Today I was looking at a very modern property down by The Farm, a collection of oddly designed residences in a fairly quiet location though the main line railway to Gloucester is set above the development and trains pass by quite frequently. They are travelling slowly, so very quickly I got used that fact, and so I hope will my Client. The dwelling was not large and had an interesting sedum roof and I suspect was so well insulated that heating was not incorporated. It does have a solar panel to help with hot water and a wood-burning stove for the very cold winter months. Windows of course are double glazed and were made in Sweden where they know about cold. There is a small garden and although the area is very eco-friendly and green there was no parking space. There seem to be parking spaces most other properties, but not this one, so you will have to either bike it or bump it…   more »

Today I have been over in east Bristol where for many years coal was mined, but it ceased in the 18th century. The coal was used in the manufacture of brass, copper and glass and in the potteries and in the sugar refineries and in local distilleries. Kingswood was a major player in that direction. The mines generally speaking were many hundreds of feet deep and I think quite unlikely they would have had any material effect on the value of the cottage I inspected on behalf of my Client. There was no evidence of any serious cracking of the main walls to indicate this was the case. The roof was in fairly good condition as were the two valley gutters, one being lined with lead and the other with fibreglass though the end sections of each, I think are suspect as the walls below were damp. The rear wall of the cottage was slightly damp and there was some dampness at ground level but I suspect the house has been damp proofed professionally but how well it was completed I am unsure. The windows have all been replaced and are in good condition. There is a bathroom at ground level and an ensuite cloakroom at first floor level. It's not in bad condition but my Client is intending to make various alterations, which is fine because there is a reasonable base from which to start work. Don't dig too deep for foundations or you might find a seam of coal…   more »

I was over in the largest cul-de-sac in Europe today looking at a relatively modern detached house that had been vacant during the cold spell earlier in the year. No one had bothered to turn off the water or to drain the system. The result was that the cold water storage tank in the roof froze and when it thawed, hundreds of gallons of water, well about a hundred gallons spilled out into the house taking down some of the first floor ceilings and cascading out of the house. The water is now turned off, a bit like shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted (talking of Cheltenham, which we’re not!) When I arrived there was a deafening hum of fans and dehumidifiers. They had dried out the house almost entirely but many of the rooms are decimated with condensation, hundreds of little black blobs giving the accommodation dose of measles. My Client has got his work cut out sorting everything out, but at the end of the day, when quarantine is over he should have a pleasant enough home…   more »

Well that's what I thought initially but I found the frost had killed off some my tomatoes that I had diligently pricked out over the weekend. Today I have been to see an interesting semi-detached house, a six sided house though of course only five sides were visible, the sixth side was the party wall, all making this a slightly ‘L’ - shaped house built on a corner plot probably for the local authority in the 1930s. It has been occupied for the past 42 or so years by the present owner so it does require certain amount of tender loving care, for which you can read general modernisation and improvement. The house retains its original roof, the tiles and the slater's felt is and although the tiles are starting to give up the ghost, the slater's felt below is in reasonably good condition. Nevertheless my Client must realise that at some stage someone or other is going to have to bite the bullet and recover the roof. It can probably wait until the house is modernised and possibly rewired because at present it is dry. The garage has been converted into a more secure bike store but it and its outhouse each have asbestos cement roofs so those may need recovering in due course. It was a sunny day when I arrived and even sunnier day when I left; shame about my tomatoes though…   more »

Today I have been to see a pleasant 1930s semi-detached property. My Clients have found a house that structurally is in good condition. It is built with walls of cavity construction but there was no evidence of cavity wall tie failure. It has the original roof and the original tiles. The tiles have in part been replaced where they deteriorated and as the rafters are protected by the original slater’s felt there was little evidence of any water penetration, but, the roof really has come to the end of its useful life. My Clients must therefore be prepared to replace the roof at some stage though this is not necessary immediately. Gutters and downpipes are in acceptable condition. The windows have been replaced and they are in acceptable condition even though they are all bashed about a bit and they tend also to be showing their age. Insulation in roof is modest can be improved upon. The house has a clean bathroom suite, but the shower has leaked in the past. The kitchen is narrow but adequately fitted and from this you can be realise the house needs a certain amount of tender loving care to be lavished on it…   more »

In 1833 the foundations of St Matthew's church were laid and the church was built in two years to a design by Thomas Rickman and finished in 1835. It is a standing testament to the man at the time and the builders of the period and indeed to the parishioners of today who keep it well maintained. My Client is purchasing a much newer house that overlooks this church and I suspect though significantly, very vary significantly smaller it still took quite a long time to build, but that's the way of the world. Machines should be quicker, but perhaps nowadays men take longer! Whatever, the house I saw today was largely in good condition and nicely finished. There are one or two slight breaches, for example there are no ventilators to any of the windows which is a shame, particularly as the windows are well made. Of course obscure glass has been fitted to the bathroom window, as per the building regulations, but if the upper pain was replaced with clear, then it would open up and enliven the aspect from the bathroom considerably and privacy from the prying eyes of the parishioners could be avoided by Venetian blinds or net curtains. Glazed one-way panels in the front door would also lighten the hallway. The house has parking which is of benefit but at last the burghers of Cotham and Kingsdown have got their heads together and agreed to residents parking, so parking there is now a doddle; why didn't they think that five years ago? I like this house and as new houses go it has a lot to be going for it…   more »

