Three storey Victorian Terrace question

Calidad

Hi,

I’m just wondering if anyone has any insight/opinion regarding the fact that part of the property is below street level? I’ll be carrying out a survey shortly, but given that the house next door is also exactly the same, I imagine it was originally designed as a three storey house? There is a door at the ground and lower ground level to the front, with steps between both levels externally. At the back, access to the garden is at the lower ground level via a couple of steps and a patio.

I therefore wouldn’t consider this a cellar and all the things associated with it, I.e damp, tanking etc?

Thanks in advance for any info.

AdrianC

Ground level in front of the property is higher than ground level below. It's not underground, so it's not a cellar. There's no exterior ground-contact front wall on that lowest floor - just a retaining wall in front of the patio.

Calidad

AdrianC wrote: »

Ground level in front of the property is higher than ground level below. It's not underground, so it's not a cellar. There's no exterior ground-contact front wall on that lowest floor - just a retaining wall in front of the patio.

Can you just explain what you mean by the last sentence? Sorry, if a silly question. Thanks.

LandyAndy

:eek::eek: Those stairs though :eek::eek:


Between the kitchen and the 'dining room'. :eek:

davidmcn

Calidad wrote: »

Can you just explain what you mean by the last sentence? Sorry, if a silly question. Thanks.

Which bit don't you understand? The front wall of the house isn't touching the ground under the pavement. There's a retaining wall at the back side of the pavement, and then a sunken area in front of the basement window. Given there's a back door at the basement, I presume it's a similar arrangement round there.

AdrianC

Calidad wrote: »

Can you just explain what you mean by the last sentence? Sorry, if a silly question. Thanks.

Go and stand on the inside of the front wall, on that lowest floor. What's the other side of it?

Air, not soil.

Tanking is done to prevent water coming through a wall with soil on the other side of it. The wall opposite, the other side of the patio, may have water come through it - but nobody cares, because it's a garden wall, and the inside is not in a room that's expected to be warm and dry.

eddddy

FWIW, that staircase doesn't look like it meets current building regs.

Is it an original staircase that's been refurbished? Or is it new?

It may be an indication that the house has been refurbished (walls removed etc), without building regs.

You might want to get a surveyor to look at that, and maybe expect to have to get indemnity insurance to keep your mortgage lender happy.

Calidad

Thanks for the info everyone. Understood.

Re: the staircase, knowing what I do from similar properties I have seen/viewed, it would have always been there, but I guess the walls have been removed at some point. I’d like to put some sort of glass rail up actually. I’ll make a point of any issues relating to the staircase in the survey though thanks.

need_an_answer

seriously there needs to be something encasing those stairs...they may look pretty or unusual or wacky or whatever...but its going to hurt if you were to stumble and dive over the side.

eddddy

Also, the back door(s) look like they are in a well below ground level. You need to check that there is adequate drainage for surface water in that well.

For example, when it rains, does water from the patio area drain down into that well, and potentially flood into the kitchen and/or utility?

(I guess you should also check drainage in the basement area at the front of the house, but it doesn't look like water from the pavement can flow into it.)

Owain_Moneysaver

That staircase does not meet building regulations.

And in a 3 storey house the staircase should be a protected stair meaning the wall between the front reception room and the hall should also be present and there should be doors between all rooms and the staircase. At the moment fire from the kitchen will be up that staircase and trap people in bedrooms.

I'd also want to see an engineer's report on the corbelling of the kitchen chimney breast.

Something of an absence of radiators and power points too.