hobgoblins

Hi jetsam 1…..thank you for that….I am no building expert but I will pay attention to bows / cracks etc ! This particular property has been full renovated and refurbished throughout and was used as a holiday home owned by a Western couple, one who is now deceased and the other very ill and so the family wish to sell it. This is part of the attraction to me….there will be nothing really needs doing to it, or at least, not in the immediate future. I am hoping that if there are any faults, they will be apparent by having a good look around the property. Again, I will let you know the outcome !
Edited to add….it is a traditional adobe building…...

Peter_in_Hungary

So the property has been renovated and is adobe.........Oh dear. The problem with renovating adobe houses is that the renovation has to be done in a way that will not damage the structure. For example cement should not be used and concrete should be avoided. Putting in concrete floors to replace the original wood floors can cause long term damage to the adjacent walls. Adobe walls need to breath so walls should net be fully tiled and any internal or external render should not be cement based. Brickwork does not mix well with adobe so any extension or alteration done in brick or block work can be a source of future problems. If the roof has been replace then it should have been replaced with like for like. The modern solution to roofs which is to put on a concrete ring beam and then put the new roof on that can cause future problems.

Unfortunately builders rarely take the time or effort to renovate in sympathy with the construction type and are only interested in doing what the client asks in their normal manner of working, and very few people, especially westerners, know of the problems that can result from inappropriate renovations.

IMO the price for the property should be at least half of that of an equivalent brick/block or stone built house. The renovations IMO count for little as the underlying structure has so much risk, apart from the fact that you don't know what sins are hiding underneath the renovations. It is VERY difficult to get a loan or mortgage on an adobe property because the lenders just don't want the risk!

Perhaps the agent has a very plausible reason as to why the property has been on the market a long time - but then they would, wouldn't they - its their job !!

hobgoblins

Hi to all…..I have just returned from Hungary and had a long day looking at the house that I am interested in ! Very nice, very small, but perfect for what I need. The village itself is fine, quiet with friendly people and well kept.
The house itself is made of clay…which I guess is the same as adobe?!
In reference to the helpful post above from Peter_in_Hungary, I guess when I said the house had been "renovated" I could have put it better by saying "well maintained" ! Looking at images from some older Google pictures, it has been repainted and looked after for quite some time…and I know that it was rewired also but I think that is the extent of work done on it. Had a very good look around and all seems fine bar one problem which I will mention later ! The house has been empty for one and a half years and the insulating properties are obviously working well as it was freezing inside !
Onto the one problem that was quite obvious and which I need advice on regarding seriousness and how much to put right and will the repairs be required immediately or do I have some time before the repairs are needed…..I would need some time to get the extra repair costs together !
The store room at the end of the house has been untouched apart from outside painting and is part of the actual house.It still has the mud floor and open ventilation holes along with the wooden stairs to the roof space. There is a hole in the outside wall under a support beam and the beam is being supported by a metal brace.The hole doesn't go anywhere near through the wall and probably not even half way through depth wise but the wall itself is obviously load bearing and the hole will need properly fixing at some point….any guidance on this would be welcome !
I do have a photo of this but I can't post it here as it is on my computer and not on the net so no way to link it.
Regards,
Martyn.

moneypenny20

If you write a message, look down below the message box, there's a 'manage attachment' button. Click on that and you can 'browse' your pc and upload it that way. Good luck with the house.

hobgoblins

Here is the hole….very serious and needs immediate attention or not so serious and can wait a while ? !!
Thanks for the help moneypenny20 !

Don Lugosi

I'm unfamiliar with the adobe houses but normally any rafter or roof beam should be on a wall plate to evenly distribute the load into the wall, obviously this doesn't have it!
The most cost effective repair would be a permanent column against the wall e.g. 90mm square hollow section. You will need a decent foundation to support the column, a clay floor isn't sufficient.
Perhaps getting a quote for repair would be the best option as it could be a deciding factor in wether you wanted to purchase the place.

