Right, me and my missus are closing in on a house that ticks most of our boxes BUT one of the outside walls didn't quite tick the 'four walls' box. It had two doorways that had been brieze-blocked up. They'd left it as they would have put a conservatory on if they were staying. Now, the seller said it would cost £600-800 to render. What I want to know is this: will the brieze blocked sections be more draft/damp prone and is rendering just a way of covering up a bad job?

I'm really hoping someone'll say, "Nah, that'll be fine," but would appreciate if we're forewarned of any potential pitfalls. Ta.

Surveyors would tell you but you'd get a long way in (financially) before you got an answer. IS it enough to stop you buying the house? Or would you just like to knock something off the price to get it fixed. Getting the price reduced as a result of a survey is common.

Don't

cheers jonb.
any particular reason RaveyDavey? Or does it just sound a bit iffy?

All depends on the type of construction, the detailing and the type of what you call 'brieze-block'.

Ask your surveyor to comment specifically on the item. Don't see why you would be any 'further in' than you would be going through the process of purchasing.

As for the cost how big are the doors? £600 is two and a half man days and a few CUBIC metres of render. Tops £100 to render two filled in doorways.

cheers mk1fan. The costing was for the rear wall as a whole; it's currently brickwork with two door-shaped breeze block sections so for it all to match i guess the thought is to render it all. I've no idea why they didn't brick the gaps up.

I've no idea why they didn't brick the gaps up.

cost & time

Cant see it being an issue, lots of extensions are just rendered breeze block, and without seeing it the price also sounds about right, do you have any conservatory plans yourself?

Why not pop some doors in yourself, its quite reasonable to buy double glazed stuff if you look at the right shops, and will take you a day to fit them yourself, its pi55 easy, or its only a days labour for a proper fitter (once you opened up the hole) Obviously there will be some finishing to do inside too.

eg, I bought some french doors (big ones) and 2 windows recently for £800 and fitted the lot myself in a day… However I had made the holes to fit the size door and windows that I bought.

tinsy, thanks! It's nice to have a positive perspective 🙂

From what i can make out the bloke in the couple who are selling is a mountain biker (and a builder) and they'll be moving next door.

As they're just next door i think i can rely on them to give me the truth about structural issues and so on. My other concern is that he's planning to 'develop' the house next door and we'd be living next to a building site for a year….

If that's the only thing stopping you it's pretty minor as house choosing decisions go. My checklist goes something like: Price? Location? Neighbours? Size and layout? Suitable man cave/garage/cellar? Structurally sound? Cosmetics?

New uPVC door sets (door, frame, threshold) run at about £350 a pop, and are a doddle to fit. If you were'nt going to reuse the openings I'd rather see it bricked up in a matching brick than render a wall, though if rendering it's a good time to add insulation, especially to a brick house without cavities.

Is this niggle just an excuse because really you haven't fully fallen for the house and you want to keep looking?

Ask to look at his plans for the ne house. Will his developmet of that house impact living in yours? Are you going to be overlooked all the time? Will you still have sunlight in your garden?

As for the wall, builders have just knocked an old house down and rebuilt a new one near me. All rendered breeze block construction as far as i can remember. House looks stunning now its all painted. Done right, you've nothing to worry about.

(I'm no builder tho, so if it all fall down dont blame me!! 😉 )

new row of houses round the back of here are made purely of rendered ply

are the breeze blocks cavities (ie two skins with a gap in between)? What do they look like on the inside

Bricking it up in a matching brick is doable but its not easy, obviously you cant just fill the hole like it has been with the breeze, you would have to first find the matching brick (will it match?) and you would have to knock out all the half bricks around the frame so your new ones tie in… when its all done you will still see the differnt brick and mortar as unless its a pretty new house as nothing will have weathered in…

On a plus side of him doing up next door, as long as your happy with his plans, it will only lift the look and value of your house too if next door is done up nicely, should you want to sell later on its nicer if next door isnt a knacker.

All good points. Yep, the older brick will be hard to match without trawling round reclamation yards to find 'nearly matching' stuff. Rendering might well be the answer but it'll be a pain in the arse so I might use it as a lever in negotiations.

Is this niggle just an excuse because really you haven't fully fallen for the house and you want to keep looking?

lol. I keep asking myself the same thing. My missus loves it, my little girl did, i'll be taking my boys to see it next weekend but I suspect they'll love it as there's more room in the garden. I think it's okay.

My favourite was one we saw that had breathtaking views. So what if one of the kids would have had to have a room the size of a shoebox? 😉

Even if you found an exact match for the brick (doubtful unless it's brand new) there's booger all chance you could match the mortar so you would be able to see where the doors where for many years to come.

Nothing wrong with block/render construction as long as the render is done properly. An extension to our house (which was done before we bought it) has had to be partially re-rendered as it hadn't bonded properly. Not a massive deal though.

You could replace the blocked doors with windows if the room needs it (presuming the doorways have been done properly with lintels etc.).

If you buy the house make sure you measure the locations of the 'doors' before rendering and note it down somewhere it's not going to get lost. You never know when knowing exactly were the openings are could come in handy.

For £800 you could brick up the openings with bricks and re-point the existing brickwork to match.

As for getting matching bricks – why not get them from next door when they do their 'development'? You'd only need about 200/250.

Hmm, windows, bricking up and repointing sounds a good idea. Getting the bricks from next year is a great idea! It's a different style but similar era and (from memory) mostly brick.

if he's a builder just ask him to sort it – (with a door/ window. matching brick/ render – whatever you want) as a condition of your offer

thats what I would do – why bother trying to DIY when you've got a builder right there who could be persuaded to do it for free (to enable him to sell his house)

if he's a builder just ask him to sort it

it crossed my mind – we've only met his missus so far so i might sound him out on it when we go for a second viewing