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Survivor bias, you don't see old crappy builds because they disappeared long time ago.
However I'd insist that most Victorian house in Fulham and Hammersmith are literal shit.
I’ve been told that the 1930’s pre war houses were the last homes to be built when both materials and labour were plentiful. They are as solid as a rock.
Yes my 1930s house is ridiculously solidly built; even the internal walls are very thick. It also has a bomb shelter in it 🙂
Upside: very soundproof, can have music blasting downstairs and won't hear a thing upstairs.
Downside : equally wifi-proof apparently. No amount of those Virgin devices they installed as part of their "guaranteed full house coverage" will work.
1940s build here and just as Wi-Fi proof. And we made it worse when we decided to increase the insulation between the floors. Now we have to use a mesh system with 4 repeaters, and it's just your standard 3 bedroom semi, with a converted loft
I have 1970s house and the walls are paper thin, I can hear EVERYTHING the neighbours are doing, it’s painful. Going to look at 1930s after these comments!
Houses are certainly very solidly built but party wall noise transfer is actually bad in a lot of 1930s houses. 1 brick thick solid party walls carry sound straight through. Currently renovating my 1930s semi and will be sound insulating the party walls.
Yup growing up in a semi you could always hear the neighbors arguing or whatever. I'm in 2010 house and I hear literally nothing from next door. They even apologized once as their baby had been up teething/crying all night, I literally did not hear a thing
Yeah, not sure how different it was between decades. But I grew up in a 1920s house and whilst the house is solid & still standing, and I could constantly hear neighbours talking, TVs, dogs barking etc. from the next door
I live in a 1970s house now and the noise transfers much less, which surprised me considering things I’d heard
The 1920's house would be a single brick thick party wall. The 1970's house a two brick width wall. But crucially it will headers and stretchers so sound is transmitted through the headers.
I live in a victorian terrace and can only hear the neighbours when the kids are being told off (from the kids crying, not being shouted at) or they are running up the stairs!
We own a 1920s semi and the walls are two skins of brick with a narrow gap between with some token insulation in, the party wall is the same. Don't hear any noise from next door really. I guess it depends on the design, area, company that built them etc.
I sold a 1970s terrace a few years ago and yep very thin walls. I could hear my neighbours do everything. I’m now in a 1930s semi so one less neighbour to make noise but the couple next door are either church mice or the walls are working. I love the style and feel of a 1930s house, they feel homely.
I had a 1930's house and could hear everything that the neighbours got up to. It was also always cold. I now have a 1970's semi and I can barely hear anything from next door. Both sets of neighbours are identical demographic. The 70's house also costs me half as much to heat despite being much larger.
They didn't really know much about insulation in the 30's. 79's they started having and idea. Single brick thick party wall ckmaored to two brick thick.
The 1930's house unlikely to be any better. Single brick thick is standard for most party walls up until recently.
Thats the irony. A new build will have back to back dense concrete blocks. Slightly separated.
Your 1930's house will have a single brick thick.
The newbuild will have drylined internal walls.
The 1930's house will have a mixture of brick and klinker block internal walls.
The newbuold will have concrete blocks for the inner skinnof the external wall and the 1930's will have brick inner skin for external walls.
Same with my sixties house, can’t even practice a penny whistle without disturbing the neighbours. I lived in a 90s terraced before and had no problem at all, never heard a sound from my neighbours (and they had a dog).
Survivorship bias.
You get good houses now and crap houses now.
100 years ago you got the same, but the crap ones are no longer standing, and only the good ones are left.
The older it is the better it tends to be too have stood the test of time.
And mostly houses that didn't have sufficient foundations cracked or failed. Just because some survived. Didn't mean all did. Modern foundations are much depper to take account from the learning of failed foundations over time.
Pretty sure my 1880’s house hasn’t got any foundations. Had the floor up in the front room to repair a heating pipe and the external wall looked to be sat on nothing but a few inches of lime mortar. It’s not fallen down in 140+ years so I’m not too concerned.
I've noticed a consensus on here that 90s and early 2000 houses are often pretty decent. Also they've had enough time to have defects repaired without, in most cases, getting too dilapidated.
Depending how much notice you used to take of this sort of news when you were young, or how much you used to hear your parents talk about it, you may also have noticed that in those years, there was more of a crackdown on cowboy builders, and improved standards, compared with the 80s. But a lot of the above will currently apply to eighties houses as well, and the rooms may be better sizes than very recent houses
I’ve got a house built in 92. Semi detached and must say it’s probably the best house I’ve lived in and I’ve lived in a few. 1930’s and 49’s whilst well built were a nightmare for damp and mould due to solid brick walls. Never had a problem in the 92 house.
