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.

Schindler Houses

When does an unmortgageable house fool the surveyor into thinking it is mortgageable? The photo below is of a Schindler House. These are another form of non-traditional construction, with a hidden frame, but brick external walls and a traditional roof. Like the Airey, Cornish and Wates houses shown in earlier posts, they were designated defective and cannot be mortgaged.

The problem is that the frame is well hidden and they appear to be traditional brick structures from the outside and from within the roof space. Worse still, estates where they are located often also contain traditionally built counterparts side by side. They all look the same. There is a risk that the unwary surveyor will not recognise a Schindler house from a traditional house. In the photo, the house on the left has re-built walls, indicating that it has been subject to a repair scheme. The house to the right has its original walls in situ. However, there are alternative repair schemes for this type of dwelling which can be performed from the inside, allowing the original walls to remain. Therefore it is possible that the right hand house has also been repaired. If you enter a local authority estate where some of the houses have rebuilt walls, it is a sign that Schindler Houses may be present. I'm going to rest the subject of non-traditional construction for now and move onto something else. If you've enjoyed this six part series, 'like' my page at Hallworth House Survey Education and click 'get notifications' to receive future posts of this kind on 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.

Wates Houses

The house pictured in the photographs below is of large panel concrete construction, where the panels are the height of one full storey. This one is probably a Wates house. It was located on an estate of like dwellings, now demolished and redeveloped. They are still a common sight on some local authority estates.

There will be two more articles in this series, then I will move onto a new topic. To have my posts delivered to your timeline 'like' my FB page at Hallworth House Survey Education, then click 'get notifications'.

Cornish Houses

The upper photo below is of a 'Cornish House'. It has concrete panels at ground floor level and a timber frame covered with tiles to the first floor and roof. There is also a variant type Cornish house which has floor to roof level concrete panels. A row of these is shown in the lower photo. These are known as Cornish type II and the upper example is a Cornish type I.

Like with the Airey house shown yesterday, Cornish houses are designated defective and not mortgageable unless repaired through an approved scheme. You'll notice that the left hand half of the semi in the top photo has been repaired, with modern brick walls visible in place of the concrete panels. The fact that the attached neighbour has not been repaired is usually still a mortgageability problem for the repaired house. Would be good to hear any experiences of this.

Airey Houses

Following on from yesterdays post about Cussins Houses and the earlier one about BISF Houses, in this artical I'm talking about a different type of non-traditionally constructed dwelling - The Airey House. Both BISF and Cussins houses can be mortgaged, but Airey Houses in their original state cannot. Most of them have gone now, but used to be a common sight, often in small cul-de-sacs in village locations. They are built from reinforced concrete columns, with an external leaf of concrete panels and plasterboard dry lining on the inside. Note the tile clad top to the gable end. This is a common feature of many types of non-traditional construction.

The problem was that the concrete columns were too thin, allowing moisture to penetrate, leading to corrosion of the metal reinforcement. They were designated defective in legislation and are not mortgageable on any terms. There were (and may still be) approved repair schemes, usually involving removal of the concrete components and replacement with modern cavity brick and blockwork, as can be seen on the next photo. You may notice a difference in colour of the brickwork, indicating that the reconstruction of each semi was done at different times. Once repaired in this way, the houses should be mortgageable, provided all the necessary documentation is in place.

My other posts on building defect related matters can be found on my Facebook Page at Hallworth House Survey Education. 'Like' the page and click 'get notifications' to receive future posts on your timeline.

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.