Student lets and the summer turnaround
Loughborough University says several areas of the town have become very popular with students, and in February 2012 Charnwood Borough Council brought in an Article 4 Direction for the whole town, so renting a house to three or more unrelated tenants now needs planning consent. The Loughborough Echo named the areas between the town centre and the campus as particularly affected.
For a landlord, the end of a tenancy is the moment to put the walls right before the next group moves in. Shared houses take wear quickly. Typical repairs include:
- holes from screws, nails and heavy adhesive strips
- dents and scrapes along hallways and stairs from moving furniture
- door handles that have gone through the wall behind
- patches where shelves or mirrors have pulled away
- ceiling stains and soft spots below a shower that has leaked
Getting these filled and finished before the decorator arrives means the house can be painted in one pass. If you manage several houses, a list for each one with photos makes planning simpler.
20th-century suburbs
Away from the student areas, Loughborough's suburbs cover most of the 20th century. Shelthorpe was started in 1929, halted by the Second World War and resumed in 1946. Thorpe Acre grew mainly in the 1950s for Brush Engineering workers, and around 100 of its homes were built from no-fines concrete. Dishley was heavily developed in the 1970s, along with the Hazel Road and Fairmeadows Way estates.
No-fines concrete houses are a non-traditional build, with walls cast in concrete rather than built from brick or block. Fixings and patches behave differently in them, so the wall is checked before a repair is planned. In brick and block homes of the same era, the usual jobs are chases, old fixing holes and patches under bathrooms.
Newer homes
Grange Park was started in 2006, and the Eastern Gateway housing by the station was completed in 2013. Repairs here are mostly to plasterboard: dents, holes and cracks along board joints. A small hole only needs a backing piece behind it. Larger damage means cutting the board back to the nearest studs and fitting a new section.
Arranging a repair
Loughborough is about 15 miles south of Mapperley, and the A60 runs all the way between Loughborough and Nottingham. Call 07877 353120 or send photos through the enquiry form. Patch Me If You Can works seven days a week, 7am to 5pm.
