Three storey Victorian Terrace question

AdrianC

Owain_Moneysaver wrote: »

That staircase does not meet building regulations.

It doesn't need to meet current BR.

Did it at the time it was installed/modified? I have no idea. But one thing's for sure, there's no enforcement going to be possible against it unless it was very recently done.

So BR is irrelevant. If you wouldn't like it in your own home, then either don't buy that property, or buy it but modify it once you've bought it.

Cakeguts

I wouldn't touch that house with someone else's bargepole it is a complete death trap.



That staircase is so dangerous. In a fire when the house is filled with smoke how on earth are you going to get out? There is furniture blocking fire exits in both directions. If you go through the lounge there will be furniture in the way and if you go through the kitchen there is furniture in the way.



Has the back door been moved? All the houses I have been in with this type of staircase arrangement the back door is always a straight line from the bottom of the stairs you never have to do a diagonal across the kitchen to get out.



I hope you aren't paying extra for this death trap? You will need to take the kitchen out to sort out a fire exit from the bottom of the stairs to the kitchen door and you will have to put the walls back in on each side of the staircase.

Cakeguts

That house has to be the worst bodged doing up that I have seen on here. What they have done to it must have significantly devalued it compared to one that has not been bodged like this.

Sachs

Cakeguts wrote: »

I wouldn't touch that house with someone else's bargepole it is a complete death trap.



That staircase is so dangerous. In a fire when the house is filled with smoke how on earth are you going to get out? There is furniture blocking fire exits in both directions. If you go through the lounge there will be furniture in the way and if you go through the kitchen there is furniture in the way.



Has the back door been moved? All the houses I have been in with this type of staircase arrangement the back door is always a straight line from the bottom of the stairs you never have to do a diagonal across the kitchen to get out.



I hope you aren't paying extra for this death trap? You will need to take the kitchen out to sort out a fire exit from the bottom of the stairs to the kitchen door and you will have to put the walls back in on each side of the staircase.

Well, you could just exit through the front door rather than going down an extra floor. Very few 2 bedroom houses will have 3 exits in case of a fire.

I agree on the lower ground staircase though, the idea of going down that in socks horrifies me!

AdrianC

Sachs wrote: »

I agree on the lower ground staircase though, the idea of going down that in socks horrifies me!

Really? Why? If it's about grip, do other wooden treads equally horrify you? Or... slippers?

How often are you saved from plunging to your death off the side by the presence of banisters, in an average week?




If you like the house, bar the staircase, then installing banisters would be trivially straightforward. Some elegantly-done metalwork brackets mounted off the sides would look great, and involve zero disruption to the kitchen and minimal visual disruption across the open-plan room. If you don't like the open-plan, then panelling it off would be similarly trivial.

montymouse

eddddy wrote: »

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.

That staircase hit me in the eye as well. It looks decidedly unsafe to use as there is no bannister on either side.


It looks as though whoever put it there, or took away the original bannister, has no idea of building regs. This would be a pointer to the potential for other problems as well.

Sachs

Calidad wrote: »

Hi,

Allen Street, Maidstone, ME14
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-74869654.html

I’ve had an offer accepted on the above property.

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.

These sorts of houses are ten a penny in Plymouth, where I live. It's how Victorian/Edwardian builder dealt with hills.

Often the lower ground is converted in to a flat and the roof is converted for additional bedroom. Albeit they aren't usually as narrow as this one.

Sachs

AdrianC wrote: »

Really? Why? If it's about grip, do other wooden treads equally horrify you? Or... slippers?

How often are you saved from plunging to your death off the side by the presence of banisters, in an average week?

It's steep, looks shiney and has no handrail.

I have carpets so never these days.

AdrianC

Sachs wrote: »

It's steep, looks shiney and has no handrail.

I have carpets so never these days.

Well, having lived for nearly seven years in a house with wooden treads to the main staircase, I can assure you that I've never needed to be saved by the banisters from certain doom even once.

Nor have the banisters ever failed to save me from death. Well, a couple of times, but I'm better now.

Sachs

AdrianC wrote: »

Well, having lived for nearly seven years in a house with wooden treads to the main staircase, I can assure you that I've never needed to be saved by the banisters from certain doom even once.

Nor have the banisters ever failed to save me from death. Well, a couple of times, but I'm better now.

I commend you on your agility and balance sir.

Death is quite a high threshold though, spilling my beer and a sore !!!! are my more mundane concerns. Indeed it may be the beer that requires the sense of caution in the first place!