Owning your own home

What sort of dimensions? is the entrance at the end or on the side? Cheers!

Nest measures humidity as well as being a smart thermostat.

Yes, applies if you own any property anywhere in the world...

Yes, I did see that- unfortunately the room in question almost always has de-humidifiers running (as we dry laundry there) so it’s the warmest room in the house by some margin. If we put the thermostat in there the rest of the house would be quite chilly!

I believe so and I’d assume whatever third party you use to make the transaction would inform the tax authorities locally and they would in turn inform hmrc through an international agreement.

I’d imagine your bank would inform too when you transfer a large sum abroad to make the purchase.

Maybe. A quick duck duck will tell you a more solid answer.

I suspect the Tl;dr is to not be a dick, pay your taxes or live in fear.

I do regular-ish work for some Architects, the last big project I was around for was for someone with more money that you anyone on this thread and they wanted a flat-floor walk in shower, and even throwing $$$$$ at it, and with an Architect willing to go way beyond normal expectations it still wasn't ever finished satisfactorily.

My old flat had the issue of too shallow a run from the bathroom. If I had the choice between a 6" step into a shower, or rod-ing out the drains every 6 months because they get blocked with scum I know which one I'd pick

wet rooms are nice in theory I guess.

To get the ‘drop’ required do they ever just say fuck it and fit a pump?

we're planning on foregoing a bath entirely, just a fuck off shower. baths are for fannies.

Thanks for sharing, that's actually super helpful... I guess same applies to wet rooms then? And there is no real way round it?

God damn it...

I think the UK climate really doesn't help - everything is prone to staying damp all the time. But yeah shallow drain drops are awful, I would do almost anything to avoid one in the future

Its in an upstairs bathroom if that makes a difference? Feel it could/should?

the UK climate really doesn't help

My sister may have fond memories of my grandparents wet room in Malaysia. Sort of a shower - a tap, hose and bucket at least. And a tropical climate and copious permanent ventilation.

I'm less worried about the drainage issue, more about the constant wetness and humidity - wet feet going to the loo, damp toilet seat and hard to keep the tiles looking good.

Ha, really? In what way?

UK bathrooms tend to be quite small and usually upstairs*. The water; 1) always bounces off you everywhere, and 2) often doesn't drain quickly enough. Both result in water on the floor requiring lots of mopping adding time to your morning routine.

All the good ones I've used have been in places where you have more space and basically have a massive corner dedicated (or ideally outside somewhere hot with a nice view).

Ours isn't quite flush (maybe 5mm lip at the front) and is boxed in on 3 sides (1 screen, 2 walls). It now has a extra long shower curtain which more or less solves the problem, but obviously looks a bit shit.

If/when we redo the bathroom or build into the loft I'm going to look into some sort of massively over-engineered drainage system... or be bullied into doing whatever the builder wants and then complain about it forever after.

My folks have an absolutely beautiful one with a single screen accessible from either side. It is fucking shit and is only viable because they don't have to worry about what time they get to work anymore.

Just my 2p ymmv.

*idk if this makes a difference

Love a bath. In a perfect world, where I win the lottery and Gal Gadot falls head over heels in lust with me, I would be a two-baths-a-day man.

I guess same applies to wet rooms then?

I've only used a couple and from memory they had a step down or very steep curve.

A problem in London with wet rooms is the lime scale from the water. I know this applies to all ldn bathrooms, but more so when you get a lot of spray around.

My builder mate that I put you in touch with did quite a cool thing with a series of wooden steps. The bath is at the end/highest step and almost looks sunken, then the shower is on the second step. This means visually you just see minimalist 1" spaced wooden slats instead of a shower tray, but underneath there is a fuck-off big shower tray.

...not sure if that makes sense?

It works well with their high ceilings, but idk how it would fit with more modern rooms.... it would probably depend on the proportions.

@jv and @stelfox
Yes, also applies to overseas property. I spent a while looking at this recently (sister and brother-in-law were buying a house and he already owns somewhere in Ireland) and it is very difficult to get around (I managed to find a loophole in that case but only because they bought whilst the transition arrangements were happening, I think it would be too late now).

There's obviously the option of just not declaring it but that is fraud.

I used to think like this, I've had two, maybe three baths since achieving self awareness. However since being asked to help with "bathtime" for my niece and nephew, I think if you plan on having children, having one is massively useful and fun for them

While we’re on the building chat.

When building a standard extension, is there any reason why you couldn’t have a mini cellar put in. Wine-sized, rather than Fritzel.

Just thinking loads of old houses used to have them, and they weren’t always big.

Googling brings up massive basement conversions.

Gut says that it’s a lot of work for builders, without the abitly to charge accordingly. But I wondered if you were willing to dig out the section if it would be more viable.

https://www.spiralcellars.co.uk/

Old client of mine had one of these put in, a lot more simple and cheaper than a mini cellar. Still very expensive but looks fantastic in my opinion

yeah that ship's sailed.

Uneconomical on a £/sqft basis to do a small cellar but makes sense for a bigger one? I would imagine the marginal cost to make it a bit bigger is small in comparison to doing one at all.

I imagine these things were cheaper in the old days because you could get kids to dig them for 20 hrs/day practically unpaid.

If we put the thermostat in there the rest of the house would be quite chilly!

Plumb in a second zone just for that room?

With an additional thermostat?

oi - did you try tim flynn?

Yeah not looking to de-fraud the nation, it's done me pretty well. Thanks (& @Danimal)