Storey Time

Selling a house is one of those milestones in a lifetime that can cause stress and worry.

Some people positively thrive on it and make a positive experience of doing it multiple times in just a few short years. It can be a way of moving up the housing ladder if the timing is right but as the small print always says, the value of a property can go down as well as up. It can be a bit of a gamble but then again, what is wrong with just staying put until the market improves and your plans can progress.

A few fortunate home owners, happy with their four walls and more, have no compulsion to sell until it is brought upon them by such factors as ill health, bereavement of a partner or just a feeling that they cannot keep up with the demands of ownership.

In such circumstances there is perhaps a higher degree of stress brought on by the longevity of occupation and a definite emotional connection with the bricks and mortar.

I have some understanding of this having just moved after 18 years in the same place. Even though it was time to leave and we have been blessed in our new home I have fond recollections of bringing up our three children amongst its rooms and large garden. I still drive past it on a regular basis. My wife did actually pull into the driveway and park up momentarily just last year (some 15 months since moving out), after a particularly stressful working day. Obviously a subconscious reaction to seek the familiar rather than an act of intentional trespass or curiosity.

I therefore had considerable empathy with a lady just last week who was selling up after 28 years in the same house.

It was a huge mid Victorian period semi detached house over three floors plus large cellar in Flemish bond brickwork and all of the embellishments of the era very much in a Parisian architectural style under blue/grey slate roof and stucco detail around window.

When she bought the property it had been in three flats for some considerable time.

Although sympathetically returned to a single character house it still retained the scars of sub-division with unsightly downstand beams marking the position of partitions wall, stairwell segregation and fire safety measures as well as a top floor kitchenette, in use as an impromptu potting shed on my visit.

The original floor plan and layout had lended itself to carving up into flats, each one being of good size and with an interesting split level arrangement. The three storey contemporary wing, likely to have been large open plan or basic partitioned areas had been converted into multiple rooms with an access corridor per floor. Any present day scheme will have utilised lightweight stud walls to meet design, safety and regulatory requirements with little or no additional loadings on the structural components. The existing dividers were however in substantial masonry and from the very pronounced and discernible sloping and distortion to floors there was a significant overloading factor.

The walls had evidently been constructed off the floor joists and boards. That would take some further investigation and no doubt a bit of dismantling and de-construction to alleviate the pressure on that part of the building.

It was good to see that a number of authentic features had survived a succession of tenants over, perhaps 30 or 40 years.

These included sash cord window frames (although firmly painted shut), deep profile skirtings and architraves and heavy panelled internal doors. These were well within renovation possibilities.

The cellar was expansive even for the mid 1800's but damp and decay were major impediments to any practical use without major expenditure if intended for mainstream accommodation. Those Victorians were certainly physically smaller from nourishment and general health issues and will have, when venturing into the cellar compartments, been easily able to stand upright. I had to stoop in my inspection keeping a watchful eye for any protruding beams, hanging hooks or stubborn nails.

From walking through the house there was a good difference in floor levels with, in particular, a steep flight of steps down to the kitchen and mirrored on the two floors above. The owner, initially aloof and not a little bit hostile to my visit was never too far away and I took the opportunity to start a few conversations about the history of the house.

I had not seen any evidence of servant bells or staff quarters and she explained that the when built as a pair her half had been rented out with the builder and his family keeping the other side as main residence. That explained the complete absence of any dividing walls in the roof spaces but a potential cost to new owners to provide suitable fire barriers.

The scale of the property and demands of repair and maintenance were becoming a bit too much although the lady which was a shame as she had managed perfectly well on her own for the last quarter of a century.

I had completed my work and we parted on much better terms than we had started. I had enjoyed the experience of a properly built house and one that in its heyday will have been much admired.

It would take some considerable effort to get it back to that state but in the long run it would be a most worthwhile project.