Along a busy valleys road just outside the Rhondda Cynon Taf town of Pontypridd, this end of terrace was not a house that instantly grabbed Martin Roberts when he arrived for a tour as presenter of BBC's popular daytime property show, Homes Under The Hammer.
It looked tired and it looked small - but if Martin has learnt anything about auction properties after presenting the show for over 17 years, it is that you should never judge a property by its façade.
Opening the front door, it was certainly tired and damp problems could be added to the description too, but the period property actually opened up into a Tardis terrace, with two good sized reception rooms, kitchen and utility room on the ground floor and a flat garden.
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Upstairs there were three bedrooms and a bathroom, which was a bonus as many traditional valleys terraced homes have their bathrooms on the ground floor; there was a lot to like at this property going to auction with a guide price of £40,000.
The ground floor was shabby in some rooms and downright dirty in others, but Martin was most concerned about the penetrating damp coming through the exterior wall in the hall and the kitchen. He diagnosed the problem as faulty guttering leading to cracks in the façade and then water ingress.
Upstairs, Martin could relive his youth via the funky 1970s décor and the bathroom and toilet were separate rooms, but on the whole this level was in a much better condition than the floor below. The house went to auction with the guide price of £40,000 and was bought by bidding duo, brothers Ben and Aaron for £68,500.
Martin was initially not too impressed that the brothers hadn't seen inside the house before buying it until he finds out that they are neighbours - so at least they know the area.
Chef Ben and brother Aaron - a former builder and now lorry driver - had less than 12 hours after seeing the house online before deciding if they should bid on it but they knew the property well, at least the outside of it, as they were living in the house behind it.
The brothers were confident they could turn the house around in about five months and for between £20,000 and £25,000 based on the renovation project they had done at their current house.
Jobs that they had on their 'to do' list included updating the guttering to sort out the damp problem, reconfigure the bathroom layout, and to use a specialist to remove the asbestos from the outbuilding before they were then going to pull it down.
Apart from the asbestos, gas and electrics, the brothers planned on doing all the work themselves with the initial plan to rent it out. But chatting to Martin after seeing how big this Tardis terrace was inside, the plan might change to moving in themselves once the work was done, and then renting out their current, smaller house.
Just over a year later the programme returns to the end of terrace and from the outside the windows have been changed and the guttering sorted out, so hopefully the unwanted damp has been given an exit out of the new front door.
Inside, the renovation has completely transformed the soggy and sad house into a welcoming and modern home, with the standard of work a level above the usual makeover seen on the show.
But only Ben was inside waiting to chat to the TV crew, with no sign of Aaron, and he explains why: "So originally I bought the house, and I'd done the previous house with my brother, but very soon after I'd bought this I said to him, 'look, I want this for my own', and was like, 'yeah, that's fine' - which is why I've done it to the standard I have.
"I'm really happy with the way that it has gone, I wouldn't say I'm the world's greatest interior designer but I'm happy with how it's turned out and I wouldn't have done it like this if I was going to sell it or rent it out."
Aaron has bought Ben out of his share of the smaller property at the back of this house - their former home together - so Ben was then free to turn this auction property into his new home and move in alone, after all the problems had been sorted.
Ben says: "I was a little bit worried about the damp problem to be honest, as you walk in the hallway and in the back of the kitchen - the outside wall was all crumbling. The hallway in particular was actually really fine once we'd brought it back, the stone was completely dry.
"I had to treat all the walls and then allowed it to dry out really - these old houses, the walls are so thick, they just need time to dry almost. I did most of the work myself with help from my old man, who is retired luckily."
Ben employed a plumber and an electrician who also did the gas and also brought someone in to help with the plastering, but he says he has done most of the remaining jobs himself including insulating, carpentry, windows and decorating.
In November 2022 when the show returned Ben had not updated the garden apart from clearing it, and was using it for storage, so the outside space was the next project on the list.
Ben has spent £31,000 on the renovation project of his new home but he is very relaxed about the overspend. He says: "To be honest with the price increase of materials over the last year, it's to be expected so I'm fine with that."
In total, Ben has spent £99,500 on transforming this house into his home, and the returning estate agent cannot contain his excitement at what Ben has achieved at this formerly dilapidated property.
Jason Phillips from Phillips Homes Lettings and Sales Ltd says: "What a complete transformation - I probably haven't seen anything transformed as much as this before - it's been a big change. It's done out to a really nice standard, when you walk in you've got that 'wow factor'."
And the profit Ben's hard work has achieved is a 'wow' too, with Jason's valuation of £160,000 resulting in him making a £60,500 profit before tax, if he were to sell it. But Ben's not going anywhere just yet, this is now his home. The experience hasn't deterred him from doing it again but there was one challenge he'd like to change next time - the loneliness.
Ben says: "If I was going to do another project like this, I would like to do it with someone else because it is tiring and it is hard to stay motivated when you're doing it on your own, but I'd definitely do it again no shadow of a doubt."
This story is part of series 25, episode 77, currently available to view on BBC iPlayer.
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