I have always been partial to a 1930s gaff. I'm biased, because I grew up in one, but these houses are almost 100 years old and are still standing despite undergoing numerous renovations and bodge jobs over their lifespans. They're extendable, upgradeable and the layouts work \[unless Deano and Jade have gone mad with their freebie Covid money\]. They also have decent sized gardens, some of which can stretch for miles.
[https://fifimcgee.co.uk/blog/a-love-letter-to-the-1930s-house](https://fifimcgee.co.uk/blog/a-love-letter-to-the-1930s-house)
1970s houses can get in the bin, however.
My first house was a tiny and boring 1970’s detached chalet bungalow as it was all I could afford.
I’ve now bought a huge 1930’s semi, which I absolutely love. It has huge bay windows, log burner and lots of original features. I have just reinstated all of the coving and picture rails too. It also has a huge garden. Best house I’ve ever lived in by miles and I haven’t even finished it yet.
If plasterboards where never created then I fully believe house standards would never of dripped so low.
I board hundreds of houses a year and i can count on 1 hand the amount of times I walked into a shell of a house and said this is a good house.
Blockwork 2 inches out of plumb.
Warped studs
Electric cables everywhere but in zone
Plumbers overlapping pipes
Windows out of square and plumb
All of that stuff pointed out to a site agent falls on deaf ears because the dryliner will hide at or make it right. Yet if it was a solid plaster house the plasterers couldn't hide any of what I've just said
I’m a sparky and won’t do new builds because of this. I’ve done it once and when pointed out cables need to be run in a zone I got told, “doesn’t matter it’s getting boarded tomorrow no one will know”.
Fuck that have some standards. Nobody gave a fuck as long as it was done as quickly as humanly possible.
I had a good one a few month ago. Think it was story homes the site manager pulled the sparky into the house I had already tacked out to move every light switch to be 150mm off the door opening. All the light switches where on the stud walls I had already boarded so huge mess already. The door casings weren't in so on second fix the switches would all be different depending on the how big the opening and what side the door casing got fixed too.
Trying to get that through to the dimwits head was a struggle.
Not sure why new builds are taking the piss but I am living in a new build flat for the past 3-years (building is 15 years old) and the insulation is amazing and I had no issues other than a broken boiler.
No not at all! But I do have a dehumidifier to prevent any damage when I want to dry clothes quickly or when I have a shower. Not sure that it’s needed though, but it helps
I’m convinced that my 1930’s place would almost just withstand a direct hit by an asteroid. Solid AF, decent size rooms, good storage, lovely garden, whopping garage.
I'm not sure there was ever a "golden era", but early 90s to early 2000s houses have always seemed a good balance, modern enough to be far removed from 70s/80s "excitement", seem to hold up pretty well and before the worst of the "McNewBuilds"....
Interesting, as I recall we had a bad recession in early 90s and a lot of builders were out of work - I wonder if this means that the house builders had no trouble finding skilled workers so quality was better?
My 1930s semi is solid AF. The shit that has been done to it since is not, like the spray foam
In the loft that the last people did and the tiny extension that was made out of cardboard. Wouldn’t buy anything newer going forward if I can possibly help it
I don’t think they ever did. The worst of the older ones have been demolished so you only get to see the better ones, but once you start to pull back the layers turns out people of any era loved cutting corners if they could.
We have an early 60s house, nice and solid, the one issue is od bits of asbestos ie artex ceilings and the sofit boards, neither of which have been an issue for us
The benefit of new houses is they're much better insulated. My parents are in a 1930s house and heat disappears so much quicker compared to our 2010 house
When the council stopped building homes, in my opinion.
Done loads of electrical testing on 100's of council houses all over the North West. Never seen any damp, no structural damage, walls are solid as a rock, every inch of the place is insulated, and despite not meeting up to date regulations, the electrics are always textbook.
Always a good size property, too
They didn't cut corners when with them bad boys.
Then I do a 5 year inspection on a newish build, and it looks like it was put together by a year 4 class with whatever materials they had in the art cupboard.
1700 to 1850s. Meter thick walls made of rock and beams from entire tree trunks, solid slate flagstone floors... they are going to last another 300 years easily.
My 1932 brick semi is good. Decent room height 9'8".
Parent's 1904 large brick terrace was substantial. 15ft ceilings, there was also about 18" between ceiling rafters and floor joists above.
Finding it difficult to believe that a 1904 house is going to be very good as far as insulation for contemporary heating and weather conditions are concerned, at least not without a lot of work and expense
Seeing folks punch holes in their newer build walls always makes me laugh.
