Cussins Houses

This is a follow up post, following my article about BISF houses, back in January. BISF houses are easy to recognise. Another metal framed house you may come across is the Cussins house. These are much less common. A photo of one is shown below.

At a first glance, they appear to be traditional brick, but looking more closely, you can see the bricks are stacked rather than laid in the usual way. Then you'll notice vertical and horizontal joints. In fact they are not brick, but concrete panels with a brick effect design, bolted onto a metal frame.

It may be possible to get a mortgage on a Cussins house, but expect very limited lending criteria. It is also likely that the obtaining of a intrusive structural report will be a condition of the mortgage. The frame extends down to ground level, where there is a risk of corrosion. They can also suffer from failure of the fixings between the panels and frame. It would be great to hear from anyone who has had experience of a Cussins house! Next, I will post about non-traditional houses that you will not get a mortgage on, so look out. To see previous posts on building defects check out my Page at Hallworth House Survey Education. If you click 'like', then 'get notifications' then future posts should appear on your timeline.

BISF Houses

The first thing to recognise when inspecting a house is whether or not it is of traditional or non-traditional construction. A traditionally built house may be described as one constructed from bricks and mortar. An example of a non-traditional house is one built from a concrete or steel frame with small or large panel walls. There are many, many different types. Spotting one is obvious in most cases, but not always.

The photo below is of a BISF house. BISF stands for British Iron and Steel Federation. 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).

Obtaining a mortgage on one can be difficult and they used to be subject to limited lending criteria. Perhaps someone could update me on that. Consequently relatively few found themselves into private hands. Market values are usually always less than a comparable traditionally built house. From an investment point of view, you may get a good return, if you can get a mortgage on one.

I'm doing a number of posts on non-traditional housing from today. All can be found on my Facebook Page - Hallworth House Survey Education. If you 'like' the page and click, 'get notifications', they should appear on your timeline. Enjoy reading.