Hi,
I'm hoping that someone here can help?
I'm thinking of buying a house that I've been told is constructed with a
steel frame (I think they said it was a Hawksley type!). Various people have
tried to put me off, including my current mortgage lender, because they say
there are problems with the design.
I'd appreciate any other points of view on it.
I believe it was built sometime in the Seventies!

TIA

flash wrote:
Hi,
I'm hoping that someone here can help?
I'm thinking of buying a house that I've been told is constructed
with a steel frame (I think they said it was a Hawksley type!).
Various people have tried to put me off, including my current
mortgage lender, because they say there are problems with the design.
I'd appreciate any other points of view on it.
I believe it was built sometime in the Seventies!

TIA

Walk away.

These houses were built as cheaply as possible, there's an estate of them
around here - most of them have a corrugated steel roof.
Someone I know purchased one (very cheap) mainly for the massive rear
garden....the 'walls' are chicken wire mesh, rendered and pebbledashed
(outside) and the same inside but skimmed....this is only downstairs -
upstairs is the same as the roof - corrugated steel.
Their only advantage is the price, they're as cheap as chips, other than
that, they're horrid.
If pricewise it's the only thing you can afford, then go for it, but bear in
mind that they don't go up in value very much due to their construction

Phil L wrote:
flash wrote:
Hi,
I'm hoping that someone here can help?
I'm thinking of buying a house that I've been told is constructed
with a steel frame (I think they said it was a Hawksley type!).
Various people have tried to put me off, including my current
mortgage lender, because they say there are problems with the design.
I'd appreciate any other points of view on it.
I believe it was built sometime in the Seventies!

TIA

Walk away.

These houses were built as cheaply as possible, there's an estate of them
around here - most of them have a corrugated steel roof.
Someone I know purchased one (very cheap) mainly for the massive rear
garden....the 'walls' are chicken wire mesh, rendered and pebbledashed
(outside) and the same inside but skimmed....this is only downstairs -
upstairs is the same as the roof - corrugated steel.
Their only advantage is the price, they're as cheap as chips, other than
that, they're horrid.
If pricewise it's the only thing you can afford, then go for it, but bear in
mind that they don't go up in value very much due to their construction


OTOH calculate what a decent house at £60 a sq foot construction would
be worth on the same site.

Then sweet talk the bank manager into a loan, knock the steel down and
rebuild. You MIGHT make a profit.

flash wrote:

Hi,
I'm hoping that someone here can help?
I'm thinking of buying a house that I've been told is constructed with a
steel frame (I think they said it was a Hawksley type!). Various people have
tried to put me off, including my current mortgage lender, because they say
there are problems with the design.
I'd appreciate any other points of view on it.
I believe it was built sometime in the Seventies!

There's an estate of them near here, owners can't sell because no one
will lend on them. Problem as I understand it is there is no cheap or
easy method to reliably test the condition of the steel framing so the
lender can't tell the condition of the property.

Peter

--
Add my middle initial to email me. It has become attached to a country

"Peter Ashby" wrote in message
k...
flash wrote:

Hi,
I'm hoping that someone here can help?
I'm thinking of buying a house that I've been told is constructed
with a
steel frame (I think they said it was a Hawksley type!). Various
people have
tried to put me off, including my current mortgage lender, because
they say
there are problems with the design.
I'd appreciate any other points of view on it.
I believe it was built sometime in the Seventies!

There's an estate of them near here, owners can't sell because no
one
will lend on them. Problem as I understand it is there is no cheap
or
easy method to reliably test the condition of the steel framing so
the
lender can't tell the condition of the property.

Peter

--

Price of scrap steel is high at the moment - knock it down and start
over building a proper house

AWEM

The Natural Philosopher wrote:
OTOH calculate what a decent house at £60 a sq foot construction would
be worth on the same site.

Then sweet talk the bank manager into a loan, knock the steel down and
rebuild. You MIGHT make a profit.