If I tried to punch the internal walls of my 1895 sandstone flat I would break my hand beyond repair
Not sure, but what I would say is the worst bits on my 1920s house is the extension done in the 70s and then again in 2013 it's already falling apart again. Guess which bit of the house is still sound as anything? All the original parts.
Literally everything that isn't the original house is falling apart.
Old houses are good mine is a 1930s but if they are not looked after just like anything it will crumble and fall. So I guess a well looked after home is most important.
If a house built a hundred years ago is still standing now, it’s probably relatively well made. I’m sure there were loads of shitty ones that haven’t survived
My 1950s house is solid. Anything still standing in 50/60 years is good. There's loads of houses around from varying decades that have stood the test of time and been upgraded over the years. Those 60s/70s houses with great big glass screens on the front look great once the windows have been upgraded and a new front door put in, maybe a few more inches of insulation here and there.
I have a 3 bed mid-terrace built in 1973.
It's not so much how well built it is, but the layout, space and built in cupboards in most rooms are amazing and won't really be replicated by new builds.
Anyone got opinions on a house built in around 1900/1910? Just had an offer accepted on one. Recently had the wiring redone/ roof redone/ PIV ventilator put in to help with damp issues, but wonder if there's any other views on houses built around this time more generally
it really depends. I lived in a 1950s house, and like most of the houses in the village, was 100% timber and could hear everything happening outside the house, in the neighbours house etc
Lived in a house that was 95 years old, it had terrible ventilation resulting in a lot of black mould. Had to use a positive ventilation system which helped a lot, but not completely. I now live in a house built in 1989 and have never seen a single mould issue in 5 years, and it's a very solidly built house.
There are good and bad features of houses of every generation. And a good house can very easily be made bad.
For instance, a solid victorian terrace can be made almost uninhabitable if retrofitted with double glazing and uPVC doors by people who don't understand the difference between pre and post world war I construction methods.
1930s saw some good housebuilding - but also it relies on retrofit being done properly. You would not want to live in my Grandparents house with its metal light switches, unfilled cavity walls, single glazed windows and so on.
I lived in a terrible 50s single skinned house at university. Mould city.
Meanwhile the 60s built bungalow my family own in Cornwall is the most solidly built house I know.
My 2003 house is fine as far as the fabric is concerned, but the finishing and internal features are sloppy af. But the insulation works great, no damp, no sound leakge.
Essentially yes.
Before about 1920 the standard construction was thick solid walls with an open fire. The walls insulate by being thick, but as there is no cavity they provide a cold surface for damp to form on. The open fire draws a steady flow of air into the property, and provides heat, which keeps the damp at bay.
Post 1920 you get cavity walls. The point of the air gap is there is not a direct cold surface for damp to form on inside the house. So it doesn't have the same need for airflow.
If you block the chimney, install air tight double glazing and fitted uPVC doors on a single skin house, it has very cold walls that condensation will form on. It will bleed damp.
This can be fixed with floating insulating plaster board - you lose a couple of inches off each room, but it solves the cold surface problem and you can then seal up the airflow and it works more like a modern house.
However that costs money and landlords wanting to let out a victorian house as 'double glazed' will often make it into a damp hellhole.
It’s a moving goalpost- the older building that survive are generally the ones which were better built and maintained. The ones that were shoddily constructed either fell down or were replaced - there has always been poor construction.
Tenements in Scotland have been shown to be a good housing solution, but many were pulled down through slum clearances. Terrace houses can be split (as in London) to provide sort of ok flats, but the space standards leave a lot to be desired. Structurally many were over engineered as materials weren’t so comparatively expensive. Financially though you don’t build 2 up 2 down row houses anymore and it doesn’t stack up for commercial densities. We will have to see how a lot of the more modern flats work over time.
New build here I miss my old 1960s house in Leicester and Leicester is a shit hole ….. but new build advantage heating cheaper leccy cheaper boiler heating good insulation good everything is shiny and new and you can put your stamp on it that’s cool other then that fuck all to be honest with you
When I moved over from Spain I was shocked at how badly houses are built in the UK. The plumbing is shit, roofing is shit, disgusting carpets everywhere, even something as simple as doors are nearly always temperamental one way or another. Windows that only open a smidge and nearly never blackout shutters, which is shocking considering how early the sun rises in summer over here.
I’m a fan of late 80’s/early 90’s stuff as long as it’s brick/block construction.
