Please reassure me my house isn’t going to fall down

[FirstTimeBuyer22]

I’ve bought a lovely Victorian house, but now that I’m in it I can see there are no right angles or straight lines. Floors aren’t level, doorframes aren’t horizontal, floorboards are creaky.

The very expensive surveyor said all was fine (including the historical cracks).

The rational brain tells me this is expected with properties this age but the nervous, first time buyer what have I done part of my brain tells me the house is going to come crashing down.

Please help me give my head a wobble?!

it's very rare to have exact angles and exact even floors in an old building.
it's very likely ok.

My house is just like this. It has got character. It has stood for nearly 150 years. I am sure the surveyor is correct.

Out first house was built in the 1950s but there still wasn’t an exact right angle to be found (and very creaky floorboards) - I think that’s totally normal!

Mines like this and is 90 years old. I have a friend who has a 10 year old house and hers is like that! And all passed by a surveyor when she bought it. He called it settlement. Remember houses do move though. Fill in the cracks and forget about 😊

As long as a qualified surveyor is happy with it, you're fine. It's normal for old houses to be like this, and you can have the floors leveled or squeaks removed if they still bother you when you have got used to the place.

Well it's been standing this long. If I were you, I'd be more worried about all the ghosts. 👻

I tend to work on the principle that at that age, it’s seen enough life to have a few quirks and it’s still standing, after all that life has thrown at it, it’ll still be standing long after I’m gone.
don’t worry!

Our 1970’s house is bloody crooked!! Honestly we’ve had to do work on the ceilings and floors. Doors swing open or swing shut. I just think it’s the quality of the workmen in this currently. Apparently German houses are perfectly level
and straight and they can’t understand why we can’t do similar over here.

*country

Thanks all. It’s so reassuring to read this.

I think the last couple of weeks have been quite overwhelming with one thing and another. It’s such a huge life decision and I’ve been anxious that I made the wrong choice.

It has been standing for about 130 years! 😯

Our house was built in 1912. Everything is wonky, completely normal for older houses. It makes things tricky sometimes but it's just part of the charm of an older property.

Nothing in my house is straight. It makes built in shelving a bit challenging and when I got the windows replaced they measured every window several times because they couldn't believe none of them were even the same height. But I know it's entirely unique. There isn't another house like it in the whole world.

I have one wall which is several inches off straight, a windowsill that I don't even understand how they managed to build double glazing to fit, our upstairs landing is so slanting that for the first few weeks I coudn't work out why I had the urge to lean to the side when I walked down it.

If it hasn't fallen down now its not about to, they just didnt have the same equipment to get things straight and square

My 150 yr old house has some fantastically wonky bits but it is very sound - I'm an architect and I double checked with a structural engineer friend.
I do have a seasonally moving bay window thanks to clay soil and shallow but SE confirmed that fine and not a problem and a common issue (crack opens when it's dry, closes when it's wet) and is hidden behind the curtain.
It can be a bugger to work out when hanging curtains/shelves/pictures but usually it's a balance between the spirit level and what looks right, nothing ever lines up.

I moved into a new build and ten years later into a house that was over 130 years old and felt nervous when I realised that the floors sloped, doors weren't straight, there were cracks and creaks etc. It is a bit stressful but you're house will be fine, I told myself people living in Venice, San Francisco, Amsterdam etc can't be spending all there time worrying about there house falling down and I was fine then. Now I am also creaking and don't plan to worry about that! Enjoy your new home!

Our house was built in 1820 and no wall or floor is straight, everything creaks but we still love it! It’s holding up better than I am and I’m only 40!!