This is ‘lateral movement’ and not subsidence. Ok, its still not great news and it would eventually cost me £30,000 to put right, but the damage looked so bad it enabled me to negotiate £150,000 off the asking price and get an absolute bargain. Not a bad days work.

The more you look at buildings and understand how they work you begin to see them as living, breathing animals. Ok, now I am sounding like a lunatic, but let me explain. Buildings like to breathe and have lots of fresh air in the summer so we ventilate them, they like to stay warm in the winter so we heat them, and they like to stay dry so we protect them, but surprisingly they also like to move. Most building materials expand and contract throughout the year due to changes in temperature. This is why its good to design in flexibility into the building by using things like flexible adhesive for your bathroom tiling or by installing expansion joints when you build a brick wall.

Your home can also move depending on the condition of the ground it is built on. In parts of Britain where homes are constructed on clay there can be a lot of ground movement between the summer, when it is warm and dry, and the winter when it is cold and wet. This ground movement can cause small cracks in the summer, which then close up again in the winter. There isn’t a lot you can do about this and it’s often nothing to worry about.

One of the most common structural problems I see in period homes is cracking around bay windows. This is often caused by the structure of the bay window pulling away from the main body of the house, which can easily be put right using structural ties to strap it back together, or more worryingly, by root damage caused by trees on the street. Tree roots are lethal to buildings and the only way you can put this damage right is to install a new concrete foundation.

If you find more substantial cracking to the outside of the building where the crack goes all the way down to ground level and down to the foundation then the alarm bells should start ringing. This is subsidence and the only way you can put this right is to underpin the property.

Underpinning is a process where you dig out lengths of the existing foundation and put a new concrete foundation under the existing wall. This is done in small stages so as not to undermine the structural integrity of the building. Although you may have heard the story about the multi-million pound house in Notting Hill that completely collapsed when the underpinning contractor dug out too much soil in one go! Underpinning can be a frightening and very expensive process. Make sure you use an approved underpinning contractor for any of this work. See the Association of specialist Underpinning Contractors at www.asuc.org.uk.

No matter how old your home is, or which area of the country you live in, make sure you are fully covered for subsidence on your building insurance because by the time you see the damage it is often too late. Good insurance helps you sleep at night.

If there are any large trees close to your house keep them trimmed back to minimise the spread of roots and if you see any substantial structural movement contact a structural engineer or surveyor. They will assess the damage and suggest the best course of action. See the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors at www.rics.org.

Remember all buildings like to move, but hopefully, not too much.

The damp had then got into all of the internal structural timbers creating wet rot everywhere so walking on the timber floors was like walking on sponge. The original natural slate roof tiles had been removed in the early 1990’s and replaced with ugly, fake concrete tiles that were 3 times heavier than slate and caused the wet rot infested timber roof to sag and bow. If all that weren’t enough they also built a cheap and ugly, lean-to extension to the rear of the house that had no insulation anywhere and a wrinkly tin roof. In the summer we felt like oven-roasted chickens unable to breath and in the winter we were as cold as penguins in the Antarctic.

As I walked around with the estate agent I couldn’t stop myself saying ‘Why? Why? Why?. Why would anyone do such a thing?’ This once beautiful cottage that had been built perfectly well over 150 years ago had been ruined by naïve home improvements carried out in the last 10 years. For me, one of the problems is the phrase itself; ‘home improvements’. Just because you are spending your hard earned money on ‘new work’ to your house doesn’t automatically make it an ‘improvement’.

If your builder is cheap but compromises on good building practices, if your new window supplier doesn’t fully understand how old buildings live and breathe, if your roofer tells you to ‘strip off those old natural tiles and go for some man-made concrete ones that will last you forever’ without understanding the structure of your roof or if you are simply terrible at DIY then please don’t bother doing anything. What you are doing is not ‘home improvement’ its ‘home destruction’ and you will have completely wasted your money.

You might ask why the hell I bought the place then. Well, its location was perfect, it was all I could afford, and I love projects where I can add value. We lived in it for 2 years (god knows how!) and I tried everything to save the building, but when the roof, the floors and all the supporting brick walls we ruined we had to say goodbye to 150 years of history. We demolished it and it broke my heart.

