Is a 1930's bungalow likely to be cavity wall?

[danlightbulb]

No reason why it shouldn’t have a cavity, albeit a narrow one given the width although at 250mm wide it would be on the narrow side.
Those plugs at the base of the wall look suspiciously like an injected damp proof course.

Windows look alright, rub them back and redecorate. If they are hardwood have a look at linseed paint, it is significantly better than most others particularly for wood since it penetrates the material. It is more expensive but will last a lot longer.
The bead between the pane and the frame; to be honest you could probably leave until you have the money to replace them, you might be able to find a firm who can recondition them if you’re set on doing something.

The cylinder size will depend on how many people are in your house, a 200L one won’t go too far with four people but if it’s just the two of you it would be ok.

Is an injected dpc a problem? I didnt see any obvious damp in the house but the walls needed replastering in some places.

Only me living there, one bathroom only, currently no shower fitted. So I guess 200 litres would be enough. Id probably just go for whichever option is cheapest to do. A cylinder would fit straight in place of current one and keep existing boiler whereas a combi boiler would need additional pipework running to it. 200 litre easyflo cylinder about £700 online ready plumbed. Fitting about the same again? Compared to combi swap about £2500? The bathroom is in desperate need of refit but Id have to sort the hot water solution first.

 

[Entai]

Most places were, but Portsmouth was cutting edge at the time (I have no idea why mind!) but they are well built houses!

Pretty much all because of the dockyards and the Navy, going right back to the Thirteenth century it has been one of the most important dockyards in Britain, and was cutting edge in many areas.

 

[danlightbulb]

Pretty much all because of the dockyards and the Navy, going right back to the Thirteenth century it has been one of the most important dockyards in Britain, and was cutting edge in many areas.

Interesting though this is, dont really need to know about the construction history of portsmouth. Any more opinions on house condition?

 

[SeatIbiza]

Interesting though this is, dont really need to know about the construction history of portsmouth. Any more opinions on house condition?

It's interesting for me - Thanks Entai.

Back to yours. On your second pic of the wall with the rake on the right, is that the ground level on the left - a step?

There is no doubt that those are injection holes. If the ground level is that, then the injection is even more pointless. A DPC should be a minimum of 150mm off the ground level or it simply will be bridged by rain splashes. If your width was 250-280mm then likely it is a cavity wall which questions the chemical DPC even more.

I can't see a physical DPC in those pictures and without some destructive testing, you won't see it. The question is: is it below or above the ground. It's not uncommon to see Mr Dampman install their "DPC" above the physical one. I've even seen it drilled into engineering bricks (which are the DPC) which is baffling!

Make your bathroom bigger and change the cylinder and leave the rest.

 

[Entai]

Interesting though this is, dont really need to know about the construction history of portsmouth. Any more opinions on house condition?

Well personally from all your questions, I would say you have two choices.

1; Buy it and live with it and sort things as you go, hoping nothing ends up a major issue.

2; get a full level three building survey done, probably between £500 and maybe £2000 depending upon size of house, and how detailed you want it to be.


I've bought many places and used to pretty much always got with number 1, because I loved project houses and I or friends can do any work needed.

However now, getting to old for all that, I just always get a survey, and decide if am buying or not, or negotiating lower price, depending upon result.

Yes its extra cash up front but worth it in the long run, the guy have been using for over 7 years, has never missed anything as yet, I often manage to get a fair few grand off the price after what he finds.

 

[danlightbulb]

Back to yours. On your second pic of the wall with the rake on the right, is that the ground level on the left - a step?

If you look at the 2nd wall pic with the very dark red bricks. Look 2-3 courses down from the riveted bricks and you will see a thicker line (just behind that little green weed). I am taking that to be the physical DPC. The ground level varies around the house with the back being slightly higher. If you look at the 1st wall pic (showing the gas pipe), the thicker mortar line is 3 courses up from ground level. At the very front of the house, the thicker mortar line is about 5-6 courses up. The 'riveted' brickwork is consistently 2 courses higher than this thick mortar line all the way around the house.

That thing that looks like a step was just a chunk of rock/slab which someone had put there.

Well personally from all your questions, I would say you have two choices.

1; Buy it and live with it and sort things as you go, hoping nothing ends up a major issue.

2; get a full level three building survey done, probably between £500 and maybe £2000 depending upon size of house, and how detailed you want it to be.

