Owning your own home

A bit worried, yes.

Firstly you should at least clean it off the surface with a mould killing spray. You definitely don't want to leave that sitting there distributing spores into the air, it's bad for your health and the rest of your woodwork. When you are spraying/cleaning then use a decent mask because the spray and the mould spores can affect some people really badly.

To go a bit further you take off the beading that holds the window in, remove the sash cords and the window (tie the sash cords so the weights don't pull them through the pulleys then remove the staff bead that separates the two sashes you will find a little hatch which gives you access to the weights. You should treat the cavity where the weights live then put it all back together and when/if it doesn't come back restore the paintwork.

The tools you need to do that are :- a small pry bar, pair of london pliers (pump pliers will do at a pinch), sharp knife & hammer.

If it's buried deep in the woodwork of the interior of that frame you will need to consider replacing that wood or spending some time treating it.

It could be caused by lack airflow around the window, in which case you need to leave the window open more often and make sure the curtain isn't constantly in contact with that area.

normal candles or oil for lamps (paraffin)

Ah. Thought it was condensed flatulence for a minute. 😀

(or some other homegrown fuel)

Thanks for the comprehensive reply, I don't think airflow is a reason as the window is always left open slightly and even when shut lets in a draft.

So builders have who did work on the property a few years ago have inspected the mushroom...

It turns out when the security bars were fitted to the exterior of the building, the guy who did it didn't consider that the basement of the house (where that window is) was tanked. Therefore he put a stud straight through the damp course, which is probably the cause of the problem.

Luckily its not my house and will be signing contracts on my new place by the end of the month.

Never thought a sash window would give me nightmares.

We went away last Christmas and came back to floods from upstairs/outside, walls peeling, mould everywhere and a big fucker like that growing out of our bathroom door frame.

Thankfully it was rented.

What's wrong with Aylesbury? Seems you can buy a mansion there for no money.

A serious question after a lot of the talk about different areas on here ... is the reason people would rather stay in London but 'isolated' rather than with a short* commute but not in London a result of train fare prices or something else?

* around 20-30 minutes I'd say

I'd live in Hackney/London Fields if we could afford to but can't. So Leyton offers being close to where we want to live, is on the central line and has the 55 bus from central/Hackney. It's also got the Overground which goes to where I work.

The walk from my apartment on London Fields to Hackney central is 12 minutes, the walk from my new place is 16. I don't really get all the fuss about it being a nightmare to get to

that is bad news. we have a floor up, a ceiling out and 10m of plaster hacked off a wall at the moment, due to dry rot.

WAC

I'd have a 4-story house in Bloomsbury with roof terrace but each to their own.

At a guess...

Moving jobs may necessitate adding considerable time on to a commute from outside London, and likely less if you're already in London (even isolated). You get less choice about the first section of your commute if you're outside London.

Of course you may choose not to go after those jobs, but that means your limiting your possible future employment options in doing so.

Anyone any experience of living on the isle of dogs?
I'd been looking at Hackney but you can get nice looking town houses down there with garages, gardens, and decent transport connectivity.

Lots of things to weigh up.

I'm slowly slipping South in every sense as family and lifestyle warrant more space.

Crazy how little my London money can afford tho even outside the M25.

I am glad I misspent 10+ years central tho looking back. Not that I miss it now.

I have also managed to find work out of town which ultimately dictates location imo.

I've seen some nice places that way too. Not sure why it's so cheap, I think "less cool" and dead at the weekend may be the answers. I was also tempted though.

I was seriously looking there before our place came up. Seems to be pretty good but like Chris says, its a bit 28 days later on the weekends.

I think people don't realise that you can actually live there, too.

Obligatory Key shot.

1 Attachment

The walk from my apartment on London Fields to Hackney central is 12 minutes, the walk from my new place is 16. I don't really get all the fuss about it being a nightmare to get to

I can't compute this. What route do you take to walk from Leyton to Hackney Central in 16 minutes?

The top end of London Fields is about 500m from Hackney Central, Leyton must be at least 3.5km away?

Obligatory Key shot.

Making copies of keys from a photo is trivial.

Mind you, changing the locks is a job for day 1 anyway, who knows who still has copies of the keys to a place you've bought.

I've got Banham on speed dial.

I'm probably OK with the dead at the weekends thing. I'm becoming irritated at the noise of Bethnal Green these days, and I want the holy grail of a house with a garage and garden in an area where there aren't a load of families with kids. I'm more worried about crime levels and the like than a bit of peace and quiet.

On a similar note, Fulham - if I could, should I?

The George by cross harbour is always lively as a local, even at weekends.

Full of families from living in the town house estates

Also garage on the ground floor, then a walk up several flights of stairs...also enjoy listening to your neighbours TV and telephone calls.

I live in a fucking flat next to a nightclub. How much noisier can a terraced townhouse be?