For any ‘home improvement’ please get a good builder. Look for good value and don’t always go for the cheapest. The cheapest work will often costs your more in the end. If you aren’t any good at DIY then pay someone else to do it.

If you want to learn how to build and save money on the job then offer to become a labourer to someone who knows what they are doing. For extra technical help you could consult with your local authority building control officer who can also advise you on the best building practices and if you are doing substantial home improvements then employ the services of a good architect.

If you get home improvements right you are prolonging the building’s life, adding value and increasing it’s overall quality. If you get improvements wrong you can literally destroy the building and if that’s what you’re interested in doing then do yourself and your home a favour; save your money and get a job in demolition.

To help write the column this month I thought I’d walk around my home in Dorset with pen and paper to make my own annual maintenance list. It’s a typical 4-bedroom detached house in a very exposed position so it’s a perfect building to demonstrate common UK maintenance problems.

The building is rendered on the outside and painted white and it is pretty clear that the winter frost has been the building’s worst enemy. There are areas where the paintwork has peeled off the walls and allowed water to penetrate the render.
This water has then frozen inside the render, the ice expands and forces the render to crumble away from the wall. The paint and render is essential to prevent the walls from becoming damp so the render must be repaired and repainted.

If the outside of your home is brickwork similar damage can occur to the mortar joints between your bricks. Cement mortar can suffer terribly from frost damage. If this happens on your home arrange for a bricklayer to ‘rake-out’ the damaged mortar and re-point the effected areas.

Next, take a look at your windows. If they are timber windows, rather than UPVC, they must be regularly inspected as the protective paint can flake off during cold spells. Also check that all of the window seals and the putty around your glass have not fallen out. If it has, have a glazer redo the putty around the glass and once set you can give the timber frames a light sanding down and repaint.

If you have single glazed windows always check for damp damage to paint and timber inside the house. This damage is caused by high levels of condensation where warm, moist air inside your home condenses on the inside face of the cold glass. The only way you can avoid this is by providing high levels of ventilation inside your home or, if you have the budget, by installing double-glazing.

Next up, the roof. My roof is a natural slate roof. I can see that a couple of the slates are cracked and there is even one missing. This can be caused again by frost, which will find any weakness or fault in a natural material, or if over time the tile has come loose then strong winds will cause the tile to vibrate and crack. These problems are common in most roof tiles. Have a roofer come and replace the damaged tiles and to carry out an inspection to see if any other tiles need to be re-secured.

Then there is your roof guttering. My gutters are full of dead leaves that fell in the autumn. This causes the UPVC pipes to block and the water over-flows over the top of the guttering and down the face of my walls. What a mess. Worse still the water that is blocked in the gutter can freeze, expand, and cause the pipes and gutters to crack causing alot of damage. Fortunately my pipes have not cracked, but the gutters look a terrible mess. Have all guttering and pipes cleared of all debris after the autumn and before the cold weather kicks in.

To correct these minor problems on my house will take a few days work and a few hundred pounds.

Leave the problems to get worse and worse, year after year and not only will your once beautiful home look an absolute mess, but one day you will be looking at a maintenance bill of thousands of pounds! Please, please keep an eye on any problems or defects. Regular inspections and maintenance work can save you a fortune.

If you are more ambitious and want to increase the amount of space in your home then you will be looking at adding an extension, conservatory or loft conversion. If you do this I suggest you consult a local architect. Architect’s have the creative skills to see opportunities that can make fantastic improvements to your home even on the lowest budget and if you go ahead and employ their services they will do so much for you.

An architect will produce design drawings to help you understand what your new home will look like, they will advise you on local planning policy, make the necessary planning and building control applications to your local council, they will advise you on building costs, help to recommend good local builders and they will also supervise all of the work on site to minimise any stress to you.

Yes, I’m an architect so this does sound like a sales pitch, but it’s a mistake to think that architects just draw pretty pictures. They are at the very heart of the building process and a good architect will be there for you every step of the way.

