Standard construction house - concrete blocks, not red bricks

moneyistooshorttomention

In the part of the country I recently moved to - many of the houses are built with those concrete blocks (rather than the small red brick construction I'm used to/prefer).

They are perfectly standard construction though - not those concrete panels with steel rods in or any non-standard type construction.

Concrete blocks (used instead of red bricks) is deemed perfectly standard construction here.

My house is one of these concrete blocks ones and I recently reviewed my yearly insurance cover and went through those comparison tables to see if I could get a better deal and found that some firms are asking in detail what construction the house has - and don't have "concrete blocks" as one of the options they give. They state "bricks" as an option and they also state "concrete" as an option and I kept looking down the list - but couldn't see one for concrete block houses.

Presumably I should have ticked the "bricks" option? - as these are bricks and "standard construction" (certainly not Woolaway or any other non-standard construction).

Can I ask whether concrete blocks are counted as "bricks" okay? - bearing in mind these houses are all built in the standard way. Its just they've used this type of brick, instead of small red bricks iyswim (I understand its because its cheaper than the small red bricks and men with lower skill levels can use concrete block bricks for building, where they wouldn't be skilled enough to use the small red bricks).

EDIT; I did have the standard mid-level survey on the house when I bought it and surveyor generally did a reasonable standard survey for me - and he didn't raise any concerns at all about the construction.

DTDfanBoy

I know you love a good battle moneyis2 but you're playing for higher stakes here

You don't get to decide that your property is of standard construction just because houses were built that way in your local area, and you don't get to redefine the definition of a brick just because it suits your needs. If the definitions provided by the insurance companies aren't clear enough you need to contact them to clarify the situation. Be aware that not all blocks were created equal and some insurers won't touch certain types of block built house, if you want to pretend that your house is made of brick to avoid the problem make sure you're ready for one hell of a fight, because if something catastrophic happens to your property you may find your insurers unwilling to pay out :eek:

moneyistooshorttomention

"Love a good battle" = yeh ...right....I don't think so somehow..:cool:

This was the thing I was wondering about - as to what would be deemed to be the translation of "bricks" iyswim.

Last thing I'd want in extremis is someone saying "bricks only means the little red ones" and being awkward about a payout if need be.

Hence my trying to clarify how likely it would be that someone would have that assumption.

Any ideas what to do about those insurance companies who simply don't have the "concrete blocks" option down there - so I'm wary of ticking bricks in case of that assumption on the one hand and I'm not going to tick "concrete" (because they'd then probably assume its one of those non-standard construction concrete panel houses - when it isn't) on the other hand?

I just thought "Blow them and I'm not going to get into legal definition of bricks with someone operating from a script" and try to speak to someone higher-up for a commonsense interpretation and, for this year, have just stuck with the insurance company I had (who I don't recall as having asked such a confusing question).

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One other thing is that I know there are problems getting mortgages on houses of non-standard construction and hence I rejected a very nice house I saw as soon as I realised it was non-standard and bought this one instead. I presume mortgage companies do only count out the "non-standards" and are just as okay about houses where the bricks are concrete blocks as they are about the ones where the bricks are small red bricks?

As stated - a really high proportion of houses in this (and some other) areas are constructed this way - and any time I've heard of problems selling them I can see that its down to them being "old-fashioned and needing work", rather than for any other reason.

Mallotum_X

Is it mundic block? A type of concrete block used a lot in the south west?

If it is then that is not standard construction and is regarded as a liability by many.

If it's built from what many people call breeze blocks - the typical internal block work used in new builds etc then that's usually considered standard. It would be extremely rare that this is the finished external surface.

bouicca21

If it's breeze block you are talking about, Money, then I think the correct term is concrete masonry unit. Ring the insurers and ask. If all ok, get the name of the person to whom you spoke, put it all in writing.

Dan-Dan

What option did you tick with the insurance company your with currently?

moneyistooshorttomention

Mallotum_X wrote: »

Is it mundic block? A type of concrete block used a lot in the south west?

If it is then that is not standard construction and is regarded as a liability by many.

If it's built from what many people call breeze blocks - the typical internal block work used in new builds etc then that's usually considered standard. It would be extremely rare that this is the finished external surface.

I've read about the mundic problem and felt sorry for people with those houses.

Nope - that's the name I'm searching for to be precise, ie its breeze blocks. Yep....those ugly things...but what can you do? Well - what these houses do do and slap render on them and paint it. That's what my house is like - breezeblocks/render/paint on the render.

HappyMJ

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

I've read about the mundic problem and felt sorry for people with those houses.

Nope - that's the name I'm searching for to be precise, ie its breeze blocks. Yep....those ugly things...but what can you do? Well - what these houses do do and slap render on them and paint it. That's what my house is like - breezeblocks/render/paint on the render.

So you don't have a cavity in the wall? You should have breezeblocks/cavity/bricks/render/paint.

moneyistooshorttomention

Dan-Dan wrote: »

What option did you tick with the insurance company your with currently?

I don't honestly recall what options there were to tick. Its the insurance company I'd had for years anyway and I do know I comparison-shopped when moving here and they came up as one of the best bets and so I stuck with them. But I don't recall having any such question down on the form. I can only remember being asked questions about the construction of the roof.

moneyistooshorttomention

HappyMJ wrote: »

So you don't have a cavity in the wall? You should have breezeblocks/cavity/bricks/render/paint.

Correction on my part - yep....include that cavity as well. I do know I have cavity wall insulation, as some wisps of it came adrift during work I've had done on the place and I seem to recall I have a certificate from previous owner re cavity wall insulation.

I don't think its bricks underneath that render and paint. Difficult to tell. I think the internal walls are breezeblocks - because of other work I've had done on the place (ie those difficulties in channelling into walls for electrical work to be done and central heating pipes having to be hidden or go down the walls and have that plastic pipe cover stuff put on them to hide them).

bouicca21

Internal walls usually breeze block on relatively modern houses.

I suspect that if the construction were purely breeze block it might have been pointed out by the surveyor. That it wasn't and that you know there is (or was before insulation) a cavity, makes me think standard construction. The rendering may well be there because the builders used cheap bricks that didn't look as pretty as more expensive ones.