1970s houses - are they any good?

[wherebee]

13 minutes ago, spunko said:

Depends on your school of thought. A 4ft hedge will reveal who is or isn't in, from the roadside.

if you are too poor to afford a house dwarf to walk around all day and night, that's not my problem.

[JoeDavola]

11 minutes ago, wherebee said:

if you are too poor to afford a house dwarf to walk around all day and night, that's not my problem.

@Option5 mentioned his contracting day rate before and it's a bit high even for a wealthy young man like @spunko!

[leonardratso]

isnt it about time you filled up these big houses with a few or 5 kids?

[Joncrete Cungle]

10 hours ago, wherebee said:

A tall hedge is a plus for an intruder as they can operate out of sight of the road.  The best is a pickly hedge about 4 feet tall - stops people getting through, but if they work on windows or doors they can be seen.

The Hawthorn hedge keeps intruders on the road side. You would have to be mad to try and force or cut your way through it. Many easier targets within walking distance.

[spunko]

2 hours ago, leonardratso said:

isnt it about time you filled up these big houses with a few or 5 kids?

It isn't really that big, 1900sq ft. My current house is 1450 sq ft. I think somewhere around 1700 would be ideal, big enough to have people over without it being cramped.

Anyway, I drove past this house today to have another look. Noticed that the plot next door has been fenced off, presumably the vendor used to own it but they're going to flog it separately, so it'll have a poxy little garden. Typical really! Not for me... I will keep looking.

(Who decides to move during a recession and when there is the lowest supply for 30+ years? I do).

[leonardratso]

25 minutes ago, spunko said:

It isn't really that big, 1900sq ft. My current house is 1450 sq ft. I think somewhere around 1700 would be ideal, big enough to have people over without it being cramped.

Anyway, I drove past this house today to have another look. Noticed that the plot next door has been fenced off, presumably the vendor used to own it but they're going to flog it separately, so it'll have a poxy little garden. Typical really! Not for me... I will keep looking.

(Who decides to move during a recession and when there is the lowest supply for 30+ years? I do).

not on about people over, on about pullng your finger out and having some of your own bratz to fill up your house and make you miserable and broke the same as everyone else. (with brats).

PS. its all good until they get to 13-14-15-16-17-18 then its really hell.

 

[spunko]

Just now, leonardratso said:

not on about people over, on about pullng your finger out and having some of your own bratz to fill up your house and make you miserable and broke the same as everyone else.

Well I wouldn't rule that either, but it seems unlikely, as F150 likes to remind us all .

[leonardratso]

3 minutes ago, spunko said:

Well I wouldn't rule that either, but it seems unlikely, as F150 likes to remind us all .

hahaha he also likes to remind us that the age of the car is over, when he goes off on one of those rants i just get that 70s or was it 80s tv advert pop into my head with jimmy saville 'This is the age ..... of the train' and then an intercity 125 chugging along at 12mph, but that then just reminds me of the time they ran a dirty old deltic into a nuclear canister to prove it didnt split or leak.
 

Anyway i digress, why would you want such a large house unless you were planning to fill it up at some point, seems a bit  of a waste of resources for just 1 person, not to mention maintenance, the land i can understand though.

[spunko]

21 minutes ago, leonardratso said:

hahaha he also likes to remind us that the age of the car is over, when he goes off on one of those rants i just get that 70s or was it 80s tv advert pop into my head with jimmy saville 'This is the age ..... of the train' and then an intercity 125 chugging along at 12mph, but that then just reminds me of the time they ran a dirty old deltic into a nuclear canister to prove it didnt split or leak.
 

Anyway i digress, why would you want such a large house unless you were planning to fill it up at some point, seems a bit  of a waste of resources for just 1 person, not to mention maintenance, the land i can understand though.

I wouldn't say it is that large. I am looking for a 3 bed detached which is what I've got at the minute (2/3 bed).

