Talk to me about 1930s houses

[TinyTroubleMaker]

I'm trying hard to find a suitable house. First time buyer, one sale feel through last year. Hardly anything in the market in my area so little choice.

I've found a 1930s house, 3 bed. Took a look, solid build, very tastefully decorated in keeping with the period. Original fireplace and such. Reasonably recent electrics and boiler.

Is there anything I should be looking for, anything typical of this era, anything to watch out for?

Love my 1930s house, more solid than friends who have 60s or later houses. It is cool in summer and warm (cavity walls) in winter. Mine is in a typical ‘garden suburb’ so set back from the road and not too closed in like a modern development. It seems to have ceilings a convenient height not so high as Victorian and not so low as modern so feels open without being extortionate to heat.

I am in a 1930s detached but when in a similar semi didn’t hear the neighbours, friends in a 1990s detached hear their neighbours!

Look out for blocked up air bricks which may cause damp problems, chimneys where the breasts may have been taken away but then not supported, garages made of asbestos.

Ours had a leaking lead water supply pipe (luckily our front garden isn't too long otherwise it would have cost a fortune to lay in the replacement pipe(.
All the walls had picture rails, which means extra dusting.
The walls and ceilings were lath and plaster. Our kitchen and bathroom were unheated.

I grew up in a 1930s semi, and generally loved it as the house was always so warm because the walls were so thick and well insulated.

The only thing I didn't love was the downstairs lounge and dining room had been knocked together, so there was nowhere for anyone to have space from each other, other than going to bedrooms. There also wasn't quite enough space under the stairs for a second loo, so we just had the one, inside the main upstairs bathroom.

That said, a lot of them have garages, and decent sized gardens, so they're ripe for double storey side extension plus a single storey rear extension. That's exactly what I'll be doing when I buy my next house as we're both working from home, and on regular calls during the day, so need more rooms!

This one has a single storey kitchen on the back. I'm wondering whether it's possible to do another storey on top. That would extend the smallish main bedroom. Presume it would depend on the foundations.

You are right about the foundations; they are unlikely to have been prepared for another storey, so you'd probably need to knock it all down and start again.

Also, if it's a semi, you probably wouldn't be able to do a double storey extension right across the full width of the back due to neighbours. There is a 45 degree rule about rights to light for your neighbours, which you can read more about here:

www.mata-architects.co.uk/blog-mata/advice/3-tips-to-determine-maximum-permissible-area-of-extension

It depends when the extension was done and how large. We did a single storey side extension ten years ago and were told the foundations had to be done as if it were two storey amd that had been the way for a while.

Also under planning if it was a certain size it may have been done under permitted development, you can do an extension within certain percentage of original footprint, further development may require a more formal planning application.

It's not full wrist of the back, is about two thirds the width with a patio taking up the rest. Thanks for the link I'll take a look

*full width

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We moved into a lovely 30s house 4 months ago and I love it. It still has loads of original features it has loads of space. It needs a bit of work which is one of the reasons why we bought it. We are knocking through our kitchen and dinning room tomorrow to make a large open plan kitchen dinner instead of extending it like the neighbours. We have room in the loft if we ever decide we need more bedrooms. My front garden is beautiful and established and has a good drive and a garage which needs some attention.