Single skin extension

[LisaSmith]

Hello

My first post - I suspect the first of many :lol:

We're currently in the process of buying a house which is in a great area/fab garden. However, our surveyor sounded very sombre about the single skin extension (first floor back bedroom, downstairs bathroom and kitchen). I know it's their job to be sombre about things like that, but he says it needs demolishing and rebuilding at a cost of around £40k.

We're planning an extension at some point anyway, both backwards and to the side so we could probably rectify at this point.

In the meantime, is this something we should be seriously worried about? Are there other ways we could deal with it without starting all over again? What problems are we likely to face apart from inevitable cold?

Incidentally, the mortage valuer didn't seem too worried and are prepared to go ahead with the loan.

Thanks for any advice!

Lisa

 

[Ian Bond]

Without the details of construction, age and condition of the extension it is not possible to make a constructive reply.

Other than, if someone told me it was necessary to knock down and rebuild part of a house I was about to purchase, I'd want to do some serious negotations on the price....

And if I was the vendor, and had lived with the extension for X years with no problems I'd have a few things to say about that! None of them repeatable here without some serious censoring.

Are the concerns due to an old extension not meeting modern standards of insulation etc? Even if you weren't under a legal obligation to improve matters, it would be wise to do so, and I doubt it would cost anywhere near 40K to upgrade the insulation.

Are you planning on pulling the extension down anyway at some point, and re-building it bigger? And would you be likely to get planning approval?

I know of cases where people bought houses with a view to extending them, and neighbours objected and stopped it - there was not formal planning approval, just a verbal (worthless) assurance it was all OK from the vendor.

 

[LisaSmith]

Thanks very much for taking the time to reply.

The house is Edwardian but I haven't seen the full surveyors report yet so I don't know all the details - I'm just going on a phone conversation we had about the extension last week. You can see there is a bit of damp in the corner of the downstairs bathroom. I think I'll stop fretting until I've seen the full document!

That said, single skin extensions seem to be a fairly common problem with this type of property - have heard people just line the inside for insulation purposes. But if I did that, would that be sufficient? I mean, would I ever be able to sell the property again?

Extending - yes, we would like to extend at some point, but no firm plans -and like you say, we'd need to apply for planning permission.

We did manage to negotiate a good discount though!

Best wishes

Lisa

 

[L1zzy]

This is a tricky one as I too of course have no detail. But I too have a 'flimsy' extension its actually one course thick of unplastered breeze blocks - they're made to look more aesthetically pleasing because they're painted - mmm nice! and the roof? (you'll like this! ) its sort of marine ply with a cover of wide sheets of roofing felt all held to the original Greenstone outer wall of the house with various things like black bitumen and lead and mastic etc - it looks really fetching .... as you can guess i love it!!

The reason I tell you this is because you are not alone,I very much doubt that 40k is the correct price for replacement sounds pretty high to me (I mean don't people build entire houses for this kind of dosh? Also perhaps the surveyor is merely speculating that (of course) you will demolish this ....EVENTUALLY - they do this and because they're experts' we think we have to follow what they say immediately - but in reality its a job that can probably wait till you have lived there awhile and have a clearer idea of your priorities of work perhaps? After all if theres only a bit of damp in one corner the house isn't going to fall down is it?

Hope this has helped?

 

[LisaSmith]

Thanks Lizzy for your heart-felt reply! I'm feeling a bit more relaxed about it now - the vendor has lived in it happily for years. The house clearly isn't going anywhere just yet.

I agree with you about living in the property for a bit. We won't have any ready cash to sort it/do an extension for a few years anyway.

And besides, we have the crummiest house ever in Spain - with caves! We get lots of damp there - to the extent that we had to throw a mattress out recently :roll: . Also it features a very haphazard breeze block extension that functions very adequately as a kitchen. So the UK house is positively luxurious in comparison really...

Thanks again

Lisa

 

[NT]

If he can give a specifi reason why it needs demolishing I would be taking that seriously. If its just beacuse its 4" wall I would not. Whole houses are built of 4" walls and most survive.

4" walls have poor insulation and a higher incidence of structural problems than 9". If it needs repointing, dont leave it, keep it in good nick. As long as its stable initially, then maintained and insulated there should be no problem at all.


NT

 

[TheWaddy]

Can i ask how you have got on with this? Have an opportunity to buy a single skin character cottage, with no signs of damp... has been drastically reduced purely because 2 attempts at people getting a mortgage have been declined due to the construction. I know many of the major lenders wouldnt do single skin, so this does not in my book necessarily make it unmortgageble. Can i ask which lender was prepared to do yours? I would be buying cash, but would be much more comfortable about it, if i knew of mortgage providers prepared to lend on it.