Owning your own home

Thanks, might look at one of those again, can't remember why they were deemed unsuitable before

I fitted one of them years ago. Took quite a while to get the fit right, and I had to hacksaw it to length as well which took a few goes to get it correct. With the bends it's definitely worth measuring twice to get them even, but even my hamfisted attempt came out looking decent.

Questions to ask / things to consider on a 1960's flat...?

Concrete built, prev owner was there since it was built and hadn't done anything to it in a long time. Expecting new boilers, new kitchen, new bathroom, redecorating everything...

I'd add new windows and new rads. New consumer unit and possibly re-wire.

Ah yes, already spoken to other residents and the windows were done for just about the whole block - apart from that one. Around 8-10k to get those done.

Thinking if full redecorating, new boiler etc then maybe plan on removing the radiators and do underfloor heating instead. Brief google suggests concrete floors play nicely with it.

New CU. Yep.

Questions to ask / things to consider

Kitchen extractor vent? Bathroom extrator vent?
Are windows protected - ie double glassing options ?

Presumably you’d have to go for electric ufh, we have it downstairs under solid wood which isn’t ideal , if it were 1) up to me 2)cost effective I’d reinstate the rads

Dudes, when you sell a house can your buyers ask you to replace missing radiator caps?

They can ask...

The windows might not be your responsibility

Do you mean the plastic caps on the return side or the actual TRV on the flow side?

That’s a fucking cool place

Think just the plastic caps. I’m saying no, go up wickes and buy a bag yer self u wankers!

Ha, I know those flats. Just on the other side of the heath to us.

The 'House' version is for sale, too.

(someone bought two of the duplexes and stuck em together to make a monster 5 bedroom thing)

Sorry, that wasn't very helpful.

I used to live in a 1960s flat in SW1 and it had a concrete rot problem and was also sinking and twisting into the ground. Cost well over a million squids to out right. No idea if that's a typical thing to worry about for that era though.

More specifically to that flat, that side of the heath is renowned for random subsidence problems. The Cator estate is particularly badly hit but you're a way away from there.

At some point somebody bought three of those flats and knocked them through to make a house. We went to view it last year. Seriously nice location and building but the renovation works were going to be too big an ask of us at the time.

Ha crossed posts.

Mortgage lenders being wary of lending against (older) concrete blocks is another obvious one that I'm sure the OP is aware of.

@Dammit is your man when it comes to this. ps nice parquet!

That place looks great.

Awesome parquet.

At some point somebody bought three of those flats and knocked them through to make a house. We went to view it last year. Seriously nice location and building but the renovation works were going to be too big an ask of us at the time.

2 flats rather than 3. One flat normally gets the left side of the ground floor, all of the first and the back half of the 2nd floor. Then other one gets right/none/front/all. Having both would be amazing.
It's still for sale actually but they've dropped the asking a lot. Started at £1,675,000 on TheModernHouse 2 years ago, then gradually dropped and changed agents down to 1.25M (then to 1.35 again).

@Howard Think windows are down to the individual owners (/leaseholders). The neighbour mentioned they choose whether to opt in or not (and paid the ~4k for the large windows at the front, with the back windows being a few years earlier).

@Tenderloin @Mickie_Cricket @tbc
Gotta say I'm pretty tempted. Obviously I'd miss the lovely noise, pollution and view that is the sliproad to the Blackwall Tunnel Approach as I currently have, but I'm sure I could put up with Blackheath instead.

I grew up in a 1960s concrete house in the area. My endurng memory of that is how the sound of footsteps and low conversation travelled around the building. Not an easy thing to test when viewing a property and I suppose not unique to 60s concrete.

I live in a concrete block now, well, I think it is. It looks it.
Anyway. Our neighbours must hate us.

@Dammit is your man when it comes to this. ps nice parquet!

I'm now onto the second (minor) refurbishment of my flat - critical difference being I'm paying other people to do it now.

The only advice I have to give is to work out what you want the place to be, then rip it apart and do everything before you move in (if you can afford it).

When we bought our place paying workmen was impossible so I did everything, whilst living there - which is why it took forever. I wish I'd been able to blitz through the place before moving in, but that would have meant staying with friends for months - also a non starter.

I am therefore aware that its not always possible to do it the easy way - but having done it the hard way, I'd put extra effort into doing it the easy way!

As everyone else said @duncs that could be very cool with the work you're proposing.

Weren't these by Arthur Rubenstein? I tried googling it but keep getting that pesky Polish pianist...