What could this be?

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Hey there,

I'm looking at buying a new house, circa 1900. Visually it looks in great condition externally, internally is another story and I'm a little concerned about the first floor.

There's a buckle on the landing, perhaps only about 20mm, but you can feel it and a slight slant on the whole landing.

Another concern I have is the door frames, the architrave on one of the doors is out of line as if the door frame has twisted. So that when your looking at the door, the piece of architrave that runs horizontally above the frame is out of line so that the right side is about an inch higher than the left.

Could all this be due to the age of the house and the wooden floors just twisting? - is this something I should be hugely concerned about?

Thanks in advanced for any feedback and opinions, they'll be greatly appreciated.
 
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Could these two be linked i.e. is the "buckle" and the top architrave gap on the same plane of the house, or is the door on the landing or in another part of the house??
 
Same plane - as you come to the top of the stairs the door is on your right, the floor has a slight incline and the 'buckle' is to the left about 1.5 meters from the door...
 
Terrace/end terrace/detatched?

My house is all over the place due to a bit of movement in the past, I thinik it all adds to the character!

As long as there is no ongoing movement I wouldn't be bothered. A full structural survey might be of use if you are uncertain.

Any photos?
 
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I'll try and get some photo's. I'm currently scouting for some builders to get some quotes.

It's a semi detached. There are plenty of cracks in the plaster, but outside everything looks good.

Parts are rendered, and in places it looks like they've been 'filled'. I guess this could just be from the render cracking over time. I'd say about 60% of the outside is exposed bricks and they all look in good shape. Roof looks good too.

Thanks for your reply :)
 
No cellar. I'm a little unfamiliar with tie rods but just had a quick Google - would there be any give away when looking at this externally?
 
Ahhh. Just seen some other pictures.

No ties rods.

Though a house on the same street, about 4 down, does have tie rods....
 
I was only asking because if the house has moved then it's not uncommon for them to tie both halves of the semi together to strengthen it.

You could knock on the neighbours door and ask if they can tell you anything about the houses that might be of interest to you.
 
Not a bad idea. Though I know the people next door to ours are recent tenants.

Do you think that the issues with the landing and doorway could be down to the wooden floor, or is it more like to have been caused by the house 'shifting'... I know that's a tricky answer to give. Just looking for opinions really.
 
I'm wondering if your stairs are winding or straight flight. If winding, I would have a butchers at the bottom of the newel post, just to ascertain that all is well.
 
I had a similar "problem" in my 1890 house which turned out to be the internal single brick bedroom wall being built between and parallel to the floor joists and over the years the weight had settled and caused the floor to buckle. Took the wall down, built a stud wall to remove the weight and flipped the floorboards over which took the bend out when nailed back down.
 
Houses move all the time

If the movement is a problem, there will be big cracks which you can get your fingers in
 

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