How is my house built and why does it matter?
From the time of the first hunter-gatherers, homes have been built from the natural materials found in the local environment. At first, they were simple affairs designed to provide protection from predators and the weather and over time houses have developed immeasurably in their complexity. For many years, the construction methods used for properties in Britain were largely dependent on the wealth and status of their inhabitants, from the simplest huts made of soft wood, mud and grass, through to the very grandest stone-built castles and palaces.
During the Tudor period, brick began to be used in Britain for the first time since the Romans but only for the very wealthy and powerful, with Hampton Court Palace being a fine example. Around the time of the industrial revolution, house building in Britain began to boom. This was helped by the development of new technologies, mechanisation and improved transportation but still local materials were preferred, with differing local stones quarried and differing local clays used to make bricks which gives different parts of the country very distinctive characteristics in their property design and outlook.
The Georgians and Victorians saw an emerging middle class and booming working populations moving to large industrial cities, resulting in the mass construction of brick terraced housing. But still, most of the building materials used would usually come from within a 20-30 mile radius of where the houses were being built.
This all began to change after the World Wars when there was a shortage of bricks due to the need to rebuild after the Blitz, in order to provide homes for heroes and the burgeoning baby boom generation. Other building methods were needed, and quickly! This led to the development of different concrete and metal construction types and the further industrialisation of the house building process as systems were developed that allowed houses to be mass produced off-site in factories and then transported to be put together quickly where needed. Unfortunately, some of these prefabricated construction types were found to be flawed and brick remained the construction method of choice for most privately built houses in Britain from the 1960s onwards.
By now, brick houses had now also moved on from having walls of the solid 9-inch-thick brick used in the Victorian and Edwardian periods to walls with two leaves of masonry separated by a cavity which helped improve insulation and resistance to the weather. The technology used to construct the inner-leaf load-baring structures began to change too, as materials such as aerated concrete blocks and frames made of timber were used instead of traditional brick.
The increasing need for energy efficiency and the demands placed on the construction industry by the environmental crisis has meant that housing technologies have continued to evolve. Anyone who regularly watches Channel 4’s Grand Designs TV show will know that a range of Modern Methods of Construction have been developed to combat the environmental challenges now present and provide us with energy efficient homes. Most of our large-scale developers are still to embrace modern methods of construction, but the ever-increasing demands for energy efficiency in the building regulations, mean that it is only a matter of time before new houses built predominantly with masonry will become a thing of the past.
So again, how is my house built and why does it matter?
Identification of house types can sometimes be difficult with some technologies disguised to look like others. Different technologies are sometimes combined within the same property as houses can be altered substantially from when they were first built. Surveyors learn to pick up on clues within the construction when inspecting properties which can help them identify how it was built. These can be a subtle as a differing pattern of brickwork or discolouration and disturbance of rendered surfaces, through to being able to actually see the inner leaf of a wall when inspecting a roof space.
This all matters because not every property is created equal. For example, I have previously mentioned that some of the systems used to build concrete houses were found to be defective in the 1980s and this means that if the affected properties were not correctly repaired, they can be difficult or even impossible to secure a mortgage on.
Some other construction types are also less desirable to mortgage lenders and buyers which can adversely affect the ability to re-sell the property or raise finance on it, and some technologies which are generally acceptable to lenders can be rendered unacceptable if they have been built without the correct certification or are not maintained in the correct way.
Knowing how your house was built will help when it comes to correctly maintaining and caring for the property. Whilst a thatched roof obviously requires different kinds of maintenance to a tiled roof, so too will a timber framed house require different maintenance techniques to those of a cavity masonry structure or one build with a Modern Method of Construction.
Instructing a surveyor with a good knowledge of local construction methods, pathology and common defects is crucial to ensure that your purchase will remain on track, that you have received the right advice for how to maintain the property once you’ve moved in and that your new home can really be your castle and not a lemon.
© Hill Home Survey, 2024. All rights reserved.
The content within this blog is strictly for information only, is not intended to be and must not be construed as advice. The information provided was correct at the time of writing.
For further information and to discuss the correct survey type for the property you are buying, please contact Hill Home Survey on 01733 855232