That house I listed above is 3 bedroom. But they've converted the downstairs dining room to a bedroom so call it 4 bed. Cheeky cunts.

I rented a 5 bed house for a bit, hated it, too big.

[Ash4781b]

Aside from the usual  - asbestos everywhere comments (edit more just that’s what survey I expect will say). There maybe a pristine wood parque floor laid on bitumen under the carpet downstairs. Not a game changer but nice bonus. 

[spunko]

Just an FYI for anyone. You can look up the "Gypsy and Traveller provision" from your local council, they have to publish this every 10 years IIRC.

Just to highlight how it varies massively, the area I want to move to (borough) is Rother in E. Sussex.

That is 12 pitches, according to the last available date. Not sites, pitches i.e caravans. There are 0 reported unauthorised ones in the entire borough.

For comparison the Borough I live in now, in Kent, has ~400 pitches. And it is not very far away at all from Rother.

(I know someone in the local council here and she told me my Borough council need to find another ~250 pitches by 2031 too).

[CVG]

On 23/11/2022 at 21:10, spunko said:

I will sell my car if I move there, and cycle without a helmet everywhere, it is the DOSBODS way.

 

[Frank Hovis]

On 24/11/2022 at 13:30, spunko said:

Just an FYI for anyone. You can look up the "Gypsy and Traveller provision" from your local council, they have to publish this every 10 years IIRC.

Just to highlight how it varies massively, the area I want to move to (borough) is Rother in E. Sussex.

That is 12 pitches, according to the last available date. Not sites, pitches i.e caravans. There are 0 reported unauthorised ones in the entire borough.

For comparison the Borough I live in now, in Kent, has ~400 pitches. And it is not very far away at all from Rother.

(I know someone in the local council here and she told me my Borough council need to find another ~250 pitches by 2031 too).

 

In Cornwall 56 in the old mining areas in inland west Cornwall and 10 plus another 16 somewhere bleak by Liskeard.

Or well out of the way of most people.

Residential Sites

Cornwall Housing manages 3 residential sites in Cornwall with 66 pitches in total.

• Boscarn Parc - 32 pitches
• Wheal Jewel - 24 pitches
• Fordown Park - 10 pitches

The sites are managed and maintained by Cornwall Housing and applications should be made through the Homechoice system.

South Treviddo Transit Site

The South Treviddo transit site is located on the A38 two miles north of Liskeard just off of the junction for Looe. The site can accommodate 16 caravans depending on the size of each unit and the number of accompanying vehicles.

 

https://www.cornwallhousing.org.uk/about-cornwall-housing/gypsy-and-travellers/

 

I can't find it now, maybe they have stopped publishing it, but the fees for these sites - pitch and water supplied - were fairly eye wateringly high with, unsurprisingly, high levels of arrears and bad debts.

The rates charged really aren't encouraging people to use them.

The transit site near Liskeard has been barely used at all last it was reported.

[Bricks & Mortar]

I work in building maintenance.

My favourites, for durability and low maintenance, are 30's to 50's.  I find these fairly standard, brick, cavity walls, and well roofed using traditional methods.

60's and 70's - they were under pressure of rising labour and material prices and government promises to build more houses.  , they got creative.  Early timber frames.  Chipboard.  Softboard.  Using untreated wood instead of treated because of material shortages - (that problem might extend to any material - I know of one house where they used asbestos sheets instead of plasterboard during a shortage in the 60's).

You can get lucky in the period too.  Maybe they got the right blend of traditional techniques and modern alternatives and it all worked out fine.  There are some late 70's timber frames near me, where the frame elements were made in a factory, complete with plasterboard on the inside and all stuffed with straw.  Has held up and has an insulation value too. 

Warrants a good survey.

[Bilbo]

Just another thought l. If you get an older house the chances are you won't have a social home next door.

[Bricks & Mortar]

PS - the lady with the asbestos for plasterboard house paid for a good survey, but they missed it.  Apparently, because it's hidden behind wallpaper.  I could tell you the difference just by knocking on it like you would a front door.  Has more of a 'ring' to it.