Today I have been down in the old coal mining village of Nailsea though coalmining ceased here many years ago, as did the glass works, the remains of which are beneath Tesco at the northern edge of the town. Morgan's Hill is a fairly large development of what could almost be described up market houses and bungalows built in the 1980s by a firm known as Comben Homes; from memory I think they were Bristol-based and they also built houses on the dockside. This house was in a reasonably quiet stretch of road and a property that I found largely in good condition and free from defect. It is however starting to show its age particularly in some of the external timber where edges of the fascia board, edges of the barge board and some of the windows have wet rot decay in them, that can only get slowly and progressively worse. Repairs here will be needed in due course. That aside the house was quite pleasantly laid out though I rather felt the architect who gave the house a double garage that was almost larger than the living room and dining room put together missed a trick here. A single garage would probably have been better and a re-gigged ground floor accommodation could have made a big improvement, something perhaps for my Clients to consider…   more »

This is the second property I have seen for my Client, the first being a large and sort of gracious flat, but one that was at the same time somewhat ungainly and I think that it would have become more so at the end of the day. They have now found a very traditional three bedroomed 1930s built house. It is close to good local amenities, a bus service, local shops, schools and even a library; it is well positioned from that point of view. The principal chimney stack is in good condition; the second is no longer used and in due course can be taken down to below roof level. The roof is covered with the original tiles no doubt on the original battens and certainly on the original slater’s felt. The felt is just, just starting to fail but as the tiles, here Marseille clay tiles, are fully interlocking, well the roof ain't leaking, so it can remain. Main walls show little sign of any settlement or movement and they are reasonably dry. Windows have been replaced but internally insulation within the roof void need beefing up. The house has adequate amenities though I would not be surprised were my Clients interested in refurbishing the kitchen and sanitary ware. Certainly I would ditch the obscured glass in the bathroom window for clear to look out onto the long garden. Wiring and heating each need testing but otherwise there was nothing wrong with this house, and as I said above, there is an awful lot to be said for stability…   more »

There are a number of people who don't like where I've been today, a modern house in the heart of Clifton. I suppose they think it's a bit ‘infra dig’ to be in a conservation area, probably living in a listed building and to have a 1980s house in the middle of it all. Those people probably paid many, many thousands of pounds for their tiny little flat with no parking, congested streets, no garden, noise, pollution the list goes on. My Client has a garage, has a parking space, has a good-sized south facing garden, has an open aspect, has a well fitted house, in a quiet location. No, it's not listed, it doesn't have the cachet of a listed building, neither does it have the expensive maintenance associated with such a property and it didn't cost millions. I like what my Client has bought, so no more looking...   more »

Today I was asked to look at a maisonette in Redland. It was part of a listed terrace of houses, the bulk of which were built in 1840, on the cusp of the Victorian era but the house I was today was probably built prior to that, I suspect in 1820 or thereabouts as it was provided with what are known as tripartite windows, in order to beat or evade Window Tax of the period. It was a reasonably well maintained property, but at some stage the entire roof has been renewed, including rafters and purlins, and somehow I doubt any listed building consent was obtained, as the tiles are probably younger than 1977 when the house was listed. I expect the roof was upgraded after listed building consent was obtained for the conversion in 1994 but whether or not that consent included rebuilding the roof I don't know. Time will tell…   more »

This morning I had a slightly unusual job inasmuch as I had to value a house that has been deemed defective by the government under the 1986 Housing Act. My Client had purchased it under a right to buy, but did not take up the government's offer of repairing the house under a 90% grant; shame really. The Local Authority now want to purchase it back again so I have to argue the toss about value of a house which is deemed defective and of course is un-mortgageable. Fortunately I had agreed a valuation under similar circumstances, and on a similar style house, three years ago. It means that I can use the Land Registry house price indices to, hopefully, gear up the valuation to something higher than the local authority are hoping to pay. It will be an interesting, ongoing case. Later on I was looking at four houses all let out to students and, rightly, my Client was interested in having them fully insured so asked me to value them for that purpose. Another day, another dollar…   more »

Today I've been down in Lufa’s settlement, an area mentioned in the Domesday book when, at the time there was a mill on the River Brue. Whether or not this is the site of the current Lovington Mill, built around 1800 I'm unsure. What I can say is the cottage that I inspected was built circa 1650 so it's then occupants might have seen the original mill; they may even have gone to the mill to get grist with, or was that someone from Aberystwyth? The current occupants I have to say are pleasant enough people, but nevertheless heathens! They arbitrary removed an original newel post and probably tossed it on the fire when they took out the original circular staircase; they probably burned that too. And they then removed, in its entirety the other inglenook fireplace, because it got in the way. Fortunately they have done little other damage and have kept it fairly well maintained. The River Brue forms part of the boundary so no doubt they will have apiarian rights to fish in their half. It is a reasonably quiet situation about an hours drive from Bristol, so if I was living there, I might never do any work…   more »

Today I was looking at a fairly young property on the southern slopes of Cliftonwood, overlooking the floating Harbour and, as the estate agents details state, some of Bristol's iconic past. The house was of very modern construction being a steel framed property clad externally with a weather boarding followed by a mineral render to protect it. There was insulation within the frame and internally the walls are finished with plasterboard. Internal partitions are of mild steel struts to which plasterboard is fixed as is the chipboard floor though here of course securely to steel joists. Hopefully everything will be galvanised, otherwise over a period time, a very long period of time, some rusting may occur. The house was built on ground at the back of which is a cliff face into which numerous ground anchors were installed to keep the ground aboveand the houses built on it quite stable. The house was certainly warm and I suspect it is well insulated. To an extent it was a little bit overlooked by some of the older properies and I rather felt that living in it might be a little bit like living in a fishbowl, because everyone could see in, which is probably why there are Venetian blinds everywhere. I suspect with a little bit of ingenuity in order to create some privacy this could become an even more enchanting home…   more »