Buying a late 60s house any advice please?

[Lelivre]

We have only bought one house before this and it was much more modern. This is a 4 bed detached and quite a stretch for us. I want to know what money will need spending past the obvious. I'm guessing it is late 60s. Is there anything I should look out for?

We have a home buyers report booked. The solicitor is asking if we have any additional questions for the seller regarding the property/maintenance etc. I suddenly feel clueless!

Asbestos is the thing my surveyor pointed out to me, quite popular still in the late sixties I believe. Our house quite possibly has asbestos in the artex ceilings, we haven't had it tested but you might want to be aware of that if you've got lots of building plans. Basically it's safest to leave it if you don't need to disturb it. It can also be in certain floor tiles.

Take a look at the soffits/fascias, all well and good if upvc (updated). The other thing we found with our sixties house is that there was only 1 plug socket in each bedroom, the electrics were all original so we decided to update these before getting on with the decorating, cost £2300 on a 4 bed house.

Good luck!

Also next time you go take note of the boiler and radiators, we were lucky with our house that the heating system had recently been overhauled and bigger efficient rads put in, another quite large potential expense that you might have to sort before doing anything more cosmetic.

One thing I'd want to know is whether the electrics have been rewired since the property was built. If not, then I'd suggest you get them done before you start decorating as they will be well overdue.

It's hard to know what will need to be done now and in a few years - your homebuyers survey will act as a good guide - ours made it clear what needed doing now and what sort of things we'd need to think about in the terms of general maintenance in the next few years.

We bought a 1950s house approx. 15 years ago which (so far) has needed very little essential maintenance. The main things we were advised to do was repoint the chimney and a small part of one wall and that the roof may need replacing in approx. 5 years. We had the repointing done (only £300) and roof is still in the same condition with all tiles present, no leaks etc - in fact, we had a builder look at it and he said it looks good to him and not to touch it unless we get any deterioration. Everything else has been done through choice, not because it had to be done - new kitchen & bathroom, decorating, cavity wall insulation and we put central heating in. A couple of window seals have gone this year on the double glazing though, so we will probably looking at getting a few of these done in a year or too.

It is unlikely a 60's house has original double glazing so if the windows are original, are they in good condition? By the time a house is 40+ years old, windows, doors, soffits, brickwork, heating systems and electrics may all need attention. It really depends what the present owners have done regarding improvements and maintenance. Has it been modernised?

Thanks for the comments.

This is what I have observed - knowing basically nothing about buildings:

The windows appear to have been replaced (not recent looking UVPC I would guess 15 yrs+) the front door is new and the garage window and door - the last year or so. There is some UPVC fascia stuff on the front of the house between the upstairs windows. The electric box (fuse or breaker one; I'm showing my ignorance here) looks very old fashioned. Light switches and plugs are modern looking. The kitchen is probably early 80s, it's that beige Formica with the mid wood colour door trim and grooved out handle. There are lots of sockets in the kitchen but yes barely anywhere else, especially upstairs. I have only just noticed this due to the pp.

Thank you for the comments. Any more are welcome. Home buyers report is on Tuesday.

Should I phrase any specific questions around electrics to my solicitor or will it be a case of getting a separate check myself?

It sounds like it will need a rewire then. After this you need to factor in costs for replastering any damaged sections of wall.

New kitchen, obvs. I know exactly the kitchen you mean from the description :)

There will likely be asbestos as a pp has said. If you are doing a major refurb then you may need to use licensed contractors to work on it which may cost a bit.

We dry-lined two rooms in our house upstairs due to the fact they were both cold and damp (black mould on bathroom wall and in between grouting which couldn't be scrubbed away, and musty walls inside built in wardrobe in one of the bedrooms). They are both rooms where two of the walls are external (on corners).

They are both now toasty and mould/must free. Amount of space lost to solve the problem was negligible. Dry lining was more suited to our pocket at the time but there are other alternatives available (albeit more expensive).

Agree with lack of sockets, if you are to rewire you can never have too many! Try to get electrician to make new sockets flush to the solid walls (ours didn't and now I can't push furniture against wall completely (small niggle but worth knowing while you can do something about it).

We had to update central heating, rewire, replace windows and doors (over time).

The upside to buying this house instead of a new build is that our house is a very solid structure, the garden is a decent size and we put our own stamp on it.

I hope it all goes well for you!

We took an excellent electrician with us when we viewed and he was able to tell us loads about the house. The survey should tell you whether the consumer unit is up to modern standards or needs replacing but quite possibly no more that that - the surveyor will not take off switches/light fittings to check (our electrician did).

In our house the wiring was OK (plastic covered wires) but the lighting circuits were not earthed (quite common I think) so we decided to have that sorted whilst installing loads of extra sockets, outside lighting/plugs etc).

