Repairs & Renovation in London

Fixing & Renovation

Repairs on a London house usually start with one visible problem whose cause is somewhere else. Fixing it properly means finding out why it happened.

What usually needs fixing in older London houses

Hairline cracks in plaster are usually shrinkage. Diagonal cracks through brickwork, wider at one end, are worth monitoring. London clay shrinks in dry summers and swells in wet winters, and a large tree nearby makes it worse. Bay windows, often on shallower foundations, show it first.

Rising damp, penetrating damp and condensation look similar on a wall and need different fixes. A lot of damp in Victorian houses comes from later additions: patios above the damp-proof course, cement render, blocked air bricks.

Repointing is a common repair that often makes things worse. London stock bricks are soft and were laid in lime mortar, so the joints take the weathering. Hard cement traps water in the brick and the faces spall off.

Other regular finds: chimney breasts removed with nothing supporting the brickwork above, rotten timber lintels, and plumbing systems or electrics extended for decades without a plan.

Old London bricks aren’t all the same size, and tax is part of the reason. Bricks were taxed in England from 1784 until 1850, and the tax was charged per thousand, so makers made bricks bigger. The government answered by taxing large bricks at a higher rate.

Before anything gets opened up

Any house built or refurbished before 2000 can contain asbestos: textured ceilings, old floor tiles, flue pipes, soffits, panels behind fuse boards. The contractor has to check first:

“An employer must not undertake work in demolition, maintenance or any other work which exposes or is liable to expose employees of that employer to asbestos in respect of any premises unless either— (a) that employer has carried out a suitable and sufficient assessment as to whether asbestos, what type of asbestos, contained in what material and in what condition is present or is liable to be present in those premises; or […]”

Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012, regulation 5

The other option in the regulation is to assume asbestos is there and work accordingly. In practice a refurbishment survey is done before strip-out, with lab results in a few days.

Repairs and the Building Regulations

Like-for-like repairs usually don’t need building control. Structural work, new drainage, new circuits and replacement windows usually do. For old buildings the rule is practical:

“Building work shall be carried out so that, after it has been completed— (a) any building which is extended or to which a material alteration is made; […] complies with the applicable requirements of Schedule 1 or, where it did not comply with any such requirement, is no more unsatisfactory in relation to that requirement than before the work was carried out.”

Building Regulations 2010, regulation 4(3)

A Victorian staircase doesn’t have to meet modern standards because the hallway is being renovated. It just can’t be made worse.

Renovation work

A kitchen and bathroom renovation is the most common single job. A whole house usually goes: strip-out, structural repairs, first fix plumbing and electrics, plastering, second fix, kitchens and bathrooms, floors, decorating.

Plastering before the electrics are finished, or laying floors on damp plaster or screed, causes most of the problems that appear months later.

Waste is the contractor’s job too. Under section 34 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 it can only go to an authorised carrier, and a skip on the road needs a council licence.

Small items still turn up afterwards, like a crack as new plaster dries, and are usually dealt with as maintenance in the first year.

Force Builders carries out repairs and renovations on houses, flats, offices and commercial spaces across London.

Areas we Cover:

Kensington, Knightsbridge, Wimbledon, Richmond, Archway, Finchley, Fulham, Notting Hill, Holland Park, Putney