Walls, Walls, Walls, Walls.

It still surprises me after nearly 30 years as a House Surveyor that most of the proud homeowners I meet on a daily basis express to know very little about the four square walls and more that they reside within.

It is a rare occasion that I cannot surprise them by telling them something interesting, strange or both about their property.

Many a time I have stood in a back garden of an old terraced house in my home city and pointed out to very disturbed owners the evidence of major reconstruction of roof and walls as a consequence of wartime damage be it from the Luftwaffe in the blitz years of 1941 to 1944 or even earlier from a speculative floating attack from the aerial blimp of a Zeppelin.

In other instances I have been able to highlight the signs of an older structure on the site, perhaps a Georgian Period Cottage encapsulated by the following-on Victorians with only tell tale hand made bricks to show for it but still there to see and tell a story.

I have even stood side by side with a longstanding owner occupier in their front garden and, to their amazement, revealed that their house is not as straight and vertical as it should be either from more enemy action, subsidence, settlement or where to my knowledge at one specific address where a drunk driver tried to enter the living room through the bay window.

I may sound a bit of a know-it-all but then again I continue to come across completely unusual and fresh types of building and construction that at first present a bit of a head scratching challenge until investigated in more detail.

For example, I have never experienced the following types and categories of house in my home patch, mainly because they tend to be particular to a local area outside of my territory, a different region, a national variation or on a far distant global scale. That is not to say that they may turn up on my doorstep, figuratively speaking, quite soon what with the quest of many aspiring self builders to produce something individual and unique.

Baracca.  A traditional style of farm house from the 12th Century BC and still being built until the 1800's around the Spanish City of Valencia.

Barndominium. An Americanism describing a combined living space attached to a workshop or barn in which is typically kept horses or large vehicles such as RV's, Winnebago's or similar.

Chattel House. A bit of a wooden hut type structure for workers on Barbados. ( I would be available at short notice to go out and survey one of these....no trouble)

Cracker House. Not to be mistaken for a crack house but a wood frame property found widely in surviving 19th century settlements in the Southern States of the USA.

Dogtrot House. Two houses connected by something called an open breezeway, probably a good old back passage in English-speak.

Eyebrow House. Found in the hot Florida Keys with an overhanging roof providing much welcomed shade from the midday sun.

Faux Chateau. A sort of pretentious dwelling for the upwardly mobile with accentuated but eminently false and tacky design features from French Provincial architecture.

Geodesic Dome. Often mistaken for a greenhouse or large cannabis growing area but attributed to the architect Buckminster Fuller from the mid 20th Century.

Igloo. Not a portable lavatory for the Ig people but the classic shelter made from knife sliced blocks of packed ice and snow. Attempted one as a child but it melted after only two days.

Izba. A traditional wooden built cottage type property popular amongst Russians as a getaway from the starkness of post Communist tower blocks or pursuing radio-active clouds.

McMansion. Not a dwelling assembled from quarter pounders with cheese joints but the term is used in derogatory fashion for a generic and formulaic suburban house in the US. Facades usually have a lot of plastic classically shaped pillars and embellishments or half timbered beams, stucco render, pretty shutters and large unhealthy children. Charles Dickens did not sleep there once people.

(to be continued...............)