Would it be wise to buy a house that is built from no-fines concrete?

Answer 1

some mortgage lenders refuse to lend on wimpey no-fines and other concrete constructed homes, eg Laing Easi, Reema etc. These homes were built mainly in the 1950's and 1960's and the design was made to combat a shortage of skilled labour and to keep costs down. Local authorities built thousands of these houses and commissioned them to be built to serve the housing crisis (and bombing) and baby boom after the war. Although typically sound, they suffer from high heating costs due to the concrete pulling the heat out of the home, and some damp problems can occur especially on north-east facing walls. The wiring was usually embedded in conduit in the walls so re-wiring can be easy if you dont want to move locations of sockets etc. Some lenders are already refusing to lend against them because of their un-tradional design and lack of proper cavity walls etc. Although basically a sound desing, it was built for cheapness and speed of construction and mass produced. Ask yourself this : if lenders are becoming frostly now >> what will be the situation when you go to sell in 20years time?? it wont be better and you could be left with a 'pup' , a worthless house that is structually sound but no-one can raise mortgage to buy it. Also be careful of asbestos content in these homes, check water tank, box sections surrounding pipes/soil pipes in toilet/bathrooms, airing cupboards, external asbestos content typically found in soffits (the white bit under the roof that you can see outside when you look up from a bedroom window). In conclusion a nice home in its day, dated construction techique now withdrawn. High Heating costs, cannot pracicalbly insulate further, possible damp/bridging problems, asbestos content a concern. Mortgage lenders withdrawing from lending as considered high risk, unconventional design, and towards end of life without major refurbishment. The 'no-fines' means the walls (or part of them were made from pouring concrete into a mould of a wall. the 'fines' are the grit and sand part of the concrete mix which was removed. Think of a mix of small round stones about the size of childrens marbles covered in cement then poured and set to look like chocolate rice-krispie cake with holes in it. then it was either externally tiled or pebbldash rendered. plenty of info on the web, check wikipedia, mortgage lenders, wimpey built most of them in th UK.