Surveys of Victorian Buildings

in Ealing of London

If you need help and advise with regard to structural surveys, building surveys, engineers reports, specific defects reports, dilapidations, please free phone 0800 298 5424 for a friendly chat.

Independent Chartered Surveyors

As we are Independent Chartered Surveyors we would like to tell you a bit more about the Brent area from a surveyor's point of view, should you be wishing to buy a house for investment or your new home, or buying a commercial property in the Ealing area.

What does a Victorian property look like?

Victorian properties tend to be known for their pointy architecture, with high pitched roofs clad with slate tiles. To the front, bay windows project with sliding sash windows and there are iron railings around the front entrances. The walls are Flemish bond brickwork that can be either red brick or yellow stock.

Victorian housing was a massive step forwards. It was the first time that common man had drainage, which really was the latest mod-con back then.

Victorian Terraced - Single Bay

Victorian Detached Double Bay with a basement

Victorian two storey bay

Our guide to buying property in the Ealing W5 London area

Here we give you some examples of typical Victorian streets that are for the Ealing W5 area and explain a bit more about the typical problems that we as chartered surveyors commonly find. Hopefully this will give you a good idea, whether you are buying the 1930's suburb style house or a converted Victorian apartment, or a large detached property.

Typical Victorian and Edwardian roads in the Ealing area

When surveying this type of property it comes in three forms:

•  Terraced Victorian properties, as in those houses with adjoining residencies such as Northfield Avenue W13, Northfield Road W13, Rosebank Road W5, Popes Lane W5, Lothair Road W5, Alacross Road W5, Venetia Road W5 and Sunderland Road W5

•  Larger Victorian properties, either terraces or semi-detached, or even detached, with double height bays and often grander entrance halls. Typical roads are Argyle Road W5, Mount Park Crescent Road W5 Mount Park Road W5 The Grove W5, Kenilworth Road W5, The Common W5, Florence Road W5 and The Park W5.

•  Although, in many areas these have been converted into the third type of Victorian property that we commonly come across, which is the conversion to apartments or flats.

Typical problems in Victorian properties

When we survey large, small or medium size Victorian properties we commonly come across problems with:

1/ The Chimneys

There are traditionally defects related to the Chimneys which can be caused by weathering, and therefore pointing to bricks that are therefore required. There are often problems relating to flashing which usually needs to be used to replace cement wedging around the chimneys to prevent rainwater entering.

2/ The Roof

Victorian properties with the original slate roofs may have what is known as nail sickness''. This is where deterioration occurs to the fixing nails and the slates start to slip off. Typically, we can see there are problems where lead tingles are present. We normally say that if you have more than a dozen of these in one area then you will be looking to re-roof.

Alternatively, Victorian properties may have a clay tile on them and you have to check to see if the nibs on the clay tiles are deteriorating.

Other weak areas in these Victorian properties can cause problems, such as at the valley gutters on the roof, which originally were lead covered, which generally worked very well. These over the years have been replaced with felt or other lesser materials which cause issues with rain water entering.

Finally, we need to make you aware of concrete tiles that have been used to replace the slates, or where manmade slates have been used to replace the slates, both of which have their problems. The concrete tiles due to their additional weight and in a worst case scenario cause roof spread or wall spread and associated structural problems. Manmade slates are relatively light but can, due to poor workmanship, chip and lift at the perimeter.

We should also talk about modern ceiling lights being added, which can become a fire risk, and woodworm, wet rot and dry rot, and bonding timbers, of course.

3/ Victorian wall problems

Typically, the Victorians built with English brick or stone. In the roads that we have surveyed in the Ealing area this is typically in red or yellow stock brick with features in a softer red brick or render finish which has been applied over brick work in recent years as a raincoat and can disguise other defects.

Probably the most common problem we come across is the repointing of walls in a cement mortar. This causes deterioration to the brickwork seam. This wrecks the appearance of a property by spalling brickwork, then allowing dampness in. The repointing is often carried out with the argument that it will make the building more watertight. This is the opposite of what it does.

The adding of damp proof courses is often unnecessary and tends to work in the opposite way to which the original structure of the property works. We are more than happy to tell you more about this if you do have damp in your property, please free phone 0800 298 5424.

A mixture of old and new materials

The mixing of old and new materials can be a problem. It is very difficult to talk about, but we often find that the original construction is not the problem, it is the repairs, modifications and alterations that have been added over the years, and it is the combination of these that has made the problems difficult to diagnose without us actually visiting the property.

If you do have any problems and you want us to carry out a survey then please contact our free phone number 0800 298 5424 for a friendly chat.

Joinery

Sliding sash windows were a great step forward many years ago, but now are often considered draughty and certainly don't meet many of people's pre-conceptions of how wind and watertight they should be. Many people love the look of them, many people hate the fact that they allow draughts in.

During our surveys we typically find problems and the difficulty is not just the expense of repairing them but finding the right person. Having said that, research shows that the timber sliding sash widows and joinery in general lasts longer than the plastic version, if it is maintained.

Drains

Drains can be a nightmare in Victorian properties, causing structural problems and dampness.

Other things that we could have told you about but we just haven't got the time, but if you do have a look on the www.1stassociated.co.uk website there are articles on it

•  Structural problems and cracking within Victorian properties

•  Rising damp, lateral damp and condensation

•  Bay windows

•  Cast iron gutters and downpipes and soil and vent pipes

•  Cellars

•  And, we haven't even mentioned London roofs, known as Butterfly Roofs.

Whilst the Victorian era spans a number of years the majority of the building was carried out in the 1880's to early 1900's and then we moved into the Edwardian period.

If your property is from an early Victorian era then we suggest you also look at the information that we have on Georgian properties, as this can also be relevant.

We would estimate that 99% of all problems that we look at are solvable. Some, however, are very expensive to solve and some make the properties un-mortgageable. These are areas that you want to avoid. The remaining one per cent, whilst not unsolvable, is best left to professional developers who understand property and have the advantage of being able to get market rates of trades people and materials.

We are also happy to carry out surveys on properties where you are looking to buy as an investment, as well as surveys on properties where you are looking to buy it for your home.

Independent Chartered Surveyors

We are independent chartered surveyors and w e carry out all sorts of surveys, including building surveys, property surveys, structural surveys, dilapidations, schedules of condition then please call us on 0800 298 5424 for a chartered surveyor to give you a call back.

Commercial property independent chartered surveyor's advice

If you have a commercial property, whether it is freehold or leasehold then sooner or later you may get involved with dilapidation claims. You may wish to look at our Dilapidations Website at www.DilapsHelp.com and for Disputes go to our Disputes Help site www.DisputesHelp.com .

We hope you found the article of use and if you have any experiences that you feel should be added to this article that would benefit others, or you feel that some of the information that we have put is wrong then please do not hesitate to contact us (we are only human).

The contents of the web site are for general information only and is not intended to be relied upon for specific or general decisions. Appropriate independent professional advice should be paid for before making such a decision.

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