How broken is your house? Make me feel better.

My flat is slowly heading for the river.  Its taken 150 years to get as far as it has tho so I am not too worried.  One of my floors has a 4″ drop in it.

We spent ages tarting the garden up when we moved in, added loads of sand to the soil so it was less claylike, bowling green lawn etc….
The new pups have turned it into a mini Bakhmut, esp with the carcasses of the toys they’ve shredded

One of my floors has a 4″ drop in it.

This was how I levelled the bed when we moved in. There was a 13cm drop along the length of the bed. We need crampons to to climb the floor to the bathroom steps (the steps are there because that’s the difference in ceiling heights between the original house and the mid-victorian extension).

Wonder how many people on here also typically contribute to the usual ‘zomg, as if you’d buy a new build house, they are so bably built, urgh so tasteless and characterless’ 😉

On the other hand my house was literally built out of bits someone could scavenge from a falling down Norman castle up the road and it’s still standing over 600 years later. Some of the beams were probably cut nearly a 1000 years ago.

My garage has been collapsing since long before we bought the house, 24 years ago. Finally got round to it this year. Someone had extended the original “loose box and carriage house” by adding an extra six feet of shonkiness without any footings. Here’s how it was a month ago.

Just the doors to sort now.

Here’s how it was a month ago.

and now project creep means its a full house rebuild!

Oh, if you want some horror stories.
Three of the houses that were considered and bid upon when we moved in.
One of them they found that large picture windows on the ground floor and one on the second had been clad/drywalled into the wall in the 1930s, so there was no proper structure behind the cladding, so a damp problem… The large rock that was supporting the central wooden column/frame for the house, that had been excavated around (by hand) to create a earth cellar some time in the 50’s could actually be wobbled by hand during the summer (due to ground shrinkage). They had to live in a caravan for a while, until the frame/rock could be stabilised

Second one (that we only lost out on by a couple of thousand quid) they found that the borehole (in corner of the basement) had actually been drilled into a spring and over the years the piping and cap etc had corroded so badly that the spring was now flowing out of the borehole about a metre below the ground, then diagonally across the foot print of the house and into a stream at the bottom of the hill. Again, they were in a caravan/parents house for 6 months. And all the budget they had for new bathroom/decorating etc was eaten up by other expenses.

Another one had a “soft” floorboard next to the ground floor fireplace, apparently easy enough to fix. Except it wasn’t just the floorboard, it was a leak in the back of the chimney that had rotted the end of the beam, errrr, several beams.
That was a bit involved. Some of the side of the house had to come off to get new beams in. Then they found some of the foundations round the outside had been undermined and were actually hanging off the bottom of the wall.

Mines needs new windows.

But I’ll take that over a Stewart Milne new build any day *

We have lived here for 12 years now so I’m ok with that situation….if I keep going with the epoxy filler they will pretty much be solid plastic shortly

* If you know you know.

Wonder how many people on here also typically contribute to the usual ‘zomg, as if you’d buy a new build house, they are so bably built, urgh so tasteless and characterless’ 😉

That would be a great point if any of these new builds had fewer defects than my “old” house!

Wonder how many people on here also typically contribute to the usual ‘zomg, as if you’d buy a new build house, they are so bably built, urgh so tasteless and characterless’ 😉

Our first house was a late Victorian semi and the second an Edwardian detached with the inherent ‘fun’ of dealing with a century’s worth of dodgy trades and DIY bodges. Coming up for nearly 2 years in our self-build in Tobermory – a few minor issues to deal with, but in comparison to the time and effort spent making the last ones half-decent, fairly trivial.

We did 5 hours of getting rid of crap this morning. Coming up to a year from MIL passing so we’ve binned a whole car full of stuff. Then went on the bike

In a 1970 2.5 bed ‘Chalet Bungalow’ (that’s my classification!) Bought off probate in ’19.
My jobs list in order of priority:

New bathroom…Urgent!
New shower room…Urgent!
Redecorate hall + replace most internal doors.

Next year:
Dig a few tonnes of earth out front of house….remodel and re-insert new front terrace.
Remove and replace collapsing walls in garden (it’s a terraced garden). Re-landscape.

Following year:
New windows all thru.
New side and back doors
New garage door + woodwork
Redecorate 2 bedrooms (one might be involving removal and refit of dormer window)

Ultimately I’d like to extend, but it may be a case of selling and moving on. Done a fair bit already (new kitchen/dining room etc) plus loads of remedial that swallowed thousands that you won’t even see, like oil tank, water tanks etc etc.

What’s recently become apparent is the original builders scrimped on the foundations….not great in a valley consisting of Green Sand as the upper layer……😬

I’ve just discovered the ‘hairline’ cracks in our bedroom wall, I always assumed were the normal type you see, have not only got bigger, but also stretch from window sill to floor level. Look like they follow the mortar lines outside, and there’s some cracks visible in the mortar too. Who do you call to check stuff like that?

