How to spot non-standard construction?

Ogriv

I went to view this today:
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-48385329.html

I suspect it's of non-standard construction, and therefore hard to get a mortgage on.
But how to tell?

It's clearly not made of brick.
Under the render I think I can see the outlines of large blocks.
So what is that material?

(I'm not that bothered about this flat, just curious.)

boliston

I like that retro style building opposite :cool:

macman

It'll be some kind of breeze block. Hardly unusual and not going to be a mortgage issue.

stator

It's very difficult for flats as you don't have access and there isn't really a 'standard construction' for large blocks of flats anyway. A steel framed house is unusual but a steel framed block of blats isn't unusual.

Get access to the loft space if you can. You can see what the walls are built of in there.
Look at the construction of the roof itself from the inside. There may be significant cross braces missing in early NTC
Look for the date it was built, that'll be a big clue if it's 1940s-1960s there is a higher risk of NSC
Look at the roof, flat roofs are more common on NSC
Look for cladding or shingles on the external walls. If there are large vertical areas of either it usually means that that wall is a non-load bearing wall that may be single layer brick or timber frame with cladding on top. This would indicate a cross-wall construction (aka rationalised traditional). Not necessarily problematic, depending on the exact design. Later designs had more support than earlier ones which were just two load bearing walls and two timber walls.
Also if looking at houses look for whether the windows and doors are the same width and line up. If they do it might be steel framed.

Look at images of PRC houses online and make yourself familiar with what they look like. These are the worst types of NSC and are often unmortgagable.

Cakeguts

Is this an ex council flat? It also looks as if it might have been a studio flat or some walls have been moved because it was never built with a kitchen that shape. If it has had walls removed you will need to check that they had permission from the freeholder to do it.

Ogriv

boliston wrote: »

I like that retro style building opposite :cool:

Yes I like the church and the greenery too.

(I've actually just offered on somewhere else entirely.)

Ogriv

macman wrote: »

It'll be some kind of breeze block. Hardly unusual and not going to be a mortgage issue.

That's interesting. So breeze blocks are considered 'standard'? Is that by a lot of lenders?

Ogriv

stator wrote: »

It's very difficult for flats as you don't have access and there isn't really a 'standard construction' for large blocks of flats anyway. A steel framed house is unusual but a steel framed block of blats isn't unusual.

Get access to the loft space if you can. You can see what the walls are built of in there.
Look at the construction of the roof itself from the inside. There may be significant cross braces missing in early NTC
Look for the date it was built, that'll be a big clue if it's 1940s-1960s there is a higher risk of NSC
Look at the roof, flat roofs are more common on NSC
Look for cladding or shingles on the external walls. If there are large vertical areas of either it usually means that that wall is a non-load bearing wall that may be single layer brick or timber frame with cladding on top. This would indicate a cross-wall construction (aka rationalised traditional). Not necessarily problematic, depending on the exact design. Later designs had more support than earlier ones which were just two load bearing walls and two timber walls.

Look at images of PRC houses online and make yourself familiar with what they look like. These are the worst types of NSC and are often unmortgagable.

So PRC is NSC, but would breeze blocks (I think macman might be right) be ok for lenders then?

(I've offered on a conventional build yesterday; I'm just interested in NSC as I quite like modern buildings.)

Ogriv

Cakeguts wrote: »

Is this an ex council flat? It also looks as if it might have been a studio flat or some walls have been moved because it was never built with a kitchen that shape. If it has had walls removed you will need to check that they had permission from the freeholder to do it.

I didn't get the sense it was ex-council actually. The freeholder is a firm of developers who are very well established in the area, so presumably they are responsible for the shape as they own the whole building and the flats are newly refurb'ed.

(I actually offered on a brick build yesterday, so I'm just asking my original question out of curiosity.)

Davesnave

Ogriv wrote: »

That's interesting. So breeze blocks are considered 'standard'? Is that by a lot of lenders?

All lenders will consider that a house with cavity walls and breeze blocks in the outer/inner skin, or both, is of standard construction. There is nothing remarkable about it. The external finish will hide this anyway.

Nowadays, the inner skin will tend to be thermal blocks, which one can cut with a standard hand saw.

EachPenny

Ogriv wrote: »

It's clearly not made of brick.

Just because we cannot see the bricks doesn't necessarily mean it isn't brick

Davesnave wrote: »

Ogriv wrote: »

That's interesting. So breeze blocks are considered 'standard'? Is that by a lot of lenders?

All lenders will consider that a house with cavity walls and breeze blocks in the outer/inner skin, or both, is of standard construction. There is nothing remarkable about it. The external finish will hide this anyway.

Nowadays, the inner skin will tend to be thermal blocks, which one can cut with a standard hand saw.

Agreed. Although a better way of describing the construction material is 'concrete masonry unit' which means 'bricks made from concrete', rather than clay or stone.

There are various kinds of CMU, ranging from 100% concrete (dense and heavy) through to lightweight 'thermal' blocks which are made of aerated concrete, a bit like an aero bar. Breeze blocks are a specific type of CMU, usually containing a high percentage of ash as a bulking material, though the name is often applied to any type of block in a similar way to the word 'Hoover' gets used as a shorthand.

Aerated blocks are extremely popular as they combine strength, thermal and sound insulation, light weight, and easy use (try cutting dense concrete blocks with a hand saw ). In fact I'd go as far as saying few modern houses or flats will be constructed without any aerated blocks in them somewhere. Very much 'standard'.

Edited to add:

The difference between 'bricks' and 'blocks' only relates to the size of the unit. Bricks are small, blocks are big. You can easily buy 'concrete bricks', but buying blocks made from clay is not so easy as clay doesn't make good blocks, unless they are very hollow - which makes manufacturing difficult.