Render on Victorian style property.

[Mack1]

Hi all,

I have been trying to move home for several months now (pain of having a chain).
We now have a prospective date in 5 weeks and after reading several forums I have had a last minute panic about the render on the front bay and side of the house.
The owners claim to not know if it has been rendered with lime, which I understand is the preferred method on old buildings. I have attached some pictures and we are going to visit and try and find out, but if my fears are right and it’s had a modern cement finish should I be worried?

 

[KenGMac]

Mack1, good evening.

Notice this is your first post in here, if no one else does welcome to the board.

OK an off the wall suggestion???

Go on to either Google maps, or Google street view and go back in time as you can with these platforms.

They can and do hold historic images of the property you are looking at??

Just a thought??

Ken

 

[bobasd]

i'm not sure how nowing when the render was applied will tell you what was applied?

the thing to look out for is that that render was applied to those pprobly solid walls probly long after newbuild to prevent damp penetration.
sand and cement render can sometimes cause condensation in the wall and make damp conditions worse.
any surveyor should have picked up any obvious penetrating or condensing damp.

lime render is best but most renders are in cement and work well enough so no big deal.
ask the owners about condensation and have they ever had to use a humidifier or had any damp or condensation treatments on the walls?.

dont let it panic you or put you off buying the house. it wouldnt cost that much to hack off the old render and redo in lime if that seems needed.

couple of points, how is the WC soil pipe vented and why does it run such an unusual course?
i dont see many airbricks for suspended floor ventilation?
where is the bay gutter outlet?
is the house backing into your property a separate property?

all this stuff is par for the course for an older house

 

[Mack1]

Firstly thank you for the replies.

I have to admit that I did not notice the bay window gutter!!
The house behind is actually a two storey extension completed in the last 20yrs, this I guess is why the WC pipe has a weird run.
We had a damp specialist out (If you can call them that ) He just noted some damp between the original house and the extension, but that was the two walls in the kitchen so I was less concerned.
I actually visited today and took a small piece of render, I put it in white vinegar and it reacted so I am thinking there must be lime in it?
Behind the render was not brick.

 

[bobasd]

what your photo shows is a very poor application of Tyrolean render applied on top of a sand and cement dashed render.
the sandc render maybe after some years wasnt up to the job for whatever reasonsso some years later Tyrolean was swished on - a v. poor attempt.
behind the lot will be a brick wall and after a period of wait and see while liveing with it best practice might be to take it all back to brick before applyin a fresh lime render or one of the more modern renders with or without external insulation.

that Tyrolean is doing nothin but trap moisture plus it not taken to the background.
Tyrolean isnt a proper render anyway, its almost used asa decorative finish or cover for cracks or somethin.
Tyrolean can be made up with cement or lime.

as above its no deal breaker if you like the house.

sounds like your damp man didnt mention airbricks or through ventilation esp with the extension at the rear possibly blocking any rear airbricks

 

[Mack1]

Thanks Bob,
I know it’s probably difficult to quote, but how much do you think (roughly) it would cost to bring back to brick and apply a lime render?