Help please! Purchase of Single Skin property?

eddddy

lisetta1981 wrote: »

The seller says he has recently put a double rendering on the outside walls to help with insulation.

Did they get the required building regs approval for this?

If you re-render a house, you have to meet the building regs for thermal insulation.

See: https://www.planningportal.co.uk/info/200130/common_projects/18/external_walls/2


Also, when you say single skin - do you mean
- 4.5 inch (single brick thick) walls?
- 9 inch solid walls (i.e. two bricks thick)?
- Or something else?

9 inch solid walls was a fairly standard construction in the 1930s. There would be no mortgageablity issues with it.

(It's the 4.5 inch walls that are a problem.)

ilikewatch

Even my 1904 "no frills" 2 up 2 down terrace has mostly 9" double skin walls with no cavity - amazed that anyone was building an entire single skin property as late as the 30's.

My kitchen is a lean to addition at the rear of the house and that is single skin - absolutely freezing all winter, even with the addition of internal insulation, draughtproofing and double glazing.

Doozergirl

SailorSam wrote: »

It wasn't until about the middle 1920s that builders started doing cavity wall houses. So there are still millions of terraced houses in every city that are still single skinned, and people buy and sell every day without a second thought.
True they're not as easy to insulate but it doesn't stop them selling.

The exact problem with this thread is the lack of knowledge of what constitutes a single skin wall.
Not the correct context but the illustration below of the actual brick pattern is fine...

The wall on the left is double skin. Common, normal. On the right is single skin - not common, substandard building method, usually only seen in outbuilding conversions and not acceptable to mortgage lenders as a whole house construction method.



I agree that the OPs potential house is most likely common and acceptable, just not single skin!

G_M

As doozergirl says.

OP needs to establish whether he's just mis-using technical language or the property really is true 'single skinned', which is highly doubtful.

If it IS single skinned, and given OP wants to sell in a few years, buying would be mad - forget the £14K negotiation, just walk away.

If it is double skinned but (perhaps) without a cavity, then there's no problem at all with future mortgage, and no justification for price negotiation either.

Cakeguts

I didn't know there were any single skin houses built? What about prefabs though what are they apart from old and scarce?

lincroft1710

Prefabs aren't built of brick, but of either, asbestos cement panels, steel panels or wood or even concrete panels.

alumende27

Doozergirl wrote: »

Also, I had an EPC assessor say that my 1930s house has no cavity and I've seen inside the cavity!

I had the opposite situation with current home. The EPC stated cavity wall but the RICS surveyor insisted that there was no cavity. I suspect he was basing that on the style of brickwork, but when we went to replace a window in one room and drill a hole for an extractor fan in the kitchen, low and behold, discovered a cavity wall in both locations. As others have noted, the depth of the wall is going to be the most likely indicator.

Assuming the OPs prospective house is double skin and not single skin, I wouldn't be overly concerned about improving the insulation in the walls, certainly not if it's going to cost £14K!. Draught proofing is probably one of the single best things you can do, followed by adequate loft insulation.

eddddy

dsdhall wrote: »

The EPC stated cavity wall but the RICS surveyor insisted that there was no cavity. I suspect he was basing that on the style of brickwork

Yes - the style of brickwork on a house can be a good indicator (assuming it's visible).

Stretcher bond usually indicates a cavity wall:


Flemish bond usually indicates a solid wall:


Or older houses with solid walls might have English bond:



But I've seen an extension being built on a 1920s house, where the owner wanted cavity walls with a 'fake' flemish bond to match the original solid walls of the house.

I don't know how often that's done, but those brickies were really annoyed at having to chop every second brick in half.

Mr.Generous

eddddy wrote: »

Yes - the style of brickwork on a house can be a good indicator (assuming it's visible).

Stretcher bond usually indicates a cavity wall:


Flemish bond usually indicates a solid wall:


Or older houses with solid walls might have English bond:



But I've seen an extension being built on a 1920s house, where the owner wanted cavity walls with a 'fake' flemish bond to match the original solid walls of the house.

I don't know how often that's done, but those brickies were really annoyed at having to chop every second brick in half.

A single 'thanks' does not do a post like that justice, very helpful advice thank you for taking the time to post the pictures and explain the likely implications.

bouicca21

I was brought up in a 1930s house with solid walls - the whole street was just the same. That did not stop at least one householder having (or believing that he had had) cavity wall insulation injected into the brick work.

It was early days for cavity wall insulation and so quite expensive. Poor chap never could work out why people were laughing ...