Thanks, yeah I would definitely go for more than a basic valuation survey.

The house is a detached bungalow with a later rear extension. All being on one level means I should find most maintenance work/project work relatively straightforward. No lifting of floorboards to get to electrics etc.

There is a mining report with the house which shows 3 shafts within 20m of the boundary, there is nothing near to the house though or within the plot itself.



Its hard to decide. I don't mind a project but after handing the deposit over I won't have a lot of cash left. When I first bought houses I didn't think too much about the possible risks, but now Im older Im being more cautious for some reason.

The biggest job I'd want to do is to build a front driveway but the front garden is elevated from the road so will need a retaining wall and digging out of the area.

I can't decide if Im taking on too much.

 

[danlightbulb]

Does anyone have any high level ideas for how to improve the frontage of this house please?

https://www.google.com/maps/@52.553...4!1s9c8RiR4f0VUHatMzKF5XMQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656




Its elevated from the road and I would like to make off road parking there. This would require a retaining wall about 1.5m from the house itself, potentially restricting the accessibility of the front door.

The house is angled compared to the road, so the off road parking would have to be triangular in shape.

 

[thezappa]

Paint the walls a different colour would probably be the cheapest option.
You could put a climbing plant against the wall if that’s your sort of thing.
More expensive options could involve putting a porch over the front door. Plus also changing the door itself but that’s going to be about £1k for a decent composite one.

As for parking; the section on the right appears to lend itself most readily to a parking space. If you do that though you’ll have to drop the kerb and get someone to do the landscaping, councils charge a a set amount for that (the kerb), check the council website, they should the cost on there.

 

[Mcnumpty2323]

House on left looks like did it with a retaining wall
How has the house on the right done it
Without one?

 

[danlightbulb]

Yeah I'd be painting the house and getting rid of that red colour. Cant afford to change the doors straight away, its already a small porch area behind that first door.

The dropped kerb would be £1k+, but I wouldn't do this immediately. The kerb is not too high so can be driven over.

Even the deepest section on the right is not deep enough for my Mondeo estate car (5m long), at least not whilst trying to keep the retaining wall a reasonable distance from the front of the house. I would be resigned to parking longitudinally so room for just one car.

The section to be dug out would be approx 8m wide by 5m back at the deepest point, 2m at the narrowest point, to a depth of around 0.6-0.8m. This would be around 20-25 cubic metres of ground. Then a retaining wall would be needed at the back of it parallel to the house and some steps put in probably on the left side. I reckon this is a £10k job if getting someone in (?) which I don't have so I'd be looking to do it myself. I don't mind digging but this may be a step too far, I just can't decide.

House on left built retaining wall, but they did so right up to front door level so its about 4ft high. This house has an extra set of steps up to front door, which if kept, would reduce the height of retaining wall needed to I think 2.5 to 3 ft max.

House on right didn't need major landscaping as is fairly level with the road already, which is sloping downhill to the left.

 

[Dis86]

I'd worry more about the door and windows than the garden.

 

[Mcnumpty2323]

Is off road parking an absolute neccessity?
See no yellow /double yellow lines
So if able to park in the road
as said by dis86
Other things should take priority of your time and money
And would imagine if the kerb wasn't dropped then driving over it would be illegal
And any one blocking your driveway~once you had one~would be perfectly entitled to do so
Plus any neighbours don't like you driving over the kerb/pavement might be an issue

 

[danlightbulb]

Yeah I could park in the road I guess. I know lots of people do it or have no choice. Ive just always lived in houses with driveways. The house does have a rear access up a lane between two houses and then round the back. But it would be a hassle doing that everyday and walking across the back garden with the shopping bags. I know, first world problems...

@Dis86 do you think the windows are poor? I know the paint is flaking but I couldn't see any rot. Anyone know how much a replacement bay window of that size would be? Its kind of a shame to get rid of good hardwood and put upvc in its place.

Re the dropped kerb. All the houses in the street have driveways, but one a bit up to the right has put a bit of wood up the gutter to help his car up it. If I did park in the road, I'd be parking half on the pavement in any case, the road isn't that wide.

 

[Dis86]

@danlightbulb I'd do it for security and thermal properties rather than just aesthetics. You can get new hardwood instead of upvc.

