House purchase render stress

[carozd]

Hi all,

The house I was hoping to buy was already a stretch, but the L3 survey plus local (Cambs/fenland) period building experts are saying removal of concrete render and internal plaster and redoing with lime is important. I've read on this forum and historichouses etc so understand why it's important but any ideas on keeping the costs down? (£10k outside, or more if one wall is lunch, £3k inside 1 room, other room not yet known due to bookcases), plus £3-5k for a french drain and that's before internal decor choices like bathroom, kitchen and beam renovation! https://www.cheffins.co.uk/resident...-lane-isleham-cb7-33225145?s-location=isleham

Thoughts welcomed on costs and ways to reduce them!

 

[aockenden]

Yeah, the easiest way to reduce cost is to do it yourself.

Barring that, depending on who you get quotes from, repointing in lime instead of re-rendering in lime MAY be cheaper.

Or you can take the approach of removing the cement and reinstating the breathable lime on EITHER the inside OR the outside surface of the house, which is vastly better than having neither side of the wall breathable.

Or you could specifically target problem areas for redoing in lime and leave areas without any problems as-is. This might be the bottom meter of the ground floor walls, or only the cold north side, or only the mouldy corners of the room, etc.

 

[carozd]

DIY not an option but all your other suggestions are very much worth looking into! Thank you for your time!

 

[larry]

Also get plenty of quotes. I was gobsmacked how much quotes varied for rendering, from £3.5k to over £10k.

If doing inside consider adding insulation again the same time e.g. wood fibre. Makes a big difference.

 

[alexander]

like any older property the best bet is do as much as you can yourself, older property's tend to be money pits taking years to get them back to a healthy state generally after years of abuse by previous owners.

 

[carozd]

DIY not an option for us, my husband has a terminal illness so will be completing the purchase, getting the big work done and then moving him in. Yes I'm very much feeling the money pit and considering backing out/cutting losses.

 

[Drayton]

It's the wrong time of the year for external limework and it can take time for them to get to you, though you do have a quote from someone, at least.

Period houses, specially those in need of major works, sap one's mental energy and resilience at times as well as attacking the bank balance. In the circumstances it might be worth a careful reconsideration. Unless it is liveable in its current state, perhaps?

All the very best to both of you, whatever you decide.

 

[carozd]

Yes aware it needs to be 8 (I think) degrees or warmer but unlikely to even exchange before end of Feb it is absolutely livable - someone is living there - and is the only way we can get a house big enough for our 5 dogs (renting for a decade, using newly released pension as a deposit) so not a lot of other choices! Thanks for your thoughts though - I can quite see how draining it will be!

 

[Drayton]

OK, that makes sense. I hope it all goes well, then. And we'll see you whereabouts for quite a while, I suspect...

 

[aockenden]

Period houses, specially those in need of major works, sap one's mental energy and resilience at times

Absolutely spot-on.

 

[a twig]

Going to try and phrase this as delicately as possible - my apologies in advance if this causes upset, but given the situation you are in with your husband (and obviously not knowing the details) it might be worth taking a view on how quickly the render work needs to be done.

If the house isn’t suffering from horrendous damp problems which would have negative health impacts the necessary re-rendering could be put off until a future time.

Sounds a very difficult situation - hope it all goes as well as it possibly can.

 

[carozd]

Going to try and phrase this as delicately as possible - my apologies in advance if this causes upset, but given the situation you are in with your husband (and obviously not knowing the details) it might be worth taking a view on how quickly the render work needs to be done.

If the house isn’t suffering from horrendous damp problems which would have negative health impacts the necessary re-rendering could be put off until a future time.

Sounds a very difficult situation - hope it all goes as well as it possibly can.

Non-delicate is fine! No the damp is definitely not horrendous- meter read 22 but aware of the arguments against using a meter to tell and only internal sign is paint starting to flake so not a health hazard. The Internal price is doable, it’s the external that was v significant costwise so maybe the way forward is internal first then wait a year and reassess.

 

[CliffordPope]

I agree - it's a very long term process - so long that you might just as well say it's a continuous never-ending process. It's not like getting a list of 5 things the building society says are needed and then doing them in a few months. It took us 25 years before we got the old render removed, and nearly 40 to get the water supply properly sorted. Some time in the next few years we may have to update the sewerage system - that is, put one in, to replace the hole in the ground untouched since about 1880.

Good luck.

 

[carozd]

That’s really reassuring!!!!

 

[carozd]

That’s really reassuring!!!!

