No-fines Concrete Houses

Another form of non-traditional construction in residential dwellings is no-fines concrete. The most common type is probably Wimpey No-Fines. There is also Laing Easi-form which is similar. Both are so named after the developers who created them. The walls are formed from concrete poured into a timber frame. Once set, the timber is removed, leaving the solid walls cast in situ. The concrete was of a special type with an aggregate of round pebbles and no fine particles, hence the name 'no-fines'. The design resisted damp penetration as rainwater simply dripped off the pebbles and was unable to pass through to the interior due to the absence of any finer particles.

From the outside they look like typical post war semi detached houses with rendered walls. A matching rendered concrete chimney stack can be an identifying feature, but not always. Some of them have brick bays on the front. For a definite identification you need to look at the inner face of the gable end wall in the roof space. There you will see the round pebbles, as described above and shown in the photo below.

Usually the Wimpey no-fines is accepted for mortgage purposes. I have heard that the Easiform ones can be more difficult to mortgage due to known defects, but there are none in my area, so not had experience of them. If you've had dealings with a Laing Easiform house, it would be great if you could comment below. If you've been enjoying this week's articles on non-traditional houses, please 'like' my page at Hallworth House Survey Education and click on 'get notifcations'. Future ones should then go to your timeline.

BISF Houses

Few non-traditionally constructed houses can be as easy to notice as these when in their original state. They are BISF houses. 'BISF' stands for British Iron and Steel Federation. When I was as a student of surveying houses a long time ago, I was told that 'BISF' stood for British Industrial Steel Frame, but have not heard that term since, so don't use it. They were built in the early post war years when there was a shortage of traditional building materials. They have concrete walls at ground floor level and a metal frame above with metal panels bolted on. The roof structure is also a metal frame and is covered with metal sheets (or sometimes asbestos cement panels in the early days). The photo below was taken a long time ago and shows examples of the original metal windows.

Unlike the Airey, Cornish and Wates houses discussed in my earlier posts in this series, BISF houses are not designated defective in legislation and can be mortgaged, but obtaining a mortgage on one can be difficult as they are subject to limited lending criteria. Typically, this used to be 75% loan to value, which means that the buyer must stump up 25% of the purchase price in cash. Most are found on local authority estates. Consequently relatively few found themselves into private hands through the Right to Buy scheme. Market values are usually always less than a comparable traditionally built house however. From an investment point of view, you may get a good return, if you can get a mortgage on one.

One half of the pair of BISF semis shown above appears to have walls reconstructed in modern brickwork. Did not inspect this house myself, but suspect this is a brick cladding over the original metal frame. Unless all the houses on the estate are treated in this way, there is no way of disguising the history of the dwelling. Such works are unlikely to be cost effective. Many BISF houses have been clad with external insulation. This gives the houses a more modern and traditional appearance and improved thermal resistance of the walls. I'll doing further posts on non-traditional housing, each briefly examining some of the most common types. All can be found on my Facebook Page - Hallworth House Survey Education. If you have an interest in this subject, are an investor or regular buyer of houses, keep in touch as I am sharing lots of information that you'll find interesting. If you look up the Page on Facebook, 'like' the page and click 'get notifications' from the menu, they should appear on your timeline. Enjoy reading.