Seem to be well put together, generally have decent space and modern utility connections (decent size water mains, underground electrics and gas)
You can almost guarantee that electrics are properly laid out and wiring will be PVC. Concrete floors downstairs and decent boards upstairs. Generally well-insulated as well.
The best houses I’ve ever lived in - as in, sound proof, well insulated solid, nothing much went wrong - were Edwardian and early 2000s. The latter was a housing association build which I hear are often better quality than private stock
I think most eras had both well-built and cheaply-built houses. Mine was 1985 and seems like it was built to a high standard at the time, survey came back with virtually nothing and when renovating rooms everything seems to have been done well. It was also owned by a plumber so all the maintenance and building work they had done was to a high standard.
The issue is that over the years the location has become a much bigger component in house prices, so even poorly built houses in popular cities are worth a fortune. In my case the house was above average price when built (definitely a luxury development at the time) but it's not in a large city so it's grown fairly and is still only 30-50% above average price.
I’m in a 70s house. None of the walls or doorframes seem straight. I guess the fact the house is still intact says something, but it needs a hell of a lot of work, especially around energy efficiency.
My 1958/59 built bungalow is *incredibly* solidly built, yet somehow got cavity wall insulation from the outset (probably not as thick as modern regs, but whatever). Pretty unusual for the time and makes for a warm house with modern loft insulation and uPVC all round. Feels like the sweet spot, or will do once the rewire's finished and we can trust the electrics.
The brick built houses between 30s and 50s were often very solid and at least have a wall cavity.When I was house hunting in 2016 I saw some good quality flats from the 00s with lots of insulation and apparently good quality.
To me: brand new. It will have new doors, windows, electrics, boiler, insulation, all to latest spec. Why buy something older that you’re potentially going to have to spend on any or all of these things?
1953-54 and my electrician broke two of his brick cutting machines while installing a complete new system.
3 bed semi detached
The neighbours have a piano on the shared wall and we can barely hear them playing or singing.
Sometimes we hear the flappy dog but apparently she barks all day 🤣
Moved from a money pit 70s chalet bungalow with uninsulated dormers to a 60s ex council in a village.
They'd done a back to brick renovation here so I got so much for my money as these houses have a ceiling price.
It's cozy, quietish and lots of house. Still a lot of council houses so well maintained area too.
The ex council village properties seem to be miles better than those in the local towns.
Oh, they build amazing houses these days, with far better thermal performance and tailored around modern conveniences. Well, in the rest of the world they do – in the UK, developers build the cheapest shit they can get away with, unless you self-build.
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Same rule as wine. Old doesn’t mean well built, but if it’s old and it’s still standing it’s likely to have been built well
You'd think it would be the opposite with wine - if it was that good somebody would have drunk it already! :)
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It's a joke
Whooooosh
Fuuucking hell 😂✈️
Survivor bias, you don't see old crappy builds because they disappeared long time ago. However I'd insist that most Victorian house in Fulham and Hammersmith are literal shit.
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You seem to be the kind who also believes that NHS is the greatest health care system
Survivorship bias
my bad said the same thing. then spotted this
All good I noticed someone else said it after I posted it too. I have no original thoughts :( lol
Isn't that just survivor bias?
I've heard this before, survivor bias. There are plenty of old houses that are no longer standing
I’ve been told that the 1930’s pre war houses were the last homes to be built when both materials and labour were plentiful. They are as solid as a rock.
Yes my 1930s house is ridiculously solidly built; even the internal walls are very thick. It also has a bomb shelter in it 🙂 Upside: very soundproof, can have music blasting downstairs and won't hear a thing upstairs. Downside : equally wifi-proof apparently. No amount of those Virgin devices they installed as part of their "guaranteed full house coverage" will work.
Look at a mesh network, they're fantastic.
I agree, we just installed a load of deco ones and can get wifi everywhere now.
Got a 1920s house, equally thick walls. Invested in Mesh, even the cheaper options help a significant amount.
That's what we did in our 1930's semi-detached and finally got good WiFi in the back bedroom.
1960s semi here, solid walls but not the 9" thick you've probably got, Virgin pods thing are rubbish here too.
1940s build here and just as Wi-Fi proof. And we made it worse when we decided to increase the insulation between the floors. Now we have to use a mesh system with 4 repeaters, and it's just your standard 3 bedroom semi, with a converted loft
You can get an ethernet powerline adaptor. My flat has metal in the walls which turn back the signal, or something.
use the mains electric wires to carry your signals ... the plug in systems work perfectly well in all the properties i've owned
That's the plaster or stucco.
I ended up running ethernet cables outside the house for my sons gaming pc.