And hilarious- 1880 if it isn’t broken lol

 

[Lacan07]

Hi all,

The house I was hoping to buy was already a stretch, but the L3 survey plus local (Cambs/fenland) period building experts are saying removal of concrete render and internal plaster and redoing with lime is important. I've read on this forum and historichouses etc so understand why it's important but any ideas on keeping the costs down? (£10k outside, or more if one wall is lunch, £3k inside 1 room, other room not yet known due to bookcases), plus £3-5k for a french drain and that's before internal decor choices like bathroom, kitchen and beam renovation! https://www.cheffins.co.uk/resident...-lane-isleham-cb7-33225145?s-location=isleham

Thoughts welcomed on costs and ways to reduce them!

The surveyor can report all he wants but are there any visible signs of damp in the building? I would imagine some of the 'heritage' survey experts have a bit of 'tick' when it comes to modern materials on old buildings regardless of what's going on within the structure.

Having said that, and without wanting to repeat whats already been said, if this house is a stretch in the first instance then i'm not sure taking on a period property would necessarily be a wise move. Old houses are money pits. The works that have been proposed are incredibly labour intensive and expensive and the tradesmen to do the job (properly) are scarce. In this game the cheapest quote is often a red flag.

 

[carozd]

There are clear render cracks and 2x people who would be qualified to do the work + the surveyor all agree on it but the only visible internal sign is a little flaking paintwork (not damp to the touch, adjoining bookcase books are fine.

I’m totally hearing the message about the moneypit! For us the same money on a post 1900 house leaves us either without garage or without a study for my remote working, and generally without a garden big enough for our 5 large dogs, and a difference of about 50 sqm (less on modern buildings) so the reasons for buying are very much space related and we’ve not seen anything else we would easily fit into. That’s the perils of downsizing from a huge rental but not being elderly or of an age to downsize! What we can afford in ‘normal’ houses is a very small box! And this will be fantastic once internal beams, floors, kitchen and bathrooms are redone…. (there’s hope!!) And obviously we both really love the house…

 

[Lacan07]

There are clear render cracks and 2x people who would be qualified to do the work + the surveyor all agree on it but the only visible internal sign is a little flaking paintwork (not damp to the touch, adjoining bookcase books are fine.

I’m totally hearing the message about the moneypit! For us the same money on a post 1900 house leaves us either without garage or without a study for my remote working, and generally without a garden big enough for our 5 large dogs, and a difference of about 50 sqm (less on modern buildings) so the reasons for buying are very much space related and we’ve not seen anything else we would easily fit into. That’s the perils of downsizing from a huge rental but not being elderly or of an age to downsize! What we can afford in ‘normal’ houses is a very small box! And this will be fantastic once internal beams, floors, kitchen and bathrooms are redone…. (there’s hope!!) And obviously we both really love the house…

Having just looked at the listing you linked it looks perfectly liveable and with no internal signs of damp theres an argument for just leaving as is and getting on with your lives. Quite frankly if it were me i wouldn't even bother redecorating.

What exactly are the surveyors agreeing on, that there's a few cracks? They don't know jack sh*t about whats going on with that building.

 

[carozd]

All agreeing that cracks= damp over time (esp when combined with internal non-breathable plaster. I’m definitely of the black beams + red carpets = pub ilk, and the kitchen and non-pictured bathrooms really really do need redoing (I have a container full of reclaimed oak cabinets ready to go!) as kitchen cabinets are hanging off and carcasses are shot. On the plus side upstairs the red carpets seem to hide nice already oiled wooden floors so that’s a plus! The original building is the rectangle of upstairs and the reception rooms, then there are 4 stages of extensions comprising kitchen, bathroom and 2 conservatory areas. That open stud work isn’t original.

 

[Lacan07]

All agreeing that cracks= damp over time (esp when combined with internal non-breathable plaster. I’m definitely of the black beams + red carpets = pub ilk, and the kitchen and non-pictured bathrooms really really do need redoing (I have a container full of reclaimed oak cabinets ready to go!) as kitchen cabinets are hanging off and carcasses are shot. On the plus side upstairs the red carpets seem to hide nice already oiled wooden floors so that’s a plus! The original building is the rectangle of upstairs and the reception rooms, then there are 4 stages of extensions comprising kitchen, bathroom and 2 conservatory areas. That open stud work isn’t original.

So in other words they're guessing that in some point in the future you might experience damp issues. Honestly, that profession is money for old rope.

Does any of interior look like it was recently painted / decorated? Sometimes people like to hide things before a sale.