Home DIY

Guys next to us are lowering the ceiling in their house for a new loft extension. I can hear them hammering away at the walls etc but also lots of debris falling into our side. Anything I can do, or just put up with it?

I've dropped the solicitor a line. They haven't served me notice but the work started this week. Didn't realise they were doing any work in the loft until today.

This all sounds so wrong. Presumably their loft conversion required planning permission, so you should have received a letter inviting your comments/objections. When our neighbours got a loft extension we had a party wall survey and award (at their expense) which involved the surveyer coming round to take photos of our side of the party wall so that they coul put right/pay for any damage caused by the work.

It's probably not unusual to work this way as it pretty much guarantees you'll get the work done but he could have tested the insulation resistance of the wiring before he started the job and let you know that the insulation of the wiring was failing (that's what is implied by the need to rewire).

Insulation resistance is basically a measurement of the amount of current that leaks from conductor to conductor and it starts to happen when wiring gets old or damaged.

Of course having all your sockets on one circuit is frowned on these days as there are calculations for the full potential load which you are supposed not to exceed, of course with lots of lower power loads these days circuits tend not to get overloaded in the way they would with a 3 bar heater in every room.

You're probably best off getting a rewire but I would talk to another electrician and get a price, this arrangement he's come to with you helps you both but doesn't strictly conform to regulations. He's working on the principle that he's only half way through the job, that's how he can avoid giving you a certificate or condemning the installation. I can understand why he hasn't tested it first but it would have been good to know what you were dealing with before he got started.

If you want to be really cheeky ask him for the IR and Zs values for the circuits he tested.

Great isn't it :) It looks from the picture like you've got some ancient primer left on the wood there, what are you scraping it with after heating?

Yep totally understand. It was kinda from my side because I went to him saying 'I want to replace CU' so I guess he did that first ..

Will get a quote from other electricians before I decide when to do it.

What I gathered from what he said that its almost 70/30 job .. 70% redecoration/plastering and 30% electrical. Being a typical first time buyer we didnt ask for this when we bought.

You could also pop over to the iet forum and ask the folks there what they think of the situation. You will get a very thorough answer and they will love picking over the bones of this issue.

Get a plasterer or decorator in instead and let him do the electrical side, probably be cheaper and better finish.

I assume you are one of those people with that thing called "space", but if you don't have a dining room already have you considered a smaller kitchen and a dining room table where that central island is?

I am, joys of living in the middle of nowhere... Have a separate dining room, so this is the breakfast room.

Edit: this is the house layout https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/283213/

Ohhh I remember now. Yeah, like, whatever man, I'm equally as happy with my dining room in my living room and my kitchen that fits 4 cabinets and no garden because thats just more work ok?

Ha! trust me at the moment I quite like the idea of moving into a 1 bed flat, could buy a few of those for the cost of what this place, and I haven't even started building yet!

I've just paid £5500 to rewire a 3 bed house. There were some highly dodgy set-ups (boiler plugged in by a cheap extension that ran under the bath) and I paid extra for no trunking, they chased the wires in so there was damage running down and up from sockets and switches.

yeah i just gave it a quick test, I imagine with a bit more care I can get more off at once. I got one of the speedheater scrapers, the triangular one, seems to do the job nicely.

Will definitely need a good amount of sanding but it has made the job a million times quicker. thanks for the tip! jt

It depends on how rough the timber was before it was painted but I'm not having to sand much on the windows I'm stripping. The ancient primer is the toughest bit to get rid of though and it doesn't sand well so I've started going a bit slower and getting everything off more methodically.

Their scrapers are great too, I don't usually get too carried away with tool brands but these guys have really delivered a great product.

it doesnt look too bad, but it's pretty old and knackered so hard to tell. I'm sure it's still going to be a pretty big job. ah ok will go a little slower next time. I'm really impressed with the quality all round.

If they're staircase treads they were often a lot rougher than wood that was going to be seen.

Anyone know a decorator in North London? I've got some very basic prep sanding and base coating that needs doing. Was going to do it myself, but have to go away. Two days work is my guess....Would be v grateful for any recommendations... it's holding up a lot of work :(

Just looked at your proposed plans; that dining room seems quite isolated, do you have 'help'?

Help?

A staff to meet your daily needs.
In which case it wouldn't matter how far the dining room was from the kitchen.

Ha, I think I am the help. If by help means being at the beck and call of my daughter then yes I am definitely the help.

Right then, back to my original thought.

I made some shelves :)

1 Attachment

We did play with an idea of putting a door through from the kitchen to dining room, issue there is we lose cupboard space and that wall is Cobb so not easy to play around with

Oh yeah, working with ancient buildings does require work-arounds.
Amazing project.

Loft conversions/extensions don't necessarily need planning permission, but they should have building control and if any work to shared wall you should have been notified to get a Party Wall agreement in place before work started. The three things work independently of each other and it's *possible* that no-one mentioned party wall to them and they didn't realise they needed it. Very dodgy of the builder though.