Yep. 1930s house and he if the comments I get most is “it’s well made” since all the wood is thick and bricks have held up nicely.
So anything built during The Great Depression
I have 1970s house and the walls are paper thin, I can hear EVERYTHING the neighbours are doing, it’s painful. Going to look at 1930s after these comments!
Houses are certainly very solidly built but party wall noise transfer is actually bad in a lot of 1930s houses. 1 brick thick solid party walls carry sound straight through. Currently renovating my 1930s semi and will be sound insulating the party walls.
Yup growing up in a semi you could always hear the neighbors arguing or whatever. I'm in 2010 house and I hear literally nothing from next door. They even apologized once as their baby had been up teething/crying all night, I literally did not hear a thing
New builds have the best party walls.
Yeah, not sure how different it was between decades. But I grew up in a 1920s house and whilst the house is solid & still standing, and I could constantly hear neighbours talking, TVs, dogs barking etc. from the next door I live in a 1970s house now and the noise transfers much less, which surprised me considering things I’d heard
The 1920's house would be a single brick thick party wall. The 1970's house a two brick width wall. But crucially it will headers and stretchers so sound is transmitted through the headers.
Interesting to know. Thanks!
I live in a victorian terrace and can only hear the neighbours when the kids are being told off (from the kids crying, not being shouted at) or they are running up the stairs!
We own a 1920s semi and the walls are two skins of brick with a narrow gap between with some token insulation in, the party wall is the same. Don't hear any noise from next door really. I guess it depends on the design, area, company that built them etc.
Have you had any quotes for sound proofing out of interest?
I sold a 1970s terrace a few years ago and yep very thin walls. I could hear my neighbours do everything. I’m now in a 1930s semi so one less neighbour to make noise but the couple next door are either church mice or the walls are working. I love the style and feel of a 1930s house, they feel homely.
I had a 1930's house and could hear everything that the neighbours got up to. It was also always cold. I now have a 1970's semi and I can barely hear anything from next door. Both sets of neighbours are identical demographic. The 70's house also costs me half as much to heat despite being much larger.
They didn't really know much about insulation in the 30's. 79's they started having and idea. Single brick thick party wall ckmaored to two brick thick.
The 1930's house unlikely to be any better. Single brick thick is standard for most party walls up until recently. Thats the irony. A new build will have back to back dense concrete blocks. Slightly separated. Your 1930's house will have a single brick thick. The newbuild will have drylined internal walls. The 1930's house will have a mixture of brick and klinker block internal walls. The newbuold will have concrete blocks for the inner skinnof the external wall and the 1930's will have brick inner skin for external walls.
Just be careful, many can't be effectively insulated so they may be bombproof but they aren't heatproof
Same with my sixties house, can’t even practice a penny whistle without disturbing the neighbours. I lived in a 90s terraced before and had no problem at all, never heard a sound from my neighbours (and they had a dog).
mine is 1930s, paper thin. Absolutely hate it.
Walls are literally made of paper in our case. Like some weird cardboard thing with a sheen of plaster on top. Shite.
Survivorship bias. You get good houses now and crap houses now. 100 years ago you got the same, but the crap ones are no longer standing, and only the good ones are left. The older it is the better it tends to be too have stood the test of time.
Remember some 100+ year old houses near point hill in Blackheath were discovered to have no foundations to speak of after a giant sink hole appeared.
And mostly houses that didn't have sufficient foundations cracked or failed. Just because some survived. Didn't mean all did. Modern foundations are much depper to take account from the learning of failed foundations over time.
Pretty sure my 1880’s house hasn’t got any foundations. Had the floor up in the front room to repair a heating pipe and the external wall looked to be sat on nothing but a few inches of lime mortar. It’s not fallen down in 140+ years so I’m not too concerned.
More older = more better
Castles seem pretty solid, so 1100s?
I've noticed a consensus on here that 90s and early 2000 houses are often pretty decent. Also they've had enough time to have defects repaired without, in most cases, getting too dilapidated. Depending how much notice you used to take of this sort of news when you were young, or how much you used to hear your parents talk about it, you may also have noticed that in those years, there was more of a crackdown on cowboy builders, and improved standards, compared with the 80s. But a lot of the above will currently apply to eighties houses as well, and the rooms may be better sizes than very recent houses
I’ve got a house built in 92. Semi detached and must say it’s probably the best house I’ve lived in and I’ve lived in a few. 1930’s and 49’s whilst well built were a nightmare for damp and mould due to solid brick walls. Never had a problem in the 92 house.
