Owning your own home

If that's the old way of doing things, that actually sounds better than having it all controlled from a single point tbh.

No, cos the boiler never turns off fully without the electronic stat so it’s not as efficient.

I am done with waiting for my own plumber to come round, all I want is a gas check. Anyone good in South East London? JR plumbing is supposed to be good if they actually pick up their phone so I can make an appointment.

My own thread of workmen / women hasn't really materialised itself... Ta

ah - ok. SO the boiler always sits there pumping hot water around, just it doesn't enter some rads so doesn't cool down as much as it otherwise would. That doesn't sound great.

Might investigate some of those internet'ed stats

I’ve given up on JR Plumbing, can never get through to them any more.

I recently used Wilgars, based in Beckenham, and they were very good, so will probably use them again.

Zoned heating - worth the faff installing servo valves, or should I go for wireless controllers on the radiators themselves?

Where in SE? We have an amazing guy in SE15.

@andyp, I have never actually used them since you recommended few years back because they never answer. http://www.acwilgarbeckenham.co.uk/ ?

@Aroogah, Camberwell. I guess he will also cover as it's practically the same area. Can you PM details?

Swiftly change of subject, I have booked an appointment to get smart meters installed, but having 2nd thoughts. I know they are no longer mandatory but my energy supplier told me my meters are out of warranty so they must be replaced as it is the law. I think they just BS me there, or maybe not, anyway can I get the same old fashsioned ones? Any good or bad things you guys have experiened with smart meters so far?

We’ve used Kenny from ‘Leaks’ who’s based in Camberwell. He’s excellent and won’t rip you off, but is very busy.

The only bad aspect of smart meters that I'm remotely concerned about is that anyone who has access to the data can work out when the house is unoccupied (looking at the dump of my daily energy usage it's blindingly obvious the days that we were on holiday). I can imagine that, at some point, this will be the subject of a large scale data breach.

What a name for a plumbing business. I just googled and got his contact. Guess I will go with whoever can come first. Not urgent, but I want it done before I get busy again...

That's them, don't know if they cover SE15 but was impressed with the service. Booked a slot, got a text beforehand telling me who was coming and what time he'd arrive, the engineer was very good at explaining what he was doing and why, told me when he'd go over the hour slot and asked if I was okay to pay for an additional half hour.

This is our guy, he's excellent

http://www.pmbennison.co.uk

It Has Begun.

So, that’s... good?

Missed a bit

I'm doing it from a distance, bear with me

There's a bear with you? Is it doing the plastering?

That's a small dunny.

According to the Air B'n'B add I'm writing that's the en-suite

He just used a corner before. At least it's an alcove now.

pulling out of catford purchase for realz. turns out the bank won't lend us the money because it's next door to a car garage, would you believe.

fuck it. back to square one and a half.

You can always try with a different bank? I think its quite normal for that to happen. Some banks have funny lending criteria's that others don't. A decent mortgage adviser should be able to find something for you.