savings are probably too high for a mid terrace property. The cheaper option is internal solid wall insulation. That has the effect of moving the wall about 5cm into the room due to the thickness of the insulation. Front wall. Maybe part of a back wall not covered by the extension. Adjacent to the ginnel. Probably not a big deal compared to purchase costs. Kingspan is one of the big names making insulated plasterboard for this but there are others.

purplestar133 wrote: »

Should this be a reason to reconsider buying it? Energy efficiency is important to me because I can't stand wasting money! I'd hate to give up on this house now but, at the same time, I don't want to make the wrong decision in buying it if it's excessively difficult to heat/insulate. It felt warm when we were in there, but it would do as they are trying to sell it! I don't feel there's any scope to renegotiate the price due to this. I'm sure someone else would pay and not care about it.

You're right that someone else would buy it because it's not a big deal, just routine for a huge number of properties in most parts of the country.

purplestar133 wrote: »

Does not having a wall mounted thermostat affect energy efficiency? This house only has individual thermostats on each radiator. Would it be worth getting a wall mounted thermostat fitted?

If you want control, have a look at the Honeywell Evohome. The people who post on MSE who have it tend to rave about how good it is. Central timed control for each individual radiator and just twist a dial on the radiator to override. Even a mobile phone remote control option if you want to control it from anywhere.

Landofwood

Many Victorian and Edwardian houses have cavity walls. It's not common, but it's possible.

I live in a street of ten 1900-1910 large detached houses, and all have regular cavity walls.

Socksey

purplestar133 wrote: »

I am jumping the gun a bit here as our survey is not until next week, and I might get some answers then, but it's going round and round in my head!

We're FTBers buying a mid terrace which the vendor says he *thinks* is about 100 years old. From what I can tell it seems to be in generally good condition (I just need to insulate the wooden floor and replace the wooden front and back doors). I've just asked our vendors whether they have cavity wall insulation, they said they weren't able to get it due to the type of construction apart from in the extension which was put in in 1999.

They didn't seem to know much about it but I am presuming this means the house is solid wall. This means it's going to be much more difficult to insulate doesn't it?

Estimates on the energy saving trust website say external wall insulation could cost £5,000 to £18,000 for a saving of £175 a year on bills. Is it even worth it looking at the saving vs the cost of installation?

Should this be a reason to reconsider buying it? Energy efficiency is important to me because I can't stand wasting money! I'd hate to give up on this house now but, at the same time, I don't want to make the wrong decision in buying it if it's excessively difficult to heat/insulate. It felt warm when we were in there, but it would do as they are trying to sell it! I don't feel there's any scope to renegotiate the price due to this. I'm sure someone else would pay and not care about it.

Costs for heating are all dependent on individuals etc
I live in a mid-terrace house built around 1900 with no cavity walls etc and my gas bill is about £40 per month.... house nice and warm but not baking .... some loft insulation which could do with topping up and old double glazing...
I liked the house and its location.... if I wanted brand new with everything that that comes with that I would be living in a hideous little box about 1/3 the size a mile away....
There's pros and cons and it all needs to be weighed up...

ninjaryder

Davesnave wrote: »

All houses 100 years old will be of solid wall construction,
That's quite simply utter nonsense

arbrighton

Our early Victorian house is solid walls, but two bricks thick (flemish bond) so they're about 9 inches thick.
We have loft insulation and the plasterboard on external walls is insulated as mentioned. We've just had the boiler and windows replaced as part of other works but haven't had a full winter to see the impact on the bills yet without a load of people in and out/ using extra elec/ leaving doors open etc.

But, not excessively high to heat and we're detached. We have a woodburner too but don't use that as a main heating mechanism- does make the chimney breast upstairs act as a storage heater though

heckmondwike06

Hi

My recommendation would be to check EPC Register here to see what EPC certificate says:

https://www.epcregister.com/reportSearchAddressTerms.html?redirect=reportSearchAddressByPostcode

You can retrieve an EPC using post code look up feature.

I would also consider whether property is mortgageable before you instruct a surveyor. Ask your mortgage broker.

There's a full list of unmortgageable property types here (ignore the selling bit as you are interested in types of properties):

http://propertysaviour.co.uk/property-guide-to-selling-your-unmortgageable-problem-house/

DRP

heckmondwike06 wrote: »

Hi

My recommendation would be to check EPC Register here to see what EPC certificate says:

https://www.epcregister.com/reportSearchAddressTerms.html?redirect=reportSearchAddressByPostcode

You can retrieve an EPC using post code look up feature.

I would also consider whether property is mortgageable before you instruct a surveyor. Ask your mortgage broker.

There's a full list of unmortgageable property types here (ignore the selling bit as you are interested in types of properties):

http://propertysaviour.co.uk/property-guide-to-selling-your-unmortgageable-problem-house/

I'd be very wary of making any decisions based on an EPC.

Any type of assessment that downgrades the score based on the type of lightbulbs present, but doesn't take into account underfloor insulation ... is suspect at best.

A rough rule of thumb is that a a late 19thC/early 20thC house will be more expensive to heat than a new one...;) but will also have a lot more scope for improvements such as insulation and windows/doors.