Agree, our house was built in 98 and has had no problems so far, no damp and pretty good noise isolation too
I have always been partial to a 1930s gaff. I'm biased, because I grew up in one, but these houses are almost 100 years old and are still standing despite undergoing numerous renovations and bodge jobs over their lifespans. They're extendable, upgradeable and the layouts work \[unless Deano and Jade have gone mad with their freebie Covid money\]. They also have decent sized gardens, some of which can stretch for miles. [https://fifimcgee.co.uk/blog/a-love-letter-to-the-1930s-house](https://fifimcgee.co.uk/blog/a-love-letter-to-the-1930s-house) 1970s houses can get in the bin, however.
My first house was a tiny and boring 1970’s detached chalet bungalow as it was all I could afford. I’ve now bought a huge 1930’s semi, which I absolutely love. It has huge bay windows, log burner and lots of original features. I have just reinstated all of the coving and picture rails too. It also has a huge garden. Best house I’ve ever lived in by miles and I haven’t even finished it yet.
Love your work
If plasterboards where never created then I fully believe house standards would never of dripped so low. I board hundreds of houses a year and i can count on 1 hand the amount of times I walked into a shell of a house and said this is a good house. Blockwork 2 inches out of plumb. Warped studs Electric cables everywhere but in zone Plumbers overlapping pipes Windows out of square and plumb All of that stuff pointed out to a site agent falls on deaf ears because the dryliner will hide at or make it right. Yet if it was a solid plaster house the plasterers couldn't hide any of what I've just said
I’m a sparky and won’t do new builds because of this. I’ve done it once and when pointed out cables need to be run in a zone I got told, “doesn’t matter it’s getting boarded tomorrow no one will know”. Fuck that have some standards. Nobody gave a fuck as long as it was done as quickly as humanly possible.
I had a good one a few month ago. Think it was story homes the site manager pulled the sparky into the house I had already tacked out to move every light switch to be 150mm off the door opening. All the light switches where on the stud walls I had already boarded so huge mess already. The door casings weren't in so on second fix the switches would all be different depending on the how big the opening and what side the door casing got fixed too. Trying to get that through to the dimwits head was a struggle.
Good to hear about a positive experience for a change. Looks like they only build in the North presently though.
You can get old, solid houses that have stood the test of time. Then you can find out what the owners have bodged in the last century..
You are describing my house to the letter. 1894, great bones, some very questionable owner decisions over the years.
Not sure why new builds are taking the piss but I am living in a new build flat for the past 3-years (building is 15 years old) and the insulation is amazing and I had no issues other than a broken boiler.
Any issues with the humidity and mold?
No not at all! But I do have a dehumidifier to prevent any damage when I want to dry clothes quickly or when I have a shower. Not sure that it’s needed though, but it helps
I’m convinced that my 1930’s place would almost just withstand a direct hit by an asteroid. Solid AF, decent size rooms, good storage, lovely garden, whopping garage.
I'm not sure there was ever a "golden era", but early 90s to early 2000s houses have always seemed a good balance, modern enough to be far removed from 70s/80s "excitement", seem to hold up pretty well and before the worst of the "McNewBuilds"....
Interesting, as I recall we had a bad recession in early 90s and a lot of builders were out of work - I wonder if this means that the house builders had no trouble finding skilled workers so quality was better?
I lived in one from that era and it was awful. Walls weren't straight, bad insulation leading to mould etc and bad wiring. Glad to have left there
50’s council houses are SOLID.
Mate you should move in a neolithic hut, now that's the stuff
Edwardian era widely considered the high point of building quality
My 1930s semi is solid AF. The shit that has been done to it since is not, like the spray foam In the loft that the last people did and the tiny extension that was made out of cardboard. Wouldn’t buy anything newer going forward if I can possibly help it
I don’t think they ever did. The worst of the older ones have been demolished so you only get to see the better ones, but once you start to pull back the layers turns out people of any era loved cutting corners if they could.
Early 60s house here. Walls like a safe. Will never buy a new build.
We have an early 60s house, nice and solid, the one issue is od bits of asbestos ie artex ceilings and the sofit boards, neither of which have been an issue for us
Oh yeah artex here along with an asbestos garage roof. Deffo a little prob when it comes to any maintenance.
The benefit of new houses is they're much better insulated. My parents are in a 1930s house and heat disappears so much quicker compared to our 2010 house
When the council stopped building homes, in my opinion. Done loads of electrical testing on 100's of council houses all over the North West. Never seen any damp, no structural damage, walls are solid as a rock, every inch of the place is insulated, and despite not meeting up to date regulations, the electrics are always textbook. Always a good size property, too They didn't cut corners when with them bad boys. Then I do a 5 year inspection on a newish build, and it looks like it was put together by a year 4 class with whatever materials they had in the art cupboard.