Rewiring was very messy but you really need to sort that before decorating. You don't mention the boiler/central heating system.

Thanks for the comments, it's more than helpful. I had tried to google and got nowhere.

We need to live with it, well paint and stuff, but we must save for improvements; there will be no money left. It's the wiring I am worried about now, because of the cost, safety (two tiny kids to consider also) and waiting to decorate.

I don't think we can negotiate further on the price.

Yes the kitchen needs doing soon enough. The bathroom is a pale peachy beige and grotty. It will need replacing but liveable I hope once it has been scrubbed with bleach. And most of the carpets are needing replacing. The kitchen appliances don't look too old (included)

The boiler is modernish, it looks like it may be some sort of combi boiler, I didn't see a hot water tank, I'm guessing 15 yrs just looking at it and the radiators and comparing with my own house (I haven't a clue really!). The radiators are modern looking but there aren't many of them and they are single rad. One is double with a grill on the top like one we have just replaced in our home. This house was rented so I think it will have has gas safety certs.

If the electric box has fuses then it's fairly old. Doesn't mean the electrics haven't got a bit more life in them if they've been rewired at some time but you do need to get someone to check how old they are. An electrician can test sockets and look at the electric box for you.

You mention the boiler could be around 15 years old, so I'd say you could be looking at another one in the next 2-3 years. You could check with manufacturer if all parts are still available for that model if you're going to keep it for a while. That way you'll know if can be repaired if it breaks down. The manufacturer of our last boiler stopped making parts within eight years, but I know Worcester Bosch and Valliant make them for at leas ten years.

See what your survey says and if you need to go back and look, do it now so you know whats involved.

Madmog - thanks so much. I've just called a friend who is an electrician who will come with us when we do our 3rd viewing (I need to measure up etc) and take a closer look; if it gets flagged on the survey tomorrow as I expect it too.

Also I will take a photo of the boiler to get a better idea of age as well as looking closer at radiators and sockets.

We bought a very similar house 4 years ago - we also had the plastic cladding, beige 80s kitchen and peach grotty bathroom! The first thing we did was replace the consumer unit and have the rest of the electrics checked for safety - cost around £200 I think. We knew we'd have to rewire eventually, but lived with it for a couple of years.

Also check out the radiators - are they the original ones? We had to replace all ours the first winter as they were rusted inside and one burst on us! Also check out where the radiator pipes are running - ours were running inside the concrete floors downstairs, and had corroded over time so developed a leak in the floor. We had to put new pipe 'drops' down the walls to the new radiators. The heating work cost around £2k all together but we didn't have to replace the boiler.

We then did all the windows and doors, the electrics, and then replastered / skimmed before decorating. The first slap of paint on the newly plastered walls was quite a milestone! We've managed to live here with two young kids and it was difficult, but worth it in the end! It looks very modern and Scandinavian inside now - lots of light and space.

Oh and if you can, have a peek under the carpets - we found parquet floor under ours - the one 'original feature' we've retained!

I would budget for a rewire & add some sockets when you do this. It needn't cost the earth but as others have said is likely to be messy. We did it when we moved in and was completely worth it.
Asbestos is likely but isn't necessarily a problem just be aware of it before doing any invasive work.
Check out the insulation - if it's not been done previously you really should look at improving it (this can be a DIY job) 60's houses can be a bit leaky with regards to heat.
Otherwise check standard stuff: settlement, condition of roof/gutters, cracks, water pressure, damp, damage, lack of maintenance, leaks, evidence of repairs, condition of windows/doors.
Some 60's builders weren't particularly well known for their quality workmanship but this generally applies to the more innovative houses of the period so if it's a pretty standard house it probably hasn't too much for you to worry about.

Oooh, am jealous. I'd love a 4 bedroom 60s house! Lucky you.

Minty - thanks!! You may not say that if you saw it though! Nonetheless we are feeling really excited.

Survey (home buyers) is today and the surveyor phoned me first thing to see what concerns I may have, and I was able to respond to him on the basis of the pointers you have given me. Thanks so much.

I will have the report at the end of the week and go from there. I think we have negotiated the price down as much as they will bear so I hope there will be no major comcerns indicated.

Currerbell thanks for your post it's really encouraging. How I would love to see a before and after! Good to know you managed ok with a young family.

I'd also be asking your solicitor to raise a query with the vendor about the boiler and its service history. If it's old you may need to replace it soon anyway but you want proof that the current owners have looked after it and that it hasn't been neglected. You may also want someone independent to check it over for you for safety.

We bought a post-war house too and asked the vendors about when they'd had the boiler serviced. The answer was along the lines of 'boiler service?? Um, we haven't had that done...' which gave us enough info to make sure we had it checked the day we moved in.

Thanks - I will do that. I've just had mine serviced and provided the paperwork to the solicitors after all!