1970s houses

[helpmey]

Hello we are looking at houses & have always lived in & liked period properties. I have seen a 1970s house that is a bit ugly externally but ticks a lot of boxes. What is the build quality like in general? anything to be wary of? tia

I always thing they look nice on The Modern Home but lived in one for 14 very long years. It was poorly insulated, thin walls , was damp and had condensation. I hated it .
I’m sure they can be brought up to modern standards but probably very expensive to do if not done already. I would never buy one again.

Having moved from a 70s house to a 30s house I much prefer the 70s house . Our old house was very low cost to maintain . Walls thicker than our current house .
The only negative I can think of was the popcorn ceilings .

Like any age of house there are some well built ones and some shit ones. You do tend to get larger rooms sizes than modern houses though

I*'ve had two houses of that age; both were beautifully built. Solid, well designed layout.
The first one, the builder had gone way over spec in build quality and as a result went bust shortly after. Poor man.

The second was built by a professional builder , a home for himself and his wifel, and she had told him exactly what she wanted in her dream home and got it. A floor to ceiling walk in pantry (northside) with a secure external hatch for milk and butcher deliveries. A utility and drying room. A huge heated airing /linen cupboard, Great wardrobes and storage. The windows and roofline were aligned and designed for solar gain in winter, shade in summer. What a great house that was :-)

Depends how well built. I lived on an ex council house that was thrown up but my parents had a great solid house when we were growing up.

I do love a 70s/80s design with big square rooms.

That sounds amazing and huge! I’m surprised you left it

I like 70s houses and think they can look great with their west Cal feel. Do watch out for asbestos though.

Agree - asbestos in the old central heating cupboard, bath panel and shed roof .

would a survey show up the asbestos?

Not quite 70s but we are in our 3rd 1960s house. Not the prettiest on the outside (but you spend more time inside than outside looking at it) , but really good room sizes and nice big windows and good garden spaces in all 3 homes. Solidly built, all our internal walls are brick, not easy to even put a picture up without heavy duty screws

Yes it will.

Good points and bad I think, ours is 70s and also get lots of condensation, some damp j have no idea why! poorly insulated and not that attractive from the front. Good sized rooms however. We have spent lots to get it up to more modern standards but with a long way to go still too. I agree with the aspestos we had a huge shock to find all our soffits were brown aspestos and was a VERY costly thing to have removed safely and by the book.

Ours also wasn't picked up in the survey

Thanks all, lots to ponder. The room sizes were good which I liked.

I have lived in my 70s house since 1983. It is very solidly built, with brick cavity walls, big windows letting in loads of light, good size rooms (23ft sitting room).
There is almost certainly 2% asbestos in the ceiling - it wasn’t banned until 1999 in the UK. But it is not a problem unless you want to drill into it. It is safely sealed in by coats of paint.
The garden is also a good size - unlike new builds that seem crowded to get as many on the plot as possible. I have double glazed, rewired, extended, built a fireplace and chimney, put in new bathrooms and kitchen, but gradually over many years. The originals were certainly livable.
Friends who bought a new build in the same village had eighty major faults on the snagging list. Standards seem to have dropped considerably.

My first house was a 70s house well built in 1969 to be pedantic.

It had had every diy trend apples, crazy paving, artex on the walls. Just grim.

But my god it was built well. So I would definitely say a 70s house is a good bet. The only thing I hated was the huge picture window at the front and patio doors at the back of the lounge diner. It made it really hard to keep warm in winter. But I guess a good pair of thermal lined curtains would help.

I wouldn't purchase anything younger than a 70s house. 80s onwards are built of cardboard. Just be aware it might need updating ie from metal windows to double glazed and possibly the odd bit of asbestos, although it might already have been taken out. 70s houses usually have good light and more generous plots than modern houses. I grew up in one and loved it.

70s ceilings you can just plasterboard over if needed & leave in situ. Cheap and easy.

My current house is late 60s and it's very comfortable and usable.

Huge, squared rooms. Big windows to let in loads of light and heat (can get too hot in summer).

Some weird crazy paving designs on the walls but we kind of like it.

Downsides- no attic or basement for storage. We struggle with places to hide our junk.

This has made me think of my first home with real fondness.
70's. Big rooms inc tandem garage, massive windows.
1911 house next, now 1860
I'd sell the current one like a shot if DH was agreeable to it
It wasn't the prettiest though but you see more of the inside and it's dark a lot of the time!

Our first house was late 70s and our next house was early 80s. Just a few years apart snd nothing were new.

Both will have cavity walls. Neither of ours had big windows. The first one was built as part of a big estate but it’s still there and looking good. It was cheek to run but the kitchen was small. Our next house was built by a small builder and was very well built. You would be hard pushed to get better for the money. Lovely red local bricks, good garden and an excellent kitchen. Lots of space. Looks good 40 years later!

I think many houses of this age will need new double glazed windows plus bathrooms and kitchens but the construction was fine. Never had asbestos mentioned. Both has swirly ceilings which I would now get skimmed! Both had lofts. Second had a working fireplace and large double garage. That house had lots of built in storage too. Way cheaper to run than an old house. I’d downsize to one from where we are now and modernise.

Mine's a 3 bed terrace built 1971 on an estate of those of a similar age and we've been here about 20 years longer than we expected to be when we moved here because it's great and really easy to live in. The estate has little green squares all over the place and most houses are terraced around them. Garages in blocks which takes a bit of getting used to. I open my front door and can see right through to the end of the back garden so it's got a lovely airy vibe. It's been brilliant for the kids to grow up in. I did smash up the crazy paving chimney breast though, and the honey pine panelled bathroom. Lowish ceilings but wide rooms and all pretty solid. No room for en suite though and lots of people want those now, I guess. It was all we could afford at the time as the style was unpopular but I wouldn't move now.

Oh yes. Forgot. No damp and decent foundations.

You need a separate asbestos survey. A standard survey might flag areas that could be asbestos but won’t be conclusive. For our house, the things that the survey said might be asbestos weren’t, and the things that were asbestos weren’t picked up on the standard survey. An asbestos survey costs about £100, but then each additional sample is about £10, so it’s best to get someone out and take as many samples as you think necessary.

I bet the pine bathroom was put in by a former owner. They were never built like that. It was a DIY phase. We had what I would now consider to be yukky tiles snd no line in sight. Pine feature walls were a thing for DIYers. DHs dad put them in their 40s house. Some Habitat style Scandinavian type houses had pine ceilings. Most houses were more basic boxes.