[wherebee]

4 hours ago, Bricks & Mortar said:

PS - the lady with the asbestos for plasterboard house paid for a good survey, but they missed it.  Apparently, because it's hidden behind wallpaper.  I could tell you the difference just by knocking on it like you would a front door.  Has more of a 'ring' to it.

surely not a problem though as long as you are not going to fuck about with it via renovations?  Just leave it there being all asbestosy and no problem for a hundred years?

[Bricks & Mortar]

28 minutes ago, wherebee said:

surely not a problem though as long as you are not going to fuck about with it via renovations?  Just leave it there being all asbestosy and no problem for a hundred years?

Yeah.  Not a problem unless you want to fuck around with renovations.  Like, hanging a picture, putting up a curtain rail or upgrading the electric rings to more than a single socket per room.

Fortunately, the owner plans to gut the place at some point.

[spunko]

Bit of a different note but I am viewing an old barn shortly. Still unsure if I can be arsed to move, if this barn isn't right I'll probably sit on it for 6 months and see. Anyone every done a barn conversion - either lived in or renovated please? I know they have high ceilings as I work in one , so they're not easy to keep warm.

Not listed thankfully. But needs a lot of work.

 

[Chewing Grass]

That's not a barn, its a timber shed thrown up by a bloke in wellies who shagged Long Eared Leicester's and had a soft spot for Gloucester Old Spot's.

[One percent]

On 23/11/2022 at 20:42, spunko said:

I assume it is almsot impossible to tell if a builder is shit from photos and really you are already moved in by the time you find out there's been bodging. All a bit of a lottery. The good sign is that it's in a a fairly salubrious town so hopefully they didn't use cowboys. 

It isn't helped by the fact there is no history with this property that I can find, it has been owned by the same family since new. And it looks like a probate so the people who might have done DIY work are no longer with us

 

My house was built in the 50s. Everyone that comes to work on it tells me how well built it is. That might though be local urban myth. It does have tongue and grove on all the downstairs floorboards 

[belfastchild]

59 minutes ago, spunko said:

Bit of a different note but I am viewing an old barn shortly. Still unsure if I can be arsed to move, if this barn isn't right I'll probably sit on it for 6 months and see. Anyone every done a barn conversion - either lived in or renovated please? I know they have high ceilings as I work in one , so they're not easy to keep warm.

Not listed thankfully. But needs a lot of work.

 

Fuck sake, there are houses in better condition in the donbass.

[Ash4781b]

1 hour ago, spunko said:

Bit of a different note but I am viewing an old barn shortly. Still unsure if I can be arsed to move, if this barn isn't right I'll probably sit on it for 6 months and see. Anyone every done a barn conversion - either lived in or renovated please? I know they have high ceilings as I work in one , so they're not easy to keep warm.

Not listed thankfully. But needs a lot of work.

 

How much is that ? £1mn ?

[OurDayWillCome]

My house was built in the 70’s - the locals have told me it was built by a famous architect. A very unusual design - no load bearing walls and an enormous steel beam in the attic to allow for the odd angles of the roof. I have sympathetically renovated it - still has the feel of the original, but looks sharp and modern in a non-tacky way. Would love to post a photo but it’s a well known property in my area - all the other houses are Georgian. I get to live in a modern house in an Article 4 conservation area - bonus!

[One percent]

21 minutes ago, OurDayWillCome said:

My house was built in the 70’s - the locals have told me it was built by a famous architect. A very unusual design - no load bearing walls and an enormous steel beam in the attic to allow for the odd angles of the roof. I have sympathetically renovated it - still has the feel of the original, but looks sharp and modern in a non-tacky way. Would love to post a photo but it’s a well known property in my area - all the other houses are Georgian. I get to live in a modern house in an Article 4 conservation area - bonus!

Can you pm it to some trusted dosbods?  I would love to see it.