Buying a Victorian house

[rebeccamg]

We are buying a Victorian house in a gorgeous location. I love the location - not totally convinced by the house. We've never had an old property before and I'm really concerned about draughty rooms, cold, damp and just general maintenance. My husband loves the house and thinks it will all be fine! Please someone say positive things about their Victorian house! And say how much better they are then modern houses! I actually think it could be Edwardian as it's red brick?
Can post link if it would help!

This has a new boiler, gas central heating and double glazing so should be warm i suppose. And the slate roof should be ok?
We had a structural engineer go over to look to see if it would be ok to extend it and also the chimney is a bit of an issue on the ground floor cutting right in to the middle of what could be a good space. in two minds whether to take it out and possibly move the stairs to create a better layout upstairs... argh its so hard as i don't want to change it too much but we do need to make 3 separate bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs. Other ideas were to put a wood burner in the chimney in the lounge dining area and knock out the wall between lounge dining area and hall way. at the moment you go through the door from the hall and walk straight in to the massive chimney... literally!

Will try and copy in the report for your advice!! x

I much prefer older properties . They just seem to be more solid , much more stylish , generally bigger gardens. I just love the look of them . We live in a Victorian terrace but may be moving up north to somewhere by the Peak District and I really don't want to live in a soul less new Ish house .

That's a lovely house with lots of potential. To me it looks like half a house - i.e. the stairs should be at the centre of the property and you should extend to the side to effectively double the size and make it a double fronted house. Subject to budget of course!

This is structural engineer report when we asked him to see what possibilities are with chimneys? In two minds about keeping or removing them.

as arranged I called and inspected the above.
You asked about removing the chimney breasts. This is all feasible, but if you are planning to remove them at first floor level as well I would suggest that the chimney be removed entirely (subject to planning issues) and the roof made good. The reason for this is that two steel beams would be required to support the chimney at attic level. If you kept the first floor chimney breasts three steel beams would be required at first floor level. Some form of lateral restraint should be provided at the right hand wall. This can take the form of a small steel box section resin anchored to the wall.
I am a little wary of transferring too much load to the side walls, as they appeared to have settled over the years to some extent. The movement has allowed the arch over the front elevation ground floor window to loosen, and it is now rotating outward. The inner part of the wall is probably supported on a timber lintel. The arch will need to be rebuilt.
The ground floor in the living room appears uneven, and this may be in part due to the past settlement. Obviously close inspection was not possible as the area is fully carpeted. Some re-screeding should be allowed for.
I could see no obvious difficulty in extending to the side or the rear, although if you are considering adding another storey onto the single storey rear section the building inspector will probably want to see that the existing foundations are adequate for the extra load. Given that this section is cavity wall and therefore relatively recent, it should have reasonable foundations.
I could not find the loft hatch. There appears to be one on the landing but it is sealed up.
I trust this is adequate for your present requirements.

What do you think of report? Anything to worry about?

The removal of the chimney all they way through is likely to be a huge job and quite costly. As its in a conservation area I'm not sure you'll get permission to take it all down (I.e. remove the chimney visible on the roof). Basically your surveyor is saying it is physically possible.

Personally I really dislike it when you go to a period house and there are no chimney breasts in the rooms- its such an important part of their character. sorry!

I think I would try and do everything I could to keep the chimney, it's a huge part of a Victorian house, plus unbricking the fireplaces is part of the fun. Lots of potential with the house, promise me though you are getting a new front door ???

Yeh think you're right on chimneys I also think it could be really costly and like you say removing a potentially good feature! Just not so pretty right now.
Should we be worried about the 'settlement' that's mentioned?
New front door?! Do you think? I thought it's was quite authentic?! Hahah I want to change it first but my husband says that would be done last..... We will see!

Just had a builder give us a rough quote of £50-60k for extension... Seems a lot?

Hope your pockets are deep?

Trouble is, with old houses, there is always something needing maintaining or repairing.

Lovely though!

First choice that is exactly my worry.
Spoken to few people now though that say Victorian houses are good and don't need lots of maintenance... Hopefully they're right!