To find an approved local architect contact the Royal Institute of British Architects (www.architecture.com) or contact your local planning department who may be able to make recommendations.

It completely enlivens the atmosphere of the space into something beautiful, romantic, calming and serene. A fire is not only warm and comforting but it also provides a powerful focus to any room with its glowing, flickering light.

The fire I have installed in my new home is very modern and contemporary. It’s the Conmoto Balance Modular Stove System designed by Peter Maly (from Encompass Furniture www.encompassco.com). It’s a real fire for burning wood, or in my case in London, for burning smokeless fuel.

It is stunning and has transformed a simple room into a beautiful room and the amount of heat it gives is amazing. We haven’t turned on the heating in the ground floor since we moved in. There is also something about the smell and crackling sound of a real fire that makes it more ‘homely’ than a gas fire. Every home should have one!

But on a more cautious note it is around this time of year that we have more devastating house fires than any other time of year. Why? Well, we use our boiler systems more regularly and at a more intensive level during the winter so please make sure you have them maintained properly and serviced regularly by an approved heating engineer to ensure they are safe.

We also use more candles than any other time of year. They may seem harmless enough but a friend in Edinburgh lost most of his home in a matter of hours after he forgot to put out the beautiful festive candles on his dining room table. Fortunately no one was hurt.

Then there are the dangers of real, open fires. If you are lucky enough to have a real fire please get your chimney swept regularly and make sure the fire is properly extinguished with a fireguard in place before you leave it alone.

You’re probably thinking I’m one of those patronising property experts preaching basic stuff that to most of us is common sense.
Well tell that to my good friend Alex. A well-educated, sensible lad with a stunning thatched cottage nestled in the woods in Hampshire.
One year he forgot to get his chimney swept and came home just before Christmas to find his dream home completely up in flames.

The house and surrounding woodland was gone. If that weren’t enough to cope with when it came to making a claim to his insurance company he was told his policy was void, as he had failed to maintain the building properly in accordance with clauses in his policy documents.
You know, that small print jargon at the bottom of the page that none of us ever reads.
He didn’t get a single penny.
He lost his home, all of his personal belongings and he is financially ruined. I hope his tragic story acts as a reminder.

Start with contacting the Environment Agency. They have the most thorough information regarding flood risk in Britain. You can type in your postcode on their web site and it will give you a full assessment of flood risk in your area (I did a quick search for my own home in Dorset and their was a 0.1% or less chance of my home flooding…phew!).

If you live in a low risk area then great, you have nothing to worry about but if you live in an area where regular floods occur then there are practical steps you can take to protect your home. I’ve recently installed a ‘Flood Board’ system and ‘Airbrick Covers’ on an existing home for a client who had had enough of flood damage to her home.
The boards and covers are stored in her garage and are then temporarily clipped into place to block up door and window openings up to a particular height to prevent any water getting in. These simple defences are very effective, easy to install and will save you a lot of stress and heartache.

If you are intending to build a new home in an area liable to flooding then the Environment Agency will ask for specific design criteria during the planning process that you must adhere to.
For example I designed a new home in Surrey close to a flood plain and we had to raise the entire house over 2 feet off the ground so water could pass freely beneath the floor slab in times of flooding.
These requirements can add considerable cost to the budget of your new home, but you have to do them, as they are there to protect you and your home.

Finally, make sure you have a very good insurance policy for the structure of your home as well as all of your contents to protect you fully against flood damage.
I’ve known people forget to renew their insurance or haven’t read the small print on their policy and when a flood occurs their lives are devastated.

The Environment Agency can let you know if there is a risk of an imminent flood during periods of heavy rainfall. If you are concerned you can call their ‘Floodline’ 24-hours a day on 0845 988 1188 for real time updates.

Floods are going to be a regular occurrence in this country.
Its your responsibility to make sure you take the appropriate steps to protect yourself and your home against them.

