Rendering
What do you do if your building has serious cracks caused by settlement? Yup, you render it.
Years ago I used to regularly drive from Stockport to Buxton through Doveholes. There was a row of houses that had been very badly affected by settlement and quite a few had been rendered to hide the fact. Then after a few more years all the houses had disappeared.
I cannot find any information about this on the web so maybe I dreamt it? Or maybe all the information was sucked into a giant black hole (the name DoveHOLES might be a clue - giant underground holes in the limestone caused by millions of years of acid ersoion) along with all the houses? Who knows - if you do know, please drop me a line
So, if you are thinking of buying a building that has been rendered:
Approach with an air of extreme cynicism - don't believe the story the owner tells you ("we are people with appalling bad taste and thought it would look better rendered")
Get a structural surveyor to examine the place if there is the slightest doubt in your mind
Look for settlement and rendered houses in the area
Pop into the local shops and chat - "oh yes, there was a lot of mining in the area" or "there are giant underground caverns and house keep falling into them". Or more likely "no, there are no problems that we know of but my sister is selling her house really cheap because they are moving to Spain"
Bob Cory
Modified on 16/09/2019 at 07:58:22 by ℗ Bob Cory