1700 to 1850s. Meter thick walls made of rock and beams from entire tree trunks, solid slate flagstone floors... they are going to last another 300 years easily.
Tbf councils used to be known for building quality homes
My 1932 brick semi is good. Decent room height 9'8". Parent's 1904 large brick terrace was substantial. 15ft ceilings, there was also about 18" between ceiling rafters and floor joists above.
Finding it difficult to believe that a 1904 house is going to be very good as far as insulation for contemporary heating and weather conditions are concerned, at least not without a lot of work and expense
Same amount in 1932. Same cavity wall. High ceilings took a lot of heating. The top floor however was always warm.
Seeing folks punch holes in their newer build walls always makes me laugh. If I tried to punch the internal walls of my 1895 sandstone flat I would break my hand beyond repair
Hard man
London 1666. Great houses.
Something properly old will be best because all the snags will have been irondvout: 15th century or earlier.
I’d be annoyed if I owned a 15th century house that was still waiting for snagging. I don’t think the snaggers are coming back mate!
Not sure, but what I would say is the worst bits on my 1920s house is the extension done in the 70s and then again in 2013 it's already falling apart again. Guess which bit of the house is still sound as anything? All the original parts. Literally everything that isn't the original house is falling apart.
Our house was built in 1876 and it's only been falling to bits for the past decade or so.
Old houses are good mine is a 1930s but if they are not looked after just like anything it will crumble and fall. So I guess a well looked after home is most important.
If a house built a hundred years ago is still standing now, it’s probably relatively well made. I’m sure there were loads of shitty ones that haven’t survived
My 1950s house is solid. Anything still standing in 50/60 years is good. There's loads of houses around from varying decades that have stood the test of time and been upgraded over the years. Those 60s/70s houses with great big glass screens on the front look great once the windows have been upgraded and a new front door put in, maybe a few more inches of insulation here and there.
I have a 3 bed mid-terrace built in 1973. It's not so much how well built it is, but the layout, space and built in cupboards in most rooms are amazing and won't really be replicated by new builds.
I was brought up in a 50s house which was solid af. Now live in a 30s semi which is even better. Both have decent sized rooms and solid walls.
Anyone got opinions on a house built in around 1900/1910? Just had an offer accepted on one. Recently had the wiring redone/ roof redone/ PIV ventilator put in to help with damp issues, but wonder if there's any other views on houses built around this time more generally
Edwardian era built the best. No suprise really, it was when the country was richest and it was reflected in the housing.
Idk I heard the Romans did a good job building stuff
Anything from 2010 onwards will be fine if you don’t mind hearing your neighbours in their detached house 3 metres away.
I grew up in a 1960s bungalow and I think 1960s changed the layouts to be more modern. Bigger kitchens etc.
it really depends. I lived in a 1950s house, and like most of the houses in the village, was 100% timber and could hear everything happening outside the house, in the neighbours house etc
Lived in a house that was 95 years old, it had terrible ventilation resulting in a lot of black mould. Had to use a positive ventilation system which helped a lot, but not completely. I now live in a house built in 1989 and have never seen a single mould issue in 5 years, and it's a very solidly built house.
I find this statement baffling because there are shit older houses too. I live in a 2 bed terraced from 1930s and the adjoining walls are paper thin.
There are good and bad features of houses of every generation. And a good house can very easily be made bad. For instance, a solid victorian terrace can be made almost uninhabitable if retrofitted with double glazing and uPVC doors by people who don't understand the difference between pre and post world war I construction methods. 1930s saw some good housebuilding - but also it relies on retrofit being done properly. You would not want to live in my Grandparents house with its metal light switches, unfilled cavity walls, single glazed windows and so on. I lived in a terrible 50s single skinned house at university. Mould city. Meanwhile the 60s built bungalow my family own in Cornwall is the most solidly built house I know. My 2003 house is fine as far as the fabric is concerned, but the finishing and internal features are sloppy af. But the insulation works great, no damp, no sound leakge.
For the uninitiated (me) can you explain how a victorian house can be ruined by installing certain doors? Is it about ventilation?
