Three-storey, four-bedroom end terrace stripped right back to bare brick, then rebuilt for five-tenant HMO living.
Project · Snapshot
HYPE Building worked with an experienced property investor to bring a 3-storey 4-bed end terrace back to life. Originally planned as a buy-to-let, the scale of hidden damage forced the decision to go fully back to brick: which then unlocked the option of a 5-bed all-en-suite HMO.
Project · The Story
The same three questions we ask every project: what they bought, what we did, what changed. Honest. Specific. No marketing fluff.
A three-storey four-bedroom end terrace in Burslem, empty for years. On the surface it looked like a quick buy-to-let turnaround: a cosmetic refresh and let it. Beneath the surface, the property had a gable end riddled with damp, a roof on the brink of collapse, and decades of patched-over neglect underneath every layer of plaster.
Once we delved beneath the surface, the scale of the issues forced the call: full back-to-brick refurbishment. Every internal wall stripped to the structure. Roof rebuilt. Damp-proof course installed using DPC rods on the solid walls. Asphalt floor laid to seal moisture. Chimneys removed with gallows brackets carrying the remaining stack. Studwork for five en-suites erected. Thermal upgrade with insulated plasterboard. Pink fire boards lining the fire corridor. Grade A LD2 fire alarm (compulsory for 3-storey, 5+ person HMOs). Patio doors opened up the rear elevation for the communal space.
Going back to brick unlocked the option to convert from a 4-bed buy-to-let into a 5-bed all-en-suite HMO: a materially better return for the investor. The property went from somewhere nobody wanted to stay to somewhere five tenants will be proud to call home. Hard to imagine looking at the finished photos that this was once a property riddled with damp with a roof on the brink of collapse.
House Extensions & Refurbishment · Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent
HYPE Building worked with an experienced property investor to bring a 3-storey 4-bed end terrace back to life. Originally planned as a buy-to-let, the scale of hidden damage forced the decision to go fully back to brick: which then unlocked the option of a 5-bed all-en-suite HMO.
Three-storey four-bedroom end terrace, empty for years. From the outside, the issues were not obvious. Inside, the gable end was riddled with damp and the roof was on the verge of structural failure. The investor's original plan was a buy-to-let: but a closer look forced the decision to go back to brick.
When you find damp this severe in a 19th-century property, you have to ask: what else is hidden? Going back to brick is the only way to find out.
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Every internal wall removed back to bare brick. Plaster, lath, partition studwork, ceilings, floors: all out. Chimneys removed and the remaining stacks supported with gallows brackets. The roof opened up for rebuild.
This is the stage where you find out what you actually bought. Once it's all out and you can see the brickwork honestly, the structural decisions become straightforward.
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Asphalt floor laid across the ground floor, only 20mm thick but a proven alternative to a full new concrete slab, and the right call for sealing out the damp without losing head-height.
Studwork for the five en-suites now up. You can see the rooms taking shape. Chimneys gone, gallows brackets supporting the stacks above. This is the moment the build commits to the final layout, five all-en-suite bedrooms, communal kitchen, fire corridor, secondary staircase.
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Insulated plasterboard installed across the internal envelope to improve the property's energy performance. The pink fire boards now line the fire corridor.
Because this property is three storeys and for five or more occupants, it requires a Grade A LD2 fire alarm system: installed at this stage so it's tied into the wiring before second-fix.
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Plasterwork now substantially complete throughout. The kitchen is all but installed.
The biggest single visual change at this stage: installing patio doors into the rear communal space. The amount of natural light flooding into the communal kitchen now is materially different to what was possible with the original window opening: and exactly what a five-tenant HMO needs to feel like home rather than student housing.
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Hard to imagine that this property was once riddled with damp and had a roof on the brink of collapse. It's turned out rather nicely.
Once the furniture and dressings have been carefully chosen, it will be home to five lucky tenants. The reconfigured ground floor layout has created an attractive co-living space with a fully equipped kitchen and patio doors that lead to the rear yard.
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It's not until you see the before and after shots that you realise just how far this house has come in the past months. Cosmetically, it's gone from somewhere nobody wanted to stay to somewhere tenants will be proud to call home.
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On camera · Watch the build
Every HYPE build is documented on camera. The videos from this project sit at the top. Below them: three of John’s most-watched videos from HypeTV.
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Extensions, lofts & refurbishment
