Lockwood Homes

[Jaza]

Thought id start this thread to ask for some experiences and thoughts on the 1970s built lockwood homes, I know these were extremely popular during the 70s because of their build cost and the low maintenance.

What are your experiences and dealings with lockwood homes as an investment properties?

Did you find it easy to renovate and redecorate them?

any thoughts and findings would be greatly appreciated

[muppet]

Early Lockwoods tended to squeak quite a bit.

[TheLiberalLeft]

Especially in the 70's at wife-swapping gatherings.

[WGN ex-property manager]

Strong, durable, fairly light on the maintenance, but almost impossible to chop around (cost effectively).

The WOOD look of the interior is not to every tenant's taste, and once you paint it you are on to an endless treadmill.

[mattnzz]

Thought id start this thread to ask for some experiences and thoughts on the 1970s built lockwood homes, I know these were extremely popular during the 70s because of their build cost and the low maintenance.

What are your experiences and dealings with lockwood homes as an investment properties?

Did you find it easy to renovate and redecorate them?

any thoughts and findings would be greatly appreciated

They are based on the europeon methods of interlocking timber members. The pics of have seen of the new ones, they appear to have beached the timber so it isn't so yellow. They are like concrete block where you can't easily alter the services in the walls once it is built. You can always gib the walls afterwards too if you don't like the timber look, or if you have to notch wiring or pipes into the walls. The advantage of gibbing over just painting, is that it can be removed later on if another owner likes timber. I used to live in one, and it would creak as it heated up and cooled down. I think it is a good cheaper alternative to an bespoke designed house.

[Ahar]

how to reduce creaking in Lockwood houses

Not 100% certain. but......

These houses have several long metal rods running vertically thru' them.....with a large nut at the bottom which is tightened to eliminate any gaps and lock the wood together.

So any creaking can be reduced/eliminated by tightening up these nuts....if they aren't rusted solid.

[Harvey]

I am also looking at lookwood home for a potential subdivision in Auckland. Lookwood have these factory pak homes http://www.lockwood.co.nz/Default.as...eID=2145893979 how much do you guys think it would cost for a builder to assemble?

[mch]

Bloody loud creaky things. One person gets up in the middle of the night and the whole house starts to crack

[KatieR]

They don't seem to sell that well. They are usually cheaper to buy than other properties without wooden walls. The creaking is a little annoying, but there is less noise transfer than other equivalent properties. But, like others said, there is little chance to repair or renovate rooms by moving walls etc. For renting, they are badly lit but if this was fixed, and it was otherwise tidy, it wouldn't put most off renting it.