Clunch Wall

[drrayjo]

Hello everybody,

As a new member, apologies if this subject has been talked about before but I'd appreciate any feedback.

I am considering buying the following summarised property:

200 year old end terrace, 2-bed cottage
West Cambridgeshire
Artex ceilings
Economy 7
Electrics feed whole terrace (apparently!)
Needs new doors, reconditioning etc.

But here's the crunch - CLUNCH!

The building is made of this chalk substance with rendering I believe. However, the end wall shows signs of slight bulging/cracking.

Can anyone please advise how to approach this? Is it likely to be a serious financial burden to sort (more costly than the rest of the work combined (£12k ish)? How worried should one be?

Many thanks

 

[CHRIS]

I looked at a place last year just East of Cambridge that was of Clunch construction, It was part of a terrace and had allsorts of cement render and plastic paints on it which we found to be the worst thing (also the most common state) so we gave it a miss.

It was a nice place but once we found out about earth buildings and how they worked we soon realised that it could be a real problem in the future - they have been known to colapse due to incorrect renders and lack of care.

Get a proper expert to take a look at it if you are unsure and read up on other earth buildings such as cob etc

http://www.buildingconservation.com/articles/earth/earth.htm

 

[drrayjo]

Thanks Chris, sound advice.

It wasn't a certain village of Haslingfield you considered was it?!

 

[biffvernon]

One of the nice things about earth and clunch and such like is that they can be repaired with cheap and easy to use materials lke. er. earth and clunch and such like. Most of the world's houses are built from earth.

 

[Nemesis]

I think clunch does differ slightly from other earth buildings in that it is more akin to stone than mud.

If you like the place and are happy to spend time and money on it, get a survey done by someone who can advise on the seriousness of any problem, its likely cost to rectify, AND who appreciates historic buildings.

WCP maybe? They are around that sort of area.

http://www.clunch.co.uk/

 

[NT]

Clunch is a chalk stone, so you may be lucky enough to have a cavity wall there, and for it to have survived the cement render reasonably well.

Cracks and bulges are something for your surveyor to look at. Theyre not uncommon in old houses, and in most cases are no big deal - but they can be, so I'm sure you'll get it looked at.

Economy 7 is the worst heating option, so I'd at whether you could put oil CH in. I'd also look at solar space heating, which pays back well.

"Electrics feed whole terrace (apparently!)" What do you mean by that?


NT

 

[drrayjo]

Thanks Nemesis, Biffvernon and NT for your interesting comments.

I am somewhat reassured and will ask after the cavity wall situation.
We would plan to convert to gas CH if possible.

Is this who you mean Nemesis? http://www.wcp-architects.com/why.asp

Do you know if their services are dear? Am worried about commisioning an expensive survey that gives an expensive diagnosis (who isn't. Is this why noone has come anywhere near the asking price in the many months this property has been available I wonder? Maybe there’s a long line of disappointed potential buyers over the hill with negative surveys in their hands. And/Or they're just asking £20K too much.

Electrics-wise, a local told us the mains for the terrace fed in at the top corner of the problem wall(?). More alarm bells?

Thanks for any more feedback.

Cheers

Andre

 

[Nemesis]

It certainly is WCP - give them a ring and ask about survey charges?

Ask for Stephen Boniface.

Better to get people with real expertise - it could save cash in the long term. At least you wouldn't be being recommended injection damp proofing and waste of cash timber treatments for starters.

And with a 200 year old building - I suspect the walls are solid.

 

[CHRIS]

No it was in Great Wilbraham, the extensions were the main problem as the tiles on the roof were pantiles and the pitch was all wrong with bad angles and really needed a reroof with new structure and tiles.

The entire place was cement rendered with a very damp woodblock floor (i wonder why!!!)

I have used The Roger Driver partnership in Cambridge and they have a good local period property guy

 

[Nemesis]

This may be useful to read when considering buying a historic building:

(very out of date CV though!)

http://www.buildingconservation.com/articles/mortgage/mortgage.htm

 

[plumbers mate]

What's the poll for - are we to vote on whether to crack the clunch (new TV show there?) or whether the clunch should be saved?

Weird!

 

[drrayjo]

Ta guys.

Poll was just a bit of fun to get a view on whether cracked clunch is an instant big turn off in a purchase or not. That's assuming a survey says it's not just a render problem which it likely is.

Wasn't advocating taking a sledge hammer to the things!

How were clunch building constructed then, much like masonry with blocks of any othe rkind of stone? Are their plus points with clunch constructions?

 

[Nemesis]

Yup.


Plus point? Historic building! Much nicer than Barret Box!

 

[NT]

Electrics-wise, a local told us the mains for the terrace fed in at the top corner of the problem wall(?). More alarm bells?

Sounds like a non issue. The only implication is you wont be able to move that cable.


NT