Diy failure.

[SkipdiverJohn]

I think we are coming to the conclusion you would not buy anything made in the last 50 years.

I own lots of things that are less than 50 years old, but I have no time for crappy disposable construction methods and the vast majority of modern residential properties are flimsy rubbish designed and thrown together as quickly as possible purely for the commercial benefit of the developer and not the buyer. I've got nothing against newly built fully brick & block constructed houses, so long as they also look nice and aren't monstrosities. Sadly few and far between and tend to only be small niche developments done by small scale builders. The big players just want to churn out overpriced junk.

 

[keithmac]

I think we are coming to the conclusion you would not buy anything made in the last 50 years.

Ours is 1950's vintage, proper built but not a square doorframe in the house!.

These new build plasterboard jobs seem a bit "fragile".

 

[screenman]

Ours is 1950's vintage, proper built but not a square doorframe in the house!.

These new build plasterboard jobs seem a bit "fragile".

I built mine 11 years ago, I have no problem fixing things to walls, it is a more energy-efficient than any other I have previously owned ranging from built in 1880 up to this one.

 

[Rusty Nails]

My son gets round that sort of problem in his flat by leaving all his clothes on chairs or on the floor.

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

These new build plasterboard jobs seem a bit "fragile".

Not only fragile, but if someone slams a door the whole place shakes and you can hear every time someone next door uses the toilet. Some modern flats even the external walls of the flat facing an internal corridor are flimsy plasterboard. if I wanted to break into such a place I wouldn't bother trying to open a multi-point locked entrance door, I'd just smash a hole through the wall next to it.

 

[icowden]

Conversely, my sister lives in a house that is two converted 18th centuryish farm cottages (although the house now looks nothing like an 18th century cottage). On trying to remove tiles from the bathroom wall it disintegrated - turned out to be made from wattle and daub. So older houses do have their issues...

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

Places of all ages can have their problems, like lack of effective damp proof courses and shallow foundations - but overall I'd say the best constructed houses tended to date from the mid-late 19th century up until the start of WW2. The materials used tend to be well proven and long lasting and structural timbers generously dimensioned, not everything pared to the bare minimum as done today. The only downside is they don't hold the heat in as well as modern places, but for me the trade-off is worth it.

 

[MontyVeda]

A lot of c1900 houses round here seem to have walls made from rubble and cement and the occasional impenetrable boulder... putting up a shelf is a pain in the arse.