Christian McArdle wrote:

"We can not guarantee the structural integrity of any flooring
construction if the occupancy on the bearing loaders is more
than twenty persons. " That kinda' put me off buying a


Do you think a similar guarantee is available for older properties? From
what I can tell, joist sizes required now seem frequently to be larger than
that used 100 years ago.



Yes, but smaller than used 50-70 years ago.

There is a tyendency to e.g. use smaller joists with herringbone bracing
to get a stiffer floor, but it won't carry as much load.

And use of multiply braced prefab roof trusses that again are stiff, but
don't have the ultimate strength.

Foundations are MUCH better - they have to be. So is wiring, insulation,
plumbing and general use of the space and fitout quality. Its teh
structure where the building regs are bent till they creak that
sometimes gets a bit naff. I.e. use of chipboard floors that creak if no
glue is used, and stud walls instead of block. A block house is a
quieter house IME.

Also use of plasticky windows and doors is a bit naff in anything other
than ultra modern styled places. However if the owner doesn't do window
frame painting, they outlast softwood.

Modern houses are nice 30-100 year and then tear em down places. Low
maintenance then replace.

Since the STRUCTURE house cost these days probably represents on many
sites less than 50% of the 'value' I would expect many of them to be
torn down and replaced anyway in due course.

A friend of mine who was a bit of an industrial and heritage
archaologist, reckons that a house gets a major refurb (up to 60% of
rebuild cost roughly every 60 years - usually after someone has died in
it. Average life is I think around 150-200 years. Most stuff older than
that gets torn down, or catches fire. That fits in well with the
pre-victorian properties being in the minority here.

A LOT of e.g. victorian terraces also - with no loos, baths or decent
insulation, arguably could be demolished and rebuilt at less cost than a
total refirnb anyway, and gain decent foundations as a result. Lost were
in the 'slum clearances' of the 50's and 60's.

I am not sure about planning issues, but you can rebuild a house for
betrween 60 and 120 quid a square foot, depending on final quality.
Apply that to many houses for sale in the south east at least, and it
really becomes a matter of 'buying a plot, with a crap house attached'






Christian.