What to watch for with 1920s semi-detached?

booksandbikes

We are viewing a semi-detached house that was originally built in 1928 by the local authority.

Is there anything we need to keep an eye out for on a first viewing? What was the built quality like back then? From the listing, it looks very nice and modern and well maintained. Roof was replaced 2 years ago, and all the property is fully double glazed. EPC rating is pants - it is an 'F', but we are currently in an 'E' so we hopefully have an idea how expensive it is to heat.

I'm more concerned about the sound proofing. All the living spaces are against the party wall - so bedrooms, living room and kitchen. Have read so many mixed views....some say the party wall will be paper thin, others say they are very sound proof. I've lived in 2 1930's properties before and barely heard the neighbours, but just want to see what other people's experiences are.

We would get a Level 3 survey on it, but is there anything in particular that we can keep an eye out for when we view?

FreeBear

booksandbikes said:

We are viewing a semi-detached house that was originally built in 1928 by the local authority.

Is there anything we need to keep an eye out for on a first viewing? What was the built quality like back then? From the listing, it looks very nice and modern and well maintained. Roof was replaced 2 years ago, and all the property is fully double glazed.

Look for evidence of lintels fitted over the ground floor windows/doors. As with 1930s properties, the original frames could well have been providing support for the outer leaf of brickwork. Remove the old frame, bung in a uPVC without a lintel, and the brickwork above will slowly start to collapse.

Build quality will be no better or worse than your current house, and likely suffer from the same types of issues.

RelievedSheff

Our last house was a 1937 ex local authority semi and the sound insulation was absolutely atrocious. You could hear everything, and I mean everything, that was going on next door.

It was a design issue with this particular house type. The party wall was single brick thick with floor and ceiling joists running into the party wall. The living room and main bedroom also ran along the party wall.

It drive us insane. Unfortunately due to the housing market dip of 2007/2008 we ended up stuck there for 13 years before the house price had come up enough and we had paid enough off the mortgage to have enough equity to move.

Do whatever you can to check out the noise transmission situation before committing to any purchase.

Do not underestimate the affect on your state of mind that living with constant interruption (and not all intentional) can cause.

youth_leader

I fully agree with checking out the sound insulation.  A friend was in a semi detached and could hear every sound from next door through her hall wall, it ruined her peace.

booksandbikes

FreeBear said:

Look for evidence of lintels fitted over the ground floor windows/doors. As with 1930s properties, the original frames could well have been providing support for the outer leaf of brickwork. Remove the old frame, bung in a uPVC without a lintel, and the brickwork above will slowly start to collapse.

How can I see evidence of lintels? Is it just checking that the brick work isn't sagging or cracking? Is it a case where if the windows have been replaced recently, then lintels would have been put in at the same time? 

booksandbikes

Oh boy, the noise thing makes me nervous. The EPC says it has cavity walls, assumed to have no insulation. Would the party wall be cavity then - which may help with sound insulation?

No idea how I will be able to thoroughly check the sound insulation before committing, short of one us going around to the neighbours and asking him to make some noise. 😅😬

Albermarle

The poor EPC rating is probably because the outside walls are solid brick walls .( Nine inches thick). Cavity walls only just started to come in around that time, and were not widespread until the 1930's as far as I know.
Structurally it is not an issue, but they are not great at keeping the heat in. You can insulate them inside or outside, although I think the latter is significantly more expensive

FreeBear

booksandbikes said:

FreeBear said:

Look for evidence of lintels fitted over the ground floor windows/doors. As with 1930s properties, the original frames could well have been providing support for the outer leaf of brickwork. Remove the old frame, bung in a uPVC without a lintel, and the brickwork above will slowly start to collapse.

How can I see evidence of lintels? Is it just checking that the brick work isn't sagging or cracking? Is it a case where if the windows have been replaced recently, then lintels would have been put in at the same time? 

If you look carefully along the top of the window frame, you might see the edge of a lintel poking out. Cracks and sagging of brickwork would be a reasonable indicator that a lintel is missing.

Albermarle said:

The poor EPC rating is probably because the outside walls are solid brick walls .( Nine inches thick). Cavity walls only just started to come in around that time, and were not widespread until the 1930's as far as I know.
Structurally it is not an issue, but they are not great at keeping the heat in. You can insulate them inside or outside, although I think the latter is significantly more expensive

Something that is quite common (certainly on houses in *this area) from the 1920s & 30s is a mixed construction. Cavity walls on the lower half (typically around 50mm), and solid 9" walls on the upper half. The solid brick being rendered to cover the use of cheap bricks. The other giveaway is window reveals are noticeably shallower upstairs at around 150mm. Insulating these walls certainly pays dividends, and if done internally, the loss of 50-75mm is not noticeable.

Brie

We were in a 1930ish semi which was quite sound.  Biggest problem was the other side's roof that had been done cheaply so ended up leaking along the seam.  Fortunately that effected them more than us.  

Other problems - gas pipes aren't up to current standards so when we had the boiler replaced they had to find a way to work round this (new pipe was on the outside of the house).  Wiring was a bit dodgy requiring a new fuse box etc when we had the kitchen redone (fortunately there was no gas in there!). 

The only problem we had with sound was that our first neighbour other side of the wall had hypersensitive hearing and hated the fact that our clock radio was set for 5:45 and it could wake him up resulting in him banging on the wall and shouting at us.  (no they weren't up to anything else)  The only time it bothered us was a few neighbours down the line who were doing a major reno of theirs sometimes up to 10 pm on a Saturday night.  Had to go round and ask them to stop with the heavy machinery as we couldn't hear our TV.  The reno also involved replastering on their side which meant sanding the wall.  We couldn't hear anything but out cats were fascinated by what they thought must be a very big mouse somewhere - they stared at the wall for hours!