A war damaged house. Would you?

[wildcat45]

I'm becoming increasingly fascinated with World War Two and the physical impact it had at home, the way if you look carefully you can sometimes see quite obvious signs of war damage.

That's probably another thread in its self.

I was in a very detailed website about the war where I live and its impact. Lots of photos of wrecked and damaged homes. Among them a house not far from me. Looks like it took a lot of blast from a bomb that landed close by. The whole front pushed in, like it was made of plasticine and someone had stuck their thumb in it. I'm no engineer but the whole thing looks like a candidate for demotion.

That house is for sale right now. And a very nice house it is too.

I doubt the present owner or the prospective buyers know about what happened to it. If you look closely having seen the picture of the damage you can see marks today on some mock Tudior woodwork on the front that were out there by the bomb.

Clearly the house was repaired and has stood the test of time but will there be any record of this in searches and surveys? Well repaired or not I might think twice about investing hundreds of thousands in a building that' bore the force of a parachute mine. Judging by the post war building across the road, (Part of. A former school) I guess what was there was flattened.

There must be thousands of houses across the land with similar stories. Not just war damage but fires floods, being hit by trucks or whatever.

To me it's like buying a rebuilt car folliwing a crash. It could be fine but I'd rather not take a chance. The thing is with a car there is often a paper trail.

So would a building's history bother you?

(Mods I reckon this is a bit to general for the houses forum. I'm not really looking for technical answers just a bit of discussion)

[john2443]

I'd say if it hasn't fallen down/subsided in the 70+ years since the bomb, it's unlikely to happen now.

I don't think searches will show anything, I could put a new roof on my house, replace half the walls, underpin the foundations and none of that is recorded anywhere unless planning permission or building regs are involved (and they didn't exist until '47 anyway).

If it worries you, maybe get a builder/surveyor to have a look before you commit any money or make an offer.

[moorx]

If (as you suggest) it has changed hands since the war, I would presume it would have had at least one survey in that time and presumably buildings insurance? Just my opinion, but that's pretty much all of us can go by when buying properties (unless you're buying new).

[IanCress]

It's no different to removing a supporting wall to extend a room, or having French windows put in. As long as it has been repaired properly then it's fine.

Can't really compare it to a crash repaired car. Walls are rebuilt brick by brick, where as a car may need two pieces of structural metal welding together, where previously it was one single piece.

[CVP]

If fixed correctly I'd not have any issues buying such a house, in fact we did.

When we bought our house the former owner gave us two small pictures taken during WW II showing the bomb damage in our road and the house over the road (pretty much flattened) plus a copy of the original advert for the sale of the houses when they were new in the 1920's. I think they are nice pieces of history and we shall pass them along to anyone we sell the house to.

[2Btoo]

No, it wouldn't. We live in a late Georgian terraced house in East London, and six or so houses in the terrace opposite are modern, not Georgian, as the original ones were knocked down by a WW2 bomb. It's clear if you look closely that the front of our house (and several houses on each side) took quite a lot of the force of the bomb; they are missing some detailed mouldings around the windows and front door and if you rub the paint back you can see large cracks in the render that have been filled.

Does that bother us? No, not at all. It's a bit of history and, if anything, endears the house to me more.

[wildcat45]

To be clear, I'm not thinking of buying the place. I just found a picture of it and recognised it was the house near me for sale.

I know what you mean about the history of a place. I'd love the original advert for my house,and some pictures. Having said that, my family (I inherited the house f rom my folks) are only the second owners of the house. It was built in 1901.

The old lady we bought it off in 1982/3 was the daughter of the man who had it built or who at least specified the fittings etc. the neighbouring houses all have slight differences extra windows, or more elaborate front doors Etc. It was a long drawn out buying process as she was 85 and moving to the Cayman Islands to be with her family. There was no chain and no massive hurry. Over a year or so, we got to know her very well. I know all about the place. The names of people who lived here, even what sort of dogs they had.

Our war damage was windows and a collision with a barrage balloon. Scars still visible. I think my ham fisted DIY has done more damage than a Heinkel could do!

[wildcat45]

Well here's the action damage to my house.

We live close to a golf course which during WW2 had a barrage balloon on it. One night it broke free and bounced along the roof tops until it got snagged in our now sadly dead Elm tree.

The steel hawser friends m the ballots sawed into things including our living room window sill. I was having the outside painted a year or two ago by a very fastidious decorator. Bi caught him about to fill the scar which I made him leave: a tiny bit of evidence of a small incident in a huge war long ago.




I think war damage evidence is worth a thread in its own right. I'll start one.

[djt100]

My first flat had been damaged in the war, The whole corner where my flat was on the block was gone and rebuild. You couldn't tell. I only found out of we saw the previous (Long dead!!)tenant from the war and spoke about the experience with one of the old neighbours who had lived there sine they were built.