Owning your own home

Your door must be a very unusual size if you can't find a door near enough to the correct size to have it cut down to fit. It's normal for a door to need cutting to fit, understandable if you really do have some kind of elfin doorway though.

What kind of finish are you looking for, painted, varnished, oiled?

it really is a small door, at least in my limited experience of london doors. i think i've only ever lived in victorian gaffs yet our new place is decidedly "mid century" which means teeny door leading into a cavernous mid terrace house.

for me, the finish isn't all that important, tho i'd like a glass panel to let in the natural light the current door does. something sympathetic to the period would seem an obvious choice as well.

bathstore stuff is nice, avoid their fitters though. They're in pretty dire straits financially so bare in mind warranty...

What are the measurements?

Painted costs you in labour/materials, varnished costs you in the materials for good looking construction. Front door fitting is tricky especially in cold damp conditions as the wood on the inside is warm and dry and the outside is cold and damp, potentially leading to difficulty with the door warping. When I'm fitting doors I like to keep them at the property to acclimatise and try to fit them in the 6 months of average weather, i.e. avoid the winter and summer.

I would expect that you could get a decent door/frame etc made to measure and fitted for less than £4.5k, I think Banham do some full on security stuff for £6k. Are you specifying Banham locks, that could add £1200 in some cases.

It's not that bad around here.

As a counter point, you don't want to mark out you've got money by sticking a brand new big door on and standing out from everyone else.

yer not wrong. but i also dont want a front door that that can be punched through like a dairylee dunker when any local villains see me offloading my sweet sweet kruger rands.

If your sellers dont look like they're packing up, every time I walk by I think "they're still not packed?", I'll test the door strength.
Pretty sure it'll take a good kicking.

their 4 year old kicked the lower panel to fuckery a few weeks back. they pinged us a text asking us if we wanted them to fix it because we'd had people round measuring it up for a replacement.

ps we'll have a fuck off garden soon. got any mattresses you want torching? bring the kids. we'll make an afternoon of it.

I have tyres.....

you should probably cut down on the hobnobs m8

Fuck, I'm only just getting going. nom nom

Moving out tomorrow. After 10 years. Boooooh.

Any ideas for gifts for friends helping me move? Aside from booze and cash.

Forget it. Just booze and cash right.

Might have a mattress. Apparently it's new bed time soon.

sweet! make sure you tear the label off - i don't want one of those mattresses that might kill us with deathfumes if we set fire to it.

Can I bring some kids (not mine) to throw on the burning pile?

hail satan!

Got my full fat survey report today. 62 pages of scary stuff most of which I don't understand, some of which is unnerving.

Am I supposed to send this to my solicitor to follow up on some of the items?

Who'd you use in the end?
Just send on and discuss points with your solicitor.

Your guys, Collier Stevens.

Ok, will forward it on. Do they actually go through the whole thing?

Mine very quickly picked up on anything of concern but then again, it was the super Caroline from Glazer Delmar who came with the Mashton seal of approval!

^^ if the good folks at collier stevens are anything, they're thorough. what's got your spider sense tingling?

Did you speak to the surveyor? I found that a phone conversation with mine turned written stuff I didn't understand into 'No, that's totally normal on a house this age'.

^ likewise

No one thing, more just an accumulation of stuff. In no particular order,

Internally, chimney stacks have no ventilation
Leaking gutter joints
Rotting timber behind gutters
Splits to flashing above porch
Possibility missing planning permission and certificates to an internal chimney stack removal
No evidence of any dpc
Ground levels at rear are less than 150mm below assumed dpc height "ground levels should be lowered accordingly and this can be achieved by excavating a trench and backfilling with shingle" - wtf does that mean, I need to move the floor!?
Rendering extends below dpc level and should be cut back above dpc level
No extractor fans in either bathrooms or kitchen
No trickle vents in 2/3 bedrooms
Condensation noted around windows indicated cold bridging is occuring
No sub floor ventilation at rear
Some rot on timber sub frames of windows
Something about open hopper heads and how they are bad and should be replaced with sealed fittings
Something about iron soil and vent pipes and they need a cowl
The garage has fucked roof and the door and windows need replacing, gutters too
Fences on side and back are fucked and need replacing
Driveway paving is cracked and missing in places

Oh and some pigeons are roosting on adjoining properties roof.

I mean, some of the above I was aware of when I viewed so whatevs, but others, like rotting windows and missing dpc I don't know if I should care or just expect from a 1930's gaff. And the rest I am clueless about and could be nothing but could also be something. Need to spend this weekend getting clued up.

No I couldn't get time off work to meet the surveyor afterwards, but good shout, will try and give him a call on monday.