Peter_in_Hungary

What Don Lugosi said is about correct. Looking at the photo you can just about see the end of the beam, which means that the supporting clay has fallen away, which is why the acro jack is placed underneath the stop the beam dropping.

You will not be able to patch the wall. either do what Don Lugosi said or take down that section of wall and rebuild it - but not with bricks, it will need rebuilding as original.

However it would be reasonable to assume that the construction method seen here is followed throughout the rest of the house, which means that the same could happen anywhere else in the building. - IMO this represents a flaw in the construction method (albeit a typical construction method, but that does not make it right or good!!). Adobe buildings are fragile and have to be treated with care and this has to be represented in the price when compared to brick buildings and alike.

When adobe buildings were constructed adobe was used because it was cheap and the materials were available to hand locally. I knew a Romanian builder who would reckon that it would take him a couple of weeks to make the adobe bricks for a house and then another couple of weeks to pull up the walls. Such houses were never meant to be handed down generation to generation, (but the timber beams would be salvaged for the next build).

yamyamsam

Good advice here guys.

Yes, I would suggest rebuilding and also might be a good idea to inspect the foundation to see how it'll handle the loading.

Or else you're back to square one again with a wonky column/pier and wall! lol

fidobsa

Personally I think adobe is more trouble than it's worth and I steered away from such houses when I was looking. The brick houses are not built to such high standards as we would expect in UK but they are easier to repair on a DIY basis or by employing local tradesmen. As Peter says, for adobe you need to use techniques sympathetic to the type of construction, the average Hungarian jobbing builder will most likely do whatever is easiest for himself i.e. concrete floors, cement rendering etc.

hobgoblins

Many thanks for all of your good advice ! I think that given the fact that this has happened for whatever reason and that it will only get worse without attention and that it could happen anywhere in the house, then it would be wise for me to stay away from it. If I was planning to live there full time immediately and had the funds to throw at it, then fair enough. I also do not know what has been done to the property in the past so there may be more problems to come. I did email a company on the net that specialises in renovating properties for expats to ask their advice but they couldn't be bothered to reply so no help there.
I have found another very nice looking brick built property so will be going out to Hungary again to look at it….I should have done that last week ! It will need fully modernising inside but that would be an ongoing task and I would know that it is not likely to collapse while I am working in the UK !
Thanks again and I will update later as if I purchase this property, I will be calling upon your expertise for trusted trades people to do the work !!

Peter_in_Hungary

IMO companies that specialise in renovating properties for expats do so because they think that all expats are rich and don't know the correct price of things in Hungary!!

GMC girl

I have just found an estate agent under the name At Home in Hungary, very many of the properties are clay.

Am I right in thinking this is the same as adobe?

GMC girl

can you give me some idea of the cost of electricity & gas please.

jetsam1

The tanya we are currently rentingis a case in point. THe second building the landlord renovated with modern materials. Essentially the outer wall is falling apart from the inside!!!! The main building has some interesting cracks....... The wall of the bathroom has obvious signs of damp on the outside.

The fundamental problem has been that the roof was neglected for some time. There is a house in the village we looked at that was brick built but again entertainingly one corner was about 10cm lower than the rest of the house suggesting that there may well be no foundations or poor foundations. Oh and it was wet. Very wet.

The lesson is be careful unless you build new, and then still be careful!!!

Our latest electricity bill was HUF28000 but we did have to run electric heaters in the water pump house to try and unfreeze the pump and the pipes! All heavily insulated now but that was a fun time. Usually around the HUF15000-20000 as we have have two kids and so the water boiler is on a lot. We have stopped using kettles and microwaves though. We use gas bottles that our local petrol station does for HUF4500 a time (you swap the empty one for a full one).

fidobsa

Yes, there are variations in technique but if they say clay they mean adobe and the potential pitfalls of using inappropriate renovation materials / methods will apply. If you see a house with an ornate stucco facade it will probably be adobe. They are also often long, thin buildings, so the internal layout might not be what you would expect. You may have to go through one bedroom to reach the next or sometimes outside along a covered passage.