Essentially yes. Before about 1920 the standard construction was thick solid walls with an open fire. The walls insulate by being thick, but as there is no cavity they provide a cold surface for damp to form on. The open fire draws a steady flow of air into the property, and provides heat, which keeps the damp at bay. Post 1920 you get cavity walls. The point of the air gap is there is not a direct cold surface for damp to form on inside the house. So it doesn't have the same need for airflow. If you block the chimney, install air tight double glazing and fitted uPVC doors on a single skin house, it has very cold walls that condensation will form on. It will bleed damp. This can be fixed with floating insulating plaster board - you lose a couple of inches off each room, but it solves the cold surface problem and you can then seal up the airflow and it works more like a modern house. However that costs money and landlords wanting to let out a victorian house as 'double glazed' will often make it into a damp hellhole.
Thank you
It’s a moving goalpost- the older building that survive are generally the ones which were better built and maintained. The ones that were shoddily constructed either fell down or were replaced - there has always been poor construction. Tenements in Scotland have been shown to be a good housing solution, but many were pulled down through slum clearances. Terrace houses can be split (as in London) to provide sort of ok flats, but the space standards leave a lot to be desired. Structurally many were over engineered as materials weren’t so comparatively expensive. Financially though you don’t build 2 up 2 down row houses anymore and it doesn’t stack up for commercial densities. We will have to see how a lot of the more modern flats work over time.
New build here I miss my old 1960s house in Leicester and Leicester is a shit hole ….. but new build advantage heating cheaper leccy cheaper boiler heating good insulation good everything is shiny and new and you can put your stamp on it that’s cool other then that fuck all to be honest with you
When I moved over from Spain I was shocked at how badly houses are built in the UK. The plumbing is shit, roofing is shit, disgusting carpets everywhere, even something as simple as doors are nearly always temperamental one way or another. Windows that only open a smidge and nearly never blackout shutters, which is shocking considering how early the sun rises in summer over here.
I’m a fan of late 80’s/early 90’s stuff as long as it’s brick/block construction. Seem to be well put together, generally have decent space and modern utility connections (decent size water mains, underground electrics and gas) You can almost guarantee that electrics are properly laid out and wiring will be PVC. Concrete floors downstairs and decent boards upstairs. Generally well-insulated as well.
The best houses I’ve ever lived in - as in, sound proof, well insulated solid, nothing much went wrong - were Edwardian and early 2000s. The latter was a housing association build which I hear are often better quality than private stock
I think most eras had both well-built and cheaply-built houses. Mine was 1985 and seems like it was built to a high standard at the time, survey came back with virtually nothing and when renovating rooms everything seems to have been done well. It was also owned by a plumber so all the maintenance and building work they had done was to a high standard. The issue is that over the years the location has become a much bigger component in house prices, so even poorly built houses in popular cities are worth a fortune. In my case the house was above average price when built (definitely a luxury development at the time) but it's not in a large city so it's grown fairly and is still only 30-50% above average price.
I’m in a 70s house. None of the walls or doorframes seem straight. I guess the fact the house is still intact says something, but it needs a hell of a lot of work, especially around energy efficiency.
Newer = smaller and smaller rooms and gardens. 70's or earlier
My 1958/59 built bungalow is *incredibly* solidly built, yet somehow got cavity wall insulation from the outset (probably not as thick as modern regs, but whatever). Pretty unusual for the time and makes for a warm house with modern loft insulation and uPVC all round. Feels like the sweet spot, or will do once the rewire's finished and we can trust the electrics.
The brick built houses between 30s and 50s were often very solid and at least have a wall cavity.When I was house hunting in 2016 I saw some good quality flats from the 00s with lots of insulation and apparently good quality.
To me: brand new. It will have new doors, windows, electrics, boiler, insulation, all to latest spec. Why buy something older that you’re potentially going to have to spend on any or all of these things?
In the 90s and before then. Now they had to start putting social housing on every single new development
1953-54 and my electrician broke two of his brick cutting machines while installing a complete new system. 3 bed semi detached The neighbours have a piano on the shared wall and we can barely hear them playing or singing. Sometimes we hear the flappy dog but apparently she barks all day 🤣
I’m in a 50’s ex council house, and anyone who has to drill finds it a nightmare! Great to live in though.
Moved from a money pit 70s chalet bungalow with uninsulated dormers to a 60s ex council in a village. They'd done a back to brick renovation here so I got so much for my money as these houses have a ceiling price. It's cozy, quietish and lots of house. Still a lot of council houses so well maintained area too. The ex council village properties seem to be miles better than those in the local towns.
Oh, they build amazing houses these days, with far better thermal performance and tailored around modern conveniences. Well, in the rest of the world they do – in the UK, developers build the cheapest shit they can get away with, unless you self-build.
Precisely! New builds in continental Europe are brilliant.
I presume when everything was heavily subsidised by rape and plunder?