A house from early 18s - what should we check?

Emily_Joy

... apart from the heating bills and council tax

We are considering a 200+ years old house the current owners took good care of. It doesn't appear to have problems of this one, but it doesn't have a garden or garage. It has rather large front yard where one can comfortably park and a back yard surrounded by a brick wall. The back yard is paved at the moment and is overall in a very good condition. It is on a relatively large road (but not a major road). The windows on the ground floor are half opaque, so the lounge is not really overlooked. EPC rating D (before the current owners bought it EPC was F, they replaced, in particular, all windows). We have level 3 survey in hand and it doesn't show any major problems - the estimated cost of recommended work is under 8K. It is a spacious 3 bedroom end of terrace.

propertyrental

Just be aware that houses of that age need more ongoing maintenance than new builds.!

Mine is 1856 (yes, it's in Latin in a plaque above the door!), and I seem to have small jobs every year: Replace slipped tiles, re-paint window frames or soffits, clear drains or the French Drain around the exterior wall to prevent damp proof course being breached (yes, there's a slate dpc which works fine). and so on

etc etc

I too had a level 3 survey and it was very useful. Not for re-negotiating price, which most people here seem to think is the purpose of every small fault identified..... but as 3 useful 'To Do' lists:

* immediate jobs, whether maintenance or improvement
* medium term jobs ie within a year
* long term jobs to get round to in due course.

stuart45

What's the roof covering and walls construction? E.g. Slate roof and brick walls?

FreeBear

Any sign of an injected DPC ?

If so, there will probably be a waterproof render/plaster on the inside to a height of ~1.2m and will push moisture up the wall. To fix the problem once any underlying damp issues are sorted will be hugely damaging and expensive.

What works are being recommended by the surveyor ?

Emily_Joy

stuart45 said:

What's the roof covering and walls construction? E.g. Slate roof and brick walls?

Yes, slate roof and brick walls.

Emily_Joy

FreeBear said:

Any sign of an injected DPC ?

What works are being recommended by the surveyor ?

I confess I wouldn't recognize the signs of DPC. What are they?

Recommended work:
1. replace all slipped/damaged slates
2. render to the external elevations is hacked off and replaced
3. rebuilt right hand boundary wall

lookstraightahead

Mine is 1850s and I absolutely love it. It's not huge so the cost is manageable. It was updated about 15 years ago.
There's a lot to learn - that's the main thing I think. You have to treat it with tlc and nourish it properly (like if you're trying to be fit and healthy), so you need to think about breathable paint, uneven walls and enjoy quirkiness. Lots of things will have to be made bespoke as the average new build stuff will probably not fit (thinking doors etc).

When I moved in the best advice I got was to wait a year before doing things - see how it copes each season. I'm glad I did as I don't need a new kitchen I can update the old one, I don't need new floorboards and I don't need a new boiler yet!

Also it depends whether you want to recycle or buy new things - an old house lends itself well to recycled items like furniture. 

It can be expensive so do your homework. We had a level three survey and also we had access to a structural engineers report.

Don't buy it because it looks nice. But it because you want to live in it.

ps - some back yards made excellent Mediterranean terraces.

SadieO

propertyrental said:

Just be aware that houses of that age need more ongoing maintenance than new builds.!

Mine is 1856 (yes, it's in Latin in a plaque above the door!), and I seem to have small jobs every year: Replace slipped tiles, re-paint window frames or soffits, clear drains or the French Drain around the exterior wall to prevent damp proof course being breached (yes, there's a slate dpc which works fine). and so on

etc etc

I too had a level 3 survey and it was very useful. Not for re-negotiating price, which most people here seem to think is the purpose of every small fault identified..... but as 3 useful 'To Do' lists:

* immediate jobs, whether maintenance or improvement
* medium term jobs ie within a year
* long term jobs to get round to in due course.

Our 1930s house that we've just bought is relatively a baby, not even 100 yet!! But this was exactly our attitude to getting a L3 survey too. We were (pretty clueless) FTB so it's really useful to have a clear list of what to do, maintainance wise, and what we need to budget for in the short and long term. (Nothing too bad, thankfully!) 

Emily_Joy

lookstraightahead said:

It can be expensive so do your homework. We had a level three survey and also we had access to a structural engineers report.

Don't buy it because it looks nice. But it because you want to live in it.
ps - some back yards made excellent Mediterranean terraces.

Thanks - I am in the process of doing my homework. At which point have you got structural engineer report?
The back yard here indeed would make an excellent Medierranean terrace.

TripleH

Worth knowing when things were upgrades (pipework and replacing lead) is a good example.

If you buy, worth keeping on the good side of vendor and compiling a record of when major jobs were done so you know when they need doing again etc.

I assume the roof has been re-done recently(ish) and has insulation?

Emily_Joy

TripleH said:

Worth knowing when things were upgrades (pipework and replacing lead) is a good example.

If you buy, worth keeping on the good side of vendor and compiling a record of when major jobs were done so you know when they need doing again etc.

I assume the roof has been re-done recently(ish) and has insulation?

EPC says the roof is  pitched, 100 mm loft insulation. Information about upgrades can be obtained from the vendor? (There are a few recommendations in the survey to check with the vendor this kind of things).