 

[Mcnumpty2323]

The wood at the window doesn't look bad if it's all like that
Just a rub and a stain if it's all sound
Thin double glazing though
But better than none
If on a tight budget Replacing that would be another
Do I really need to do that right now job
Like driveway
Yeah people put wood in the gutter to make it easier to go over the kerb
Doesn't make it legal though
And 2 wheels on the pavement because the road is narrow is a tricky one
Some places ignore it
Otherwise ambulance, fire, engine, bin lorry etc can't get past~bit of common sense as long as not making pedestrians walk in the road
Other places won't ignore it

 

[danlightbulb]

I think this area would be the kind of place that would mostly ignore it. Whilst this particular road has mostly drives, the surrounding streets are a mix. I wouldn't want to bring down the look of the road for everyone by parking on the street. Plus I like my privacy.

Its really tough decision. Im not going to find a detached house with a large garden like this for my budget. It needs work and Im unsure on some of the more technical aspects of its condition (i.e the damp proofing, the construction type). Buying any house will take most of my cash at 10% deposit, and I can't find anything already completely modernised anyway, even in a much smaller semi or terraced. Well there are one or two around but they either have tiny gardens or no garages etc.

Just worried about stretching myself too far. Its took 4 years to save the deposit and I only got most of that through matched betting. There is no more where that came from.

 

[Mcnumpty2323]

The repair /renovation I would look at it like
Jobs that absolutely Must be done to make the place liveable
Jobs that would look nicer but could wait because of the cost ~like new windows
Reasonably cheap jobs I can do myself ~filling holes, decorating etc
Jobs that while would be nice to have like a drive would destroy your budget
I get the fact that this place is a great property in your budget
Obviously needs modernisation which is why it's in your budget
But you need a plan of work
Between what's absolutely essential
And what's something that you would like
To me parking on the street ~for the time being at least~compared to the cost of a small driveway wouldn't even be given a second thought if it meant I could have the house

 

[danlightbulb]

The place is habitable now. Aside from a shower. A cheap electric shower could be fitted for a few hundred quid and a simple pole mounted shower curtain.

Couple of minor repairs to roof tiles and guttering at the back.

I would say though the bathroom is first big job on the list. Its green and really ugly! But to do the bathroom properly I would need to sort the hot water supply as currently not enough hot water pressure for a thermostatic shower. Thats where the combi (or unvented cyl) comes into play. The disruption means I'd have to do those jobs first.

The bathroom and one of the bedrooms are very dark, being at the back of the house and partially obscured by the rear extension that has been built. So I was thinking a sunpipe to each room.

Then internally it is plastering, carpets and decoration needed in every room.

I'd need to fit a dishwasher, rest of the kitchen is fine for now.

Loft ladder and boarding.

And driveway.

 

[Mcnumpty2323]

Main thing is it's habitable now
Watertight would be top of agenda any tiles and guttering
Even if it's not a lot of tiles /guttering
Still top of my list
Water ingress should always be sorted/stopped from happening quickly
Hot water supply/pressure would be next
If going to do major stuff in bathroom
I would leave doing shower until then
Assuming there's a bath lol
And get the shower tray /screen then
Not much point slapping a shower and curtain up first of going to rip tiles off etc
Got a nice 10kw mira shower in the cupboard somewhere
If you were near me you could have it
Wasn't used much then had bathroom done ~but they wouldn't refit it because they hadn't supplied it~ended up with a much cheaper one
A lot Depends how good you are at diy
And how much time you have to do the stuff you could do instead of paying some one
Being able to do some work yourself obviously saves money
And a dishwasher is down there at the bottom of the list with a driveway lol
That's a few hundred quid could be used for something more useful

Look at it this way
If you don't go for it will you always regret it?
If you make even a reasonable improvement you are going to raise the value and could even be in a position to sell for a profit
And use that to get further up the ladder

 

[a1ex2001]

The wood at the window doesn't look bad if it's all like that
Just a rub and a stain if it's all sound
Thin double glazing though
But better than none
If on a tight budget Replacing that would be another
Do I really need to do that right now job
Like driveway
Yeah people put wood in the gutter to make it easier to go over the kerb
Doesn't make it legal though
And 2 wheels on the pavement because the road is narrow is a tricky one
Some places ignore it
Otherwise ambulance, fire, engine, bin lorry etc can't get past~bit of common sense as long as not making pedestrians walk in the road
Other places won't ignore it

Unless you are in London it isn’t illegal to park on the pavement so nothing to ignore.