Owning your own home

@tommmmmmm it is the same Mapei, owned by Giorgio Squinzi, who loved cycling. He still does but the doping culture led him to stop sponsoring a pro team.

.

We should have the keys in a couple of hours!

Congrats! We are also completing today hopefully pick up the keys around lunchtime.

Congrats to all 3 of you. One down, probably a few more to go.

Enjoy your first few months in your new home(s).

Enjoy your first few months in your new home(s).

Before all the issues that were hastily plastered over start to show?

I didn't realise we'd be picking up around 50 keys. There are 8 sets for the front for alone!
The seller helpfully explained that the dark marks on the living room carpet were blood from her mother's gammy leg :/
Still, we're in.

I've shat myself about this a few times. I used to work in BBC TV Centre which was riddled with it. I wouldn't worry too much; my Dad told me about smashing an entire asbestos roof down to dust when he was young, and it didn't affect him.

Always wear a (FFP3?) dust mask when working on questinable material. Otherwise, I use Poundland FFP2 masks for most dusty work.

Oh yeah. And I've got the 90's Colnago jersey to match. My house is full of Mapei. They make quality adhesives.

@rhowe and @mustardbeak where are you guys moving to? Leytonstone for rhowe, isn't it?

Hope it all went smoothly today. It's going to be ages till we're actually in, hopefully the start of Jan due to very intrusive work being done. But at least we'll be able to walk around in a home which belongs to us. I hope the lights work.

No @rhowe is pretty close to five golf courses.

Congratulations those who are completing! I am hoping to get keys by the end of the month.
Anyone got a recommendation of storage for not much stuff south of the river? Hopefully for two weeks

We're in EN1.
Today was mostly cleaning followed by carrying boxes followed by cleaning followed by carrying boxes in the dark followed by more cleaning. We really know how to celebrate.
Tomorrow will be basically more of the same together with puzzling over how to get a king sized mattress through the door and up the stairs and working out a plan to deal with the bloodstained carpet.

Asbestos was even used in toilet cisterns.

New locks?

As long as it isn't disturbed, asbestos is fine. Remember what caused Steve McQueen's demise?

Lewisham for me, new build flat off the back of an old pub. Discounted new build completely but then saw this one and changed our minds completely. We wanted a garden and have sacrificed a bedroom to get it.

I hope it works out well and that you enjoyed going in for the first time as homeowners!

A question for everyone with a mortgage, did you also take out life assurance/critical illness cover/income protection cover/all of the above? It's another expense but seems like it is quite a worthwhile one.

Do you have death in service as part of your employment?

At Tom- whilst we didn't complete in the end, we did arrange critical illness/life insurance for both of us. Would have been about £20/month in the end and, well, seemed silly not too. Though had to go through the mother of all questionnaires over the phone with the broker.

I haven't taken any of those insurances yet, but we probably should - I provide most of the family income. Speaking of which, we should get our wills written.

House, day #2.

The kitchen is almost clean, the floors, skirting boards and picture rails all vacuumed, 5 Micras of possessions moved (probably halfway through).

I began lifting the carpet to see what the floorboards were like and the good news is they look good and are less bloodstained than the carpet so we'll have a go at just going for wooden floors. There's a layer of newspaper below dated exactly 24 years before I was born! Articles about Kruschev and allsorts.

Also, I think I've managed to lock a set of house keys in one of the sheds, including the key for the shed. House is fun.

call the landlor... oh wait

I need a very low/short dishwasher in order to fit underneath a low counter top.

At the moment the only option I can find is Fisher Paykel - a drawer style dishwasher, and they are not what I'd call cheap.

Does anyone know of another option?

Train a chimp.

You need to work on your CV a bit, snotty