Stone houses.

[Clive Arthur]

Thinking of moving to west Cornwall. I'm used to old brick built houses here, but there they're mainly old stone houses. We'd be looking at a terrace to start until we can sell here.

One we saw had a downstairs fireplace intact but the upstairs fireplace removed. The hearthstone was still there but someone appears to have stolen the chimney breast, though the chimney is still on the roof.

Here, I'd be very concerned, but the agent seemed to think it was quite normal. What witchcraft is this, does it mean that the flues are incorporated into the thickness of the wall and there was no chimney breast?

Also, brick terraces can be quite noisy, side to side. Should I expect that a stone terrace is better in this respect?

Cheers

[Michael Chare]

When you say stone, do you mean large bits cut to shape or what you might think of as pebbles? One issue may be the absense of a damp proof course.

[harry]

You need to get in the roof space and make sure that the chimney has not been left hanging in midair. It has been known.

Another factor is when the chimney stack has multiple flues from adjacent properties. ie, back to back fireplaces. That can REALLY muck things up.

A lot of noise in terrace houses comes via the roof space if the partition wall is not "sealed" to the roof.

Usually stone built terrace houses have much thicker partition walls that transmit very little noise.

[tabbypurr]

much heavier means less sound transmission. Cold & Radon are the prime problems.

NT

[harry]

Cornwall- think Radon.

[dennis]

Not much worse than living next to Chernobyl.

Some houses may need a forced air ventilation system to reduce the radiation below Chernobyl levels.

If buying check that its been tested and what levels it has so you can determine how much its going to cost to "fix".

[Clive Arthur]

<snip>

Large bits cut to shape.

Cheers

[Jethro_uk]

Only if you have a cellar ?

[Tricky Dicky]

Get a structural survey done, might cost you a few hundred pounds but at least you will have peace of mind otherwise you are simply guessing and problems may come back to bite you. A house purchase is something you cannot afford to go wrong. Do not rely on a building society survey these can often only be drive by's their only concern is the valuation and how easy it is to get their money back in a foreclosure, sometimes they recommend some immediate repairs as part of mortgage conditions but are not as detailed as a structural survey.

You can always put a bid in for a property even a deposit subject to survey and simply walk away if the survey is unsatisfactory the only unrecoverable costs being that of the survey fee.

Richard

[charles]

everybody in Cormwall is killed of by radiation? I think not.

[spuorgelgoog]

I expect all that clotted cream has an effect on the arteries too

Owain

[Chris Hogg]

So you'll be a neighbour, then.

Can't really comment about the chimney, although if it's a granite cottage built a century or more ago, the walls are usually pretty thick, and the flue could well be within the wall.

Or it might be built of cob, which is clay reinforced with straw and horse-hair. Perfectly OK as long as it stays dry.

If it was a property built around the middle of the last century, say

1930's to 1960's, and made of concrete blocks with concrete footings, GET A MUNDIC SURVEY DONE. At that time, when raw materials were in short supply and expensive due to the war, they quite often used waste from the local mine tips in place of decent aggregate. That waste often contained sulphide minerals, locally known as mundic, which are OK if they stay dry, but if the concrete is porous and exposed to the rain and gets damp, the sulphides oxidise to sulphuric acid and attack the concrete, turning it to dust. Properties have collapsed because of it.

As for radon, mentioned by several in this thread, forget it. Nobody around here gives it a second thought. If you're a smoker, you are at a very slightly elevated risk from lung cancer caused by radon, but if you don't smoke, the risk is negligible; see Wade Allison's book, 'Radiation and Reason', pp 122-126. which you can download as a PDF from here

It's the download dated

23 Oct 2009.

[TimW]

And a local surveyor who is familiar with the local old building types and structures. Remember they can only report on what they can see. TW

[Clive Arthur]

<snipped>

This picture is in Penzance, picked at random, but it seems there are streets and streets of this type of construction...

https://www.instantstreetview.com/@50.123347,-5.534174,291.27h,1.92p,1.17z Cheers

[The Natural Philosopher]

smokers have an above average (for smokers) death rate.

It is one of the very few real data points on radiation that show it having a slight ill effect.

Cornwall is of course far more radiactive than the Fukushima exclusion zone...

"There are a number of important radon hotspots in the UK. The most noticeable one is Cornwall in the south-west where the average UK background dose is 7.8 mSv, nearly three times the national average. This is due to the presence of igneous granite, which naturally contains more uranium (10-20 parts per million) than other rocks."

7.8mSv is nowt to worry about. The problem is ground floors and cellars

Where radon - which is very heavy - can collect. You can go 100 times higher if ventilation is not good.

[Tim Streater]

Oh, you can't say that! We all know radiation is dangerous. Slightest whiff of it and you die immediately, or turn into harry.

[newshound]

Is there a distinct chimney breast downstairs, or is the wall three feet thick? It would be much more effort to remove a true "chimney breast" in a stone house than a brick one, so I think it is likely that the agent is right. Is there a loft where you can see the flue structure?

It all depends. I think that in Cornwall you find both the random stone, "rubble fill" structure that we have in the Cotswolds (and many other parts of the UK) together with the "stone sawn into large bricks" construction that you find in early industrial Yorkshire and Lancashire. You also get the distinctive slate construction. It shouldn't be too difficult to get an idea of the "party wall" thickness by direct measurement. I would generally expect stone terraces to be better than brick.

In my 1780's "rubble fill" end terrace cottage, the party wall was originally five inch oak "studwork" with lath and plaster on each side, but the neighbours side now has a concrete block face inboard of the "studding".

[newshound]

No, it still potentially comes up through the floor (depending on the construction).

[newshound]

After their Brexit vote I was thinking brain damage.

[newshound]

Yes well those are what I think of as stone "bricks". Wall thickness (including party walls) is likely to be at least 9 inches. They will be single skin of course.