Brick wall/house lifespan?

[diybeginna]

Hi
Just looking for some opinions.
Will a house brick wall like this require maintenance? Or will it last 150+ years. It was built in 2000.

 

[Tigercubrider]

That wall looks 150 years old

 

[Doggit]

it's the pointing that makes it look old, more so than the brick - which are designed to look that way. 150 years, doubt it, but it should last your lifetime with just a bit of repointing now and then.

 

[stuart45]

There's plenty of old brick buildings around (more than 150 years), but it depends on factors like type of brick, climate, exposure, repointing when needed etc.

 

[^woody^]

Soft bricks, with hard mortar and recessed to boot is not for longevity.

No-one can put a sell by date on it though

 

[tomfe]

Housing stock is designed to expire, it provides construction jobs for years to come and allows for the change in housing need, e.g. better thermal insulation, higher density housing etc
Just the same as your washing machine is designed to last about 5 years.

 

[^woody^]

Housing stock is designed to expire

How do you actively design a wall to expire in a set period of time?

I call that crap workmanship, not design.

 

[tomfe]

How do you actively design a wall to expire in a set period of time?

You're kidding right, all those post war prefabs, they where designed to be rebuild, they had a life of 10 years yet you see them still today.
BS 7543: 1992 suggested a 60 year design life, though has been rewritten, BRE Environmental Profiles are based on a 60 year life expectancy.
Timber frames can have a life expectancy as low as 20 years, which is just stupid.

But I don't necessarily think this is a bad think as long as housing stock is replenished but it's not.

 

[^woody^]

, all those post war prefabs,

That was a specific situation to solve a specific problem. It is not done nowadays.

I was really querying your previous statement that "Housing stock is designed to expire". I know of no one who designs houses to expire.

Your reference to BS design guides relating to life spans, refers to components, and not whole houses.

Components have finite lives, so designing with this in mind is normal and sensible, and that is completely different to designing to expire.

Housing is in fact designed to last for an indefinite period of time, and houses are not built one day with the intent to knock them down another.

 

[mfarrow]

Put it this way, if houses were intended to last only 10/20/50 years, no-one would be able to get a mortgage, and each one would probably be leased.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

I wonder how a Barratt home will be perceived in a hundred years or so?

 

[^woody^]

I wonder how all timber floors and roofs will be perceived in a hundred years or so?

Even those from a few hundred years ago

 

[tomfe]

I am sorry but no, this is why CSH Level 6 houses have to look heavily into life cycle of product used. Look at bre's methodology.
Look at any block manufacturers specification, they all have a limited life span.
To say oh the blocks have a life span but the house does not if daft, you going to replace individual structural elements of a house or knock it down and build again which would be cheaper and more in keeping with current requirements.
Don't take the ageing UK housing stock as an example, all those terraced houses in deprived areas being knocked down and replaced with new stock.

OK an architect from none large house builder won't think about end of life, but all the big boys do.

But anyway think what you may, I used to sit in on meetings between BRE, CLG and others and they used to discuss this a far bit. Improvement to existing housing stock is a big thing. All this energy assessment was the start.

 

[^woody^]

Look at any block manufacturers specification, they all have a limited life span.

But still, houses are not designed to expire.

Every single manufactured product and component has a planned life cycle, but that does not mean that houses are built to expire. It just means that at some stage some components may need to be upgraded. And it does not mean that at the end of a planned life time the component needs to be replaced either.

And it's a nonsense to suggest that houses are knocked down because they have expired. They are knocked down because they can't be economically altered or upgraded to modern standards or needs. The house demolition in deprived areas that you cite, are part of whole area regeneration schemes which are to deal with wider social issues and changing demographics, and not to replace expired housing.

And yet millions of Victorian and Edwardian properties are still here and will be here for a long time to come, and they have not and will not expire. But the roof tiles might need changing.

Do you know of any current houses that have been designed to expire with an actual plan to replace them when they expire at a predetermined timed? I'd love to learn about these.

 

[stuart45]

Lack of maintainance is often to blame with older housing. Nowadays many Victorian properties are owner occupied and kept in better condition.