Thoughts on this rendering and structure?

[anb010]

Went to view this place at the weekend. This is a timber framed house, 3 bedrooms, detached, probably 1900ish, Snowdonia. Not been lived in for a while. I just wanted to get an opinion on this gable end wall which is west facing and getting the prevailing weather, is it likely to fall down soon... Obviously the render is coming off, a previous patch up job also seems to have not stopped the render on it's journey away from the wall. The inside pics are the room on the first floor and the wall on the right with the cracks is the gable end wall. Trying to figure out if its just the water getting in that causing the render to detach or whether there is a more structural issue with rotten frame / wood that is causing the whole thing to start moving around and detach from the rest of the building.... Any opinions welcome. Plenty of other issues which I'm happy to deal with but this is the one that may be the biggest. Normally I would consider walking away but I like the location, so trying to figure out how bad this is likely to be and what it's going to take to sort out... any advice or pointers would be great..

 

[Koolpc]

How deep are your pockets?!!

 

[jj4091]

Knock it down and start again.

 

[cdbe]

Wouldn't bother me (obviously if the price is right etc) as I'd consider it a blank canvas for stripping back for remedial repair, ewi and new cladding/render.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

You need to see what the structure's like, if that's shot like the outside ...

 

[Ivor Windybottom]

Ignore whatever the asking price is - it's probably fantasy. Price it as a building plot minus the cost of demolition and removal. It would be a miracle if every bit of timber wasn't rotten to the core.

In the unlikely event of it having any value as a building then that's a bonus. That could well be a trigger's broom restoration, it could cost more than rebuilding and end up less desirable than what you could have built.

It has some value - only that it possibly sets a precedent for a house being there for planning purposes. But even this isn't a given, councils have conditions relating to derelict buildings in that they sometimes treat them as not existing if they've been vacant for a while so treat any application to replace it as though you're building in open countryside, i.e. you probably can't. Check the website of the relevant local authority or perhaps phone them.

We intended to buy a derelict place. I started the conveyancing process and, in parallel, applied for pre-planning advice from the council. I didn't tell the seller I was doing this, it doesn't get onto public record unlike planning permission. I think it was about £300. Ask for advice on outline permission to demolish and replace with a similar or larger house.

In our case we got a long list of worrying potential issues and a very obstructive attitude from the council. In the end I told the seller what I'd done, very sorry and pulled out. Lost our legal fees and probably left the seller with a bill but that is par for the course when selling a problem house.

At the absolute worst, it could be worth its value as agricultural land minus the cost of demolition, i.e. less than nothing.

 

[kingandy2nd]

Got a Rightmove link?

 

[anb010]

To close this off the red circled bit was letting water in inside the render, this water was freezing and causing the render to move away from the wall evenly explaining the long vertical crack to the front. See also

at around 5 mins which is the exact same issue. This was happening repeatedly which also explained the recent "fix" of cement patch also now cracking and continuing to move away. There was much smaller vertical crack same area to the back due to less water coming in on the left side of the red circled area. But yeah, timber framed house + obvious long term water ingress = fun. We didn't go for it in the end not because of the issues but the distance was too far for my partner's 2 days in the office. Nice location and setting though.. No idea if its still on or sold : Aberangell 285k. Knock yourself out