Owning your own home

Timberframe with a brick cladding?

Re sanding, we threw £400 at it and were pleased with the results. It's a combined living room diner roughly 8 x 4m. They were done in a day including the varnish. Glad we hired somebody, a lot less stressful.

I did it myself - lost several degrees of hearing in the process, and contemplated my imminent demise several time when the sander hits nails and sparks flew in a room full of wood dust.

Good character-building stuff.

We got four rooms, a stair case and about 15m of corridor done for a shade over two grand.

This included gap filling, board replacement, sanding and finishing.

Money well spent I would say.

I'd be interested in how to clean the belts. I even had to remove most of the varnish first with Nitromors before sanding, and it still clogged them badly.

Possibly going to pay someone to do the other varnished room, as I think the total price might be similar to a Jewsons hire of belt plus edge sander, plus tonnes of papers.

You can clean the belts with one of these:
http://www.toolstation.com/shop/Power+Tool+Accessories/d80/Cloth+Belts/sd2744/Belt+Cleaning+Stick/p37031

Basically a big rubber!

http://www.axminster.co.uk/abrasive-belt-disc-cleaners these things..

How horrible a job is it really? I'm happy doing pretty much any diy task but tempted to throw money at a pro for this job. I like the idea of doing it but reckon the novelty will wear off pretty damn quick. Any recommends for SE?

As per my post above I plan on using Catford Floor Sanding, they've done a few round here and my parents are getting them in after they did a few out there too so that's good enough for me. Just waiting on the numbers before I commit.

It's hard work - but not horrible like wallpaper stripping when there are three layers on top of each other. It's just dusty and tiring. Did a 15 ft square room with a circular sander and would do it again - would only pay someone if wanted it done quickly / didn't have much spare time - I say this as someone who is terrible at DIY

^^ it all depends on the state of your floors currently. It's they're a bit tatty, unvarnished, like mine were, it's basically fun as the sanding makes such a difference it feels easy. If however they have layers of tar or varnish on them it's a pain in the arse to change the belts it can get boring. I did a 2 bed flat in a day (2 bedrooms, hallway and sitting room) and didn't have a horrific time of it.

floor sanding is a ball-ache of biblical proportions, and easy to make an expensive mistake - i found this out the hard way. get a pro in.

/currently having bathroom and kitchen retiled. tiles are expensive. and heavy.

^^ This. Took me and my Dad two days to sand and re-varnish a large double bedroom which had poor floor boards with horrible varnish on them. We are both fairly competent DIY-ers. As my Dad pointed out though, the unfinished boards are a piece of piss to sand.

Freeholder rents flat above mine to tenant. There's some kind of water leak in the flat above that damages my property. I claim on the freeholder's buildings insurance - that we all contribute to. Who pays the - admittedly small - excess fee?

Does the owner have landlord insurance for the flat?

It's a housing association, So I'd hope so...

Just get a fucking carpet.

You have a lease details are in there.

exchanged on the flat we are selling in bow and the house we are buying in leytonstone yesterday. took much, much longer than expected after getting a fisting from the managing agent at every turn. never again will I buy a flat to live in for my own home.

I've got a full size Indesit dishwasher, free to whoever wants to pick it up.

I got it from a friend, but am not going use it - it was given to me as fully functional but I've never plugged/plumbed it in, so no warranty is implied or offered!

^ @tricitybendix ?

No, Indesit!

Integrated?

Indesit Proposal.

Vendor has gone AWOL again. Told me they were viewing another property on Tuesday and the Bank yesterday. Spoke to the estate agent who just said they were only going to view the property last night.

GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY nearly HOUSE!