Anyone bought a renovation project house?

[jojo2910]

Thanks everyone for your help. Unfortunately what they meant by full renovation was pull it down and start over again, which is not what we want or can afford. The house had major subsidence amongst other things...

One day we'll get the smallholding or mansion with large garden we want for pennies. The same day hell freezes over I suspect.

Here it is - 3 bedroom detached house for sale in Dunster Road, Keynsham, BS31

[taff]

nah, you just have to keep looking. A lot of houses are cheap [relatively speaking] now. Widen your search area
My parents came to visit last week, and they were telling em about a 3 bed terraced just round the corner from them, sale price - 35,000.
If I could commute from here, I'd have bought two

[Potstubsdustbins]

Unless I am mistaken that build is 'No Fines' poured concrete, circa 50s/60s. Only one piece of advise on this style of build, stay away. A lot of council houses were built this way and it is now very easy to spot those still owned by the council, they have been reskined in brick.

If you have funds in place try property auctions.

Colin

[chris]

I'd love to do it, my wife isn't keen at all though. 35k? Flipping heck, if one came up like that here I'd twist her arm at that price!

[Snadger]

Unless I am mistaken that build is 'No Fines' poured concrete, circa 50s/60s. Only one piece of advise on this style of build, stay away. A lot of council houses were built this way and it is now very easy to spot those still owned by the council, they have been reskined in brick.

If you have funds in place try property auctions.

Colin

I agree with you on this one Colin!
You would struggle to get a mortgage anyway on a house that was built of this material.
A friend of mine lives in a similar home and if he drills the wall to fasten something to the wall he may or may not get a good fixing depending whether he hits an air pocket or a hard/soft bit of concrete.
What they are basically selling is a plot of land with a dodgy house on it that if knocked down COULD be big enough to build TWO new houses on it if you could get planning permission.
Leave it to the venture capitalists!

[Glutton4...]

WOW! That is one fugly house!

Hope you're not too disappointed. Better luck next time.

[Potstubsdustbins]

If it is 'No Fines' and I am pretty sure it is JoJo shouldn't be disappointed he should be very happy he is not going any further with this one.

An original design by Wimpy the idea at the time was to build large stocks of social housing with the limited use of skilled labour, a reusable wooden former was filled with a continous pour of 'No Fines' concrete to form the outer skin.

If no renovation work as been done he would end up replacing the ground floor as this was made of shale covered with tiles, tiles that contain a small amount of asbestos. Then the windows would need replacing and usually a new outer skin would be needed to improve the insulation properties.

No as I said before stay away.

Colin

[jojo2910]

Thanks. I had no idea what 'No Fines' was or that it even existed. Then again I know so little about buying houses. I agree it is more a building plot with a house on it. Onwards and upwards.

[jojo2910]

P.S How do you tell a house is No Fines just by looking at it?

[Snadger]

Here's a few pointers:-

Wimpey no-fines house - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Basically............if its rendered you need to find out what the rendering is covering!

[Potstubsdustbins]

JoJo,

Bit difficult really as many builders used the system and all were slightly different though there are some common visual give aways and other clues.

The most obvious is the outer finnish that looks like a very coarse pebble dash at the time it was left in its natural finnish but 1000,s have since been painted. Also some builds had wooden facing put on them.

If the windows are original they will be metal frame as are the ones in your picture.

If its a Wimpy build they usually have brick work up to the DPC, thats a dead giveaway.

The roof in your pic is typical of the type of roof on a 'no fines' build.

Time of build, though some were built in the 1940s most went up in the 50s & 60s.

The ground floor is always solid, sometimes finnished with brown mastic asphalt, sometimes with tiles, but never a wooden construction.

If your suspicous look in the loft and you will see the top of the cast concrete walls.

To give you some idea of the problems encounted with this type of build, you must inform your house insurance company when trying to insure this type of property.

Colin

[Hilary B]

The only thing on that list of 'things to look out for' that isn't pretty common in 'proper' houses is the evidence in the roof (often the best guide to all sorts of possible peculiarities).
What really makes the poured concrete house a no-no for most people is, you tend not to be able to get a mortgage on it!
When reading a survey report, not any comments about 'unable to inspect', it means exactly what it says, and in some situations it is a warning (for instance, vendors who don't want their carpets moved, even at the edges, may be hiding something). Often things that cannot be seen can be deduced by a surveyor. If buying a historic/old house, look for comments about 'typical for age'. If they aren't there, and the report is very critical, it might mean that the surveyor is unaccustomed to houses of that type, ad is comparing it to the standards normal in a brand new one.
An old house will NEVER be the same as a new one, and attempts to make it so often trigger problems later on (possibly decades later, problems have now come to light in some really old houses modernised in the '60s).