Vanessa Anderson, age 62, lives in a Edwardian terrace house in London that dates from 1910. Like many who live in such properties, Vanessa wants to open up the ground-floor space to create an open-plan layout, and add an extension. Her budget is £120,000.The Problem

The main problem with the original ground floor layout of many Edwardian homes is that there are too many individual, small rooms and often not enough space to meet the requirements of a 21st century home. As you come in through the front door and enter the hallway there is a small living room immediately to your right. The main feature in this space is the beautiful bay window at the front of the house. Alongside the living room, at the back of the house, is a formal dining room that opens onto the garden and next to the dining room is an incredibly small and dark kitchen. Like many Edwardian homes, off the kitchen, there is what architect’s call a service block; a small lean-to extension that contains most of the drainage for the house with a ground floor toilet and utility room.

Although for most of the time Vanessa lives alone, she is a very sociable character. As well as having 2 adult children who often come home to stay, she also has many friends who come to visit from overseas and can stay for up to 2 or 3 weeks at a time. Small, individual rooms do not suit such a sociable person who loves to entertain and have dinner parties.

The Brief

Vanessa’s design brief is to create as much additional space as possible by proposing a new extension onto the back of the building to have a large new kitchen and dining area. But, I feel it even more important to look at completely rearranging the existing layout to create a greater sense of space from the moment you walk into the front door. By removing internal walls and opening the space up you can make a small house seem much larger and it also helps if you can introduce more natural light. Another important part of the brief was to provide a study/work area on the ground floor as she worked from home. Although the budget of £120,000 is a substantial amount of money, this can soon disappear when you intend to make so many expensive structural changes, build a large extension and maintain high quality finishes throughout the new design (one of Vanessa’s requirements was to have an expensive, hand-made kitchen!). Therefore, it is critical that the plan is efficient. What I mean by an efficient plan is that it saves money if all of the ‘service rooms’ (those that need a lot of water, electrics and drainage such as kitchens, bathrooms, toilets and utility rooms) are located closely together.

The Solution

The solution is to build the extension and create an open plan space from the front to the back of the house. But making a successful open-plan space work properly takes a lot more than just knocking down a few walls. I spend an enormous amount of time designing each ‘space’ (i.e. the study, the kitchen, the living room), as a ‘zone’ and making sure that those zones are practical, functional and link well together with the adjacent ‘zone’ to create a coherent layout. In Vanessa’s case there are 7 zones on the ground floor.

1. The Entrance Hall

This is no longer an enclosed space as it opens up onto the living areas. It important in the scheme that as soon as you open the front door you get a view all the way through the house and out to the garden at the rear.

2. The Private Study

A beautiful space as the desk position sits in the existing bay window. We provided shutters to the lower half of the bay window for privacy from the street. The study can be closed off from the adjacent living spaces by pulling out sliding/folding doors, but can be left open for most of the time when Vanessa is working home alone.

3. The Formal Lounge Area

The focus of this area is the new open fire. This is a place where Vanessa can sit with friends and talk. Formal sofas and chairs with lamps either side on small tables are arranged around the hearth. Power to these lamps had to be provided using floor sockets to avoid wires having to run across the floor from wall sockets.

4. The Informal Lounge Area

The focus of this area is the plasma TV. Lounge chairs and footstools are used in this area, rather than sofas, to create a more informal feel.

5. The new Breakfast + Dining Area

The new, single-storey extension provides a much bigger dining area that opens directly out onto the garden. The large glass doors provide so much more natural light and it was important that this area faced east to make the most of the morning sunrise at breakfast time.

6. The Kitchen Area

The new kitchen is alongside the dining area and has a glass roof over the top (dotted on the plan) to provide a huge amount of natural top-light. A large corner-glass window gives views from the kitchen onto the garden.

7. Utility Room and Toilet

To make the plan incredibly efficient, I have designed the utility room and toilet alongside the kitchen. All of the service runs for water, electric and drainage are in the same area of the plan. All of the internal drainage collects at one single point and exits via the side passageway.

Under floor heating was used throughout the entire space, which means all wall space could be used for important integrated storage and picture hanging rather than being wasted using wall-mount radiators.
The combination of a new heating system, an energy efficient boiler, new double-glazed sliding sash windows and the fact we dry-lined and insulated every single internal wall, floor and the extension roof means this is one of the most energy efficient Edwardian homes in London, while the new internal spaces work like a dream!