We have an 1980s 3 bed detached house, so structurally sound as far as I can tell, but feels like we’re continually chasing maintenance. I felt pretty smug reading this thread in bed over a coffee this morning, planning a DIY day today, and a bike ride tomorrow.
All that changed when Mrs D_J came home with some new lino for the kitchen floor, as our 10 month old pup had ripped the existing stuff and we have visitors coming next week. The kitchen itself is long overdue replacement, a task which I’ve intentionally deferred until various other tasks are done and out of the way. The kickboards are pretty knackered, so I thought I’d nip to B&Q, grab some MDF and paint, and rattle up some temporary replacements to tidy things up. Taking off the kickboards allowed me to see underneath the dishwasher, which we haven’t used in years, along with the rear of the sink unit. I could see the chipboard floor was water damaged, so now the dishwasher has come out, revealing fairly extensive water damage to the floor, a rats nest of water pipes and a football sized hole in the floor that’s been cut out to accommodate them, and, as a bonus, the socket for the dishwasher is spurred off the ground floor sockets circuit with a piece of cable that’s simply been left loose behind the sink cabinet, and disappears off to who knows where.
Looking at it all, the most straightforward solution would be to rip out the worktop and units at that side of the kitchen, fix the floor, get a sparky in to sort the socket spur wiring, then fit new units, sink and top, but I only have tomorrow, so it’s going to have to be; ignore ring main for the moment (I can’t access wherever the spur originates from without tearing out the units), drop some thin ply over the gash floor, and then proceed with the lino and kick board task. Kitchen refit is about to jump up the list of priorities!

I’ve just discovered the ‘hairline’ cracks in our bedroom wall, I always assumed were the normal type you see, have not only got bigger, but also stretch from window sill to floor level. Look like they follow the mortar lines outside, and there’s some cracks visible in the mortar too. Who do you call to check stuff like that?

Could well still be normal. Shrinkage is a nuisance but not a worry, the hot weather last year didn’t help. Settlement would be more concerning. How wide? Is the general direction vertical or diagonal? How old is the house?

How wide? Is the general direction vertical or diagonal? How old is the house?

Hairline originally, now between 2-5mm. Largest hidden behind the radiator do I’d not noticed. Deffo changed over last 12 months.
General direction is vertical, however, a couple of the larger vertical now have hairlines horizontally joining them up. House built 1985. Affected wall is SW facing if that makes a difference.
Edit: meant to add that I can’t see any obvious signs of cracked bricks.

We exchanged on a flat 16th Jan.
Will not be doing everything but the list is/was:
Internally insulate exterior walls in 2 bedrooms and lounge including hiding new pipework
remove windowsills as reveals are now deeper, make template for new stone/corian windowsills
strip by hand all crittall windows back to galvanised and repaint
strip/sand iroku floor in lounge/hallweays and pine floors in bedrooms
remove boxing in and old radiators for plumber to fit new rads and pipework
make good all ceiling chasing on first fix electricals
remove coving in hallway and fit plasterboard ceiling
remove all skirting and fit new skirting throughout flat.
remove doorframe and extend stud wall for neater look once door frame removed
do various bits of bonding/filling ready for plaster skim
remove bathroom bits ready for new bathroom to be fitted (not by me)
go up and down in the lift to garage with what must be 60+ rubble sacks of waste/bits of wood and plasterboard
strip wallpaper and do loads of little spot repairs and making good with mortar/filler/self level/fine surface filler
a million trips to Wikes/toolstation/scfrewfix Howdens etc and being outside at 7:30am for a kerbside delivery.
repaint the whole flat including woodwork/doors etc.
oil floors.

I haven’t had any time off since Jan and do some of my freelance work in the evenings and weekends in between working on the flat, this seems like a very small refurb project which while i’m putting the hours in is taking far too long!
I’m no spring chicken and my hands/knees/arms ache depending on which job i’m doing, think i’m about 2/3-3/4 the way through now and so looking forward to being able to have my life back, how people manage with huge year long projects is beyond me, I could do the work it’s just the putting everything else on hold including relaxation that would do me in.

All of a sudden, the things I keep looking at around my house that could do with sorting are mostly cosmetic, which I’m just not bothered by. My gutters need clearing out, I’m getting a shrubbery in a couple of places, but the lady next door has a man who’s coming next Saturday to do hers, and as our houses are a pair of semi detached with continuous gutters all the way around, he just starts on one and just keeps going. Charges me about fifty quid. Nothing could make me go up there on a ladder! 🫣😖

My patio is fine, I dig grass and dandelions out of from between the slabs, and leave the violets and cowslips alone, I’m letting the grass go wild, I need to trim the hedge back a bit each side, and I must get my shower unit replaced, and the fence between me and next door, but I’ve got a mate who has his own business who’s going to do that – it’s not easy, the side path is lower on their side because the road has a slight downslope, and it’s all concrete, with a raised square of concrete with a square hole for the posts to go into, but the wood has rotted, and they are 3” holes. Probably we’ll use steel post mounts, but he’s the expert.

I could do with new double glazing, and front and back doors, but I’m waiting on details of what my pensions will give me, with a possible lump sum, so I might get those done, and if there’s anything left over, I’ll clear stuff out and let my mate loose on the decor after he’s done the fence.
I could do with a new big shed to replace the two small very old and dilapidated ones as well…

Otherwise, prevarication is the order of the day.

Oh yeah, most of the radiators could do with replacing, and maybe new kitchen units, and possibly the washing machine needs servicing. Still working, though

My gutters need clearing out, I’m getting a shrubbery in a couple of places, but the lady next door has a man who’s coming next Saturday to do hers, and as our houses are a pair of semi detached with continuous gutters all the way around, he just starts on one and just keeps going. Charges me about fifty quid. Nothing could make me go up there on a ladder!

Wow, that seems very innuendous.