I'd imagine its a semi tho.

Owain wrote:
The Natural Philosopher wrote:
Then sweet talk the bank manager into a loan, knock the steel down and
rebuild. You MIGHT make a profit.

And steel doesn't perform well in a fire...

Owain


Marginally better than softwood though.

On Oct 9, 1:45 pm, "flash" wrote:
Hi,
I'm hoping that someone here can help?
I'm thinking of buying a house that I've been told is constructed with a
steel frame (I think they said it was a Hawksley type!). Various people have
tried to put me off, including my current mortgage lender, because they say
there are problems with the design.
I'd appreciate any other points of view on it.
I believe it was built sometime in the Seventies!

TIA

We had a problem where the people buying our house were trying to sell
a steel framed house. Their purchaser's mortgage lender (C&G) had just
been taken over by Lloyds who had parachuted in their own surveyors and
mortgage advisors who kicked up a fuss. Once they found a surveyor and
advisor with local knowledge and experience who understood the issues
and knew what they were talking about, the transaction went through
very quickly.

MBQ

Andrew Mawson wrote:

"Peter Ashby" wrote in message
k...
flash wrote:

Hi,
I'm hoping that someone here can help?
I'm thinking of buying a house that I've been told is constructed
with a
steel frame (I think they said it was a Hawksley type!). Various
people have
tried to put me off, including my current mortgage lender, because
they say
there are problems with the design.
I'd appreciate any other points of view on it.
I believe it was built sometime in the Seventies!

There's an estate of them near here, owners can't sell because no
one
will lend on them. Problem as I understand it is there is no cheap
or
easy method to reliably test the condition of the steel framing so
the
lender can't tell the condition of the property.

Peter

--

Price of scrap steel is high at the moment - knock it down and start
over building a proper house

Sounds good, though might not give good yeilds if sitting in a sea of
other steel frame houses. Here most are semis so that solution is not so
easy. Some people have had cladding added in an attempt to 'disguise'
that its steel framed. Doesn't really wash if the adjoined neighbour
doesn't do it though.

Peter

--
Add my middle initial to email me. It has become attached to a country

Owain wrote:
The Natural Philosopher wrote:
Then sweet talk the bank manager into a loan, knock the steel down
and rebuild. You MIGHT make a profit.
And steel doesn't perform well in a fire...
Marginally better than softwood though.

I was thinking for insurance purposes ...

Still better than softwood.

If its been built to regs. Steel needs fireproofing thats all.


Owain

The Natural Philosopher wrote:
Phil L wrote:
flash wrote:
Hi,
I'm hoping that someone here can help?
I'm thinking of buying a house that I've been told is constructed
with a steel frame (I think they said it was a Hawksley type!).
Various people have tried to put me off, including my current
mortgage lender, because they say there are problems with the
design. I'd appreciate any other points of view on it.
I believe it was built sometime in the Seventies!

TIA

Walk away.

These houses were built as cheaply as possible, there's an estate of
them around here - most of them have a corrugated steel roof.
Someone I know purchased one (very cheap) mainly for the massive rear
garden....the 'walls' are chicken wire mesh, rendered and
pebbledashed (outside) and the same inside but skimmed....this is
only downstairs - upstairs is the same as the roof - corrugated
steel. Their only advantage is the price, they're as cheap as chips,
other
than that, they're horrid.
If pricewise it's the only thing you can afford, then go for it, but
bear in mind that they don't go up in value very much due to their
construction
OTOH calculate what a decent house at £60 a sq foot construction would
be worth on the same site.

Then sweet talk the bank manager into a loan, knock the steel down and
rebuild. You MIGHT make a profit.

Not possible I'm afraid, these types of houses were built as cheaply as
posible and are usually in pairs or blocks of four or six...therefore the
steelwork frame is 'shared'.

The OP doesn't stipulate whether it's a semi or a mid terraced, but I'm
prepared to wager the larger of my gonads on it being a semi.
:-p