A Quirky Crooked House

I bought my house after seeing it once. I then buggered off to work in LA for a month during which time we completed a very quick purchase. I had to turn down a shoot in Hollywood because I had to go home to pack and move.

Walking into the house that was now mine I was filled with terror. What the hell? I owned this house I'd seen once. Instead of celebrating I only saw what was wrong with it. I didn't notice those cracks before, I thought, I didn't notice that sloping floor. What had I done?

I got our structural surveyor to come back and quizzed him. He assured me the house was settling. "SETTLING?" I said. "It's 100 years old! How long does it need to settle for?"

I wasn't convinced. I lived in the house. I pushed the dread back into the corners of my mind. But now and then it came sneaking back out to torment me. Your house is falling down Aimee. It might collapse if you jump up and down. Don't do that exercise video.

When the house became 100% mine I finally made the mental leap I needed to investigate further. The house was mine to care for. There was a good chance it would be my home for 20 years to come. If so I needed to investigate my misgivings. I decided to hire a structural engineer and a trusted builder to investigate. Together they knocked holes in walls and ceilings then came back with a verdict....

Your house is falling down.

Despite the bad news I felt a little proud and vindicated. I knew in my gut that I had been right. I knew my stuff. Now I needed to fix it.

The reason for the internal sagging was twofold. In the basement internal support had been removed in order to create enough room for a living space. We needed to insert four large big metal beams in the basement ceiling in order to hold the house up.

On the ground floor two rooms had been knocked together without a beam to replace the supporting wall. Here again a big steel beam and two supporting pillars were needed.

In the process we also discovered that all the floorboards had woodworm. It just got better and better.

I think that because I had mistrusted my house for so long the shock was not what it could have been. I was happy to be getting it sorted and I had complete trust in my builder Andrew. So we began the work.

First of all the hallway floorboards, which were painted black preventing woodworm treatment, were removed and replaced.

The builders laid chipboard temporarily so we could still walk through the house. 

New floorboards are laid.

We laid floorboards lengthways instead of widthways to create a better sense of flow. 

Then the basement ceiling was ripped out to allow beams to go in and woodworm spraying of the floor above.

The beam that was holding up the entire house single-handedly.

Then the massive steel basement beams went in. All four of them. At this point the local council's building department had to come and inspect the work which they were happy with. The electric board also had to be notified and do checks due to the location of the power supply. Oh it's fun being an adult.

The two support steel beams we installed to support the main beam that lie on new padstones. 

Finally, the ceiling was replaced and re-plastered and painted so that my housemates could move back in as quick as possible. The basement work took three weeks to complete - pretty fast when you think about all the work done.

New ceiling is plastered and the beams are boxed in. 

Then it was the turn of the front room. The carpet had been up for two weeks prior to work beginning whilst investigative work was done.

Carpet comes up for exploratory work, woodworm treatment and the steel pillars. 

Then the wood work was ripped out and the big metal archway went in supported by beams beneath.

Check out that support. HARDCORE.

Finally it was re-plastered and painted white temporarily until I could paint it to match the room.

The arch gets plastered over and neatly finished. 

Finally my builders went around the house patching up plaster where it had cracked as the house had sagged.

Thirty grand down, my Victorian Terraced house felt solid as a rock. It also looked almost exactly the way it did before I started. Still. Not falling down is worth it.