floor bowing in cottage repair

[sunflower71]

a cottage had problems with upstairs floor and there is a large 's' bolt that holds the house together....
anyone know what this is and how bad it is?
TIA

[LoftyLottie]

Our cottage has a large bolt through it and bowed upstairs floors. I have to hoover uphill in the bedrooms!!
As far as I know it has been like this for at least 80/100 years and is approximately 200 years old. We also have no foundations. You will find thousands of old cottages just like this!! At some time in the past the walls have obviously started to move and crack due to earth movement. That is why the large bolts were put through.

How bad is it? Well, our cottage will probably still be here in another 100 or so years which is more than you can say for houses built in the 60's or 70's.

Unless you are still finding movement in the walls and cracks that are getting wider then I wouldn't worry!

[LoftyLottie]

And no trouble whatsoever on getting either the first mortgage or subsequent second mortgages on the property in the last thirty years.

[sunflower71]

thanks lottie
its a cottage we are really interested in, i hope to pop up there tomorrow and my dad is away on holiday (he's prof builder)
its pea shingled (not recent) but OH says no cracks obvious.
not sure how old it is though.
thanks for your reply.

[The Builder]

Hi Sunny..................the S thingy will be connected to a steel rod that goes through the wall and is tied to the floor joists. It might even go right through to another S on the opposite side of the building. They aren't used to "correct" a building - you could only do that by rebuilding :o)
They are there to stop any further movement. They are often fitted even today. Roughly speaking - a building can be all sorts of shapes (within reason) - as long as it can't go anymore it's OK.
Hope that makes sense.

[LoftyLottie]

Our steel rod goes right through the building to another S thingy (only ours isn't actually an S thingy, it's a large circular thingy (but does the same thing!)

[raysparx1]

If you love the cottage, go for it sunflower, don't be put off by that, it has stood this long, it won't fall down now, it is often done and as the builder says as long as it doesn't go anymore nothing to worry about, good luck, Ray