Owning your own home

Apparently they are going to ring Westminster Council to ask permission to use the roof access hatch in the communal stairwell.

They are on another planet

Video it and post the outcome here.

Weird shit going on with the house I'm meant to be buying. The vendors have said that they haven't removed any internal walls. The estate agent (who sold them the property) told me that they removed some walls and I have pictures from that listing showing walls which are no longer there.

It's obviously giving me some concern over whether they've bodged a load of shit.

If I was feeling generous how long should I give them in my flat? It’s 800sq foot. 45 mins?

• take measurements
  
• eyeball gas meter
  
• Eyeball electrics
  
• Check central heating & rads
  
• check windows
  

Hey can anyone help, I knew getting a f22 on a Vaillant boiler (low water pressure in the system) since yesterday. I have repressurised the system but it happened again in the morning.

Do I need to call an engineer in to take care of the problem? Can’t seem to find any leaks around the heaters.

Thanks so much for your help!

I used to have a vailant boiler in my old flat and had this error a few times. Usually was when I was decorating and replacing radiators - the water level dropped which reduced the pressure. I just opened up the water valve and the system refilled, then closed it off and the system was back up to pressure.
Have a look on YouTube, there are loads of videos from plumbers with these boiler errors.

If they’re structural walls, they’ll have had to apply for building regs and the local authority should have a record.

If they’re stud partitions, I wouldn’t worry.

@plantasia

Usually this but if you've already filled it up, it's probably something else...

Three things it could be:

1. Leak somewhere (under a floor??)
   
2. Blown PRF - has your overflow pipe (usually the other side of the wall to your boiler) shoved a load of water out recently that you can see?
   
3. Diaphram has failed - you can check this and refill it with a normal bike or car pump
   

Not sure where to put this but has anybody had polished concrete floors put in?

I love the way they look and they appear easy to keep clean, work well with underfloor heating etc.

Just wondering how they wear and look after a few years. Is there much maintenance involved?

Same question for concrete worktops.

Thank you. Praying it’s not a leak somewhere inaccessible... timing couldn’t be better.

Can’t see any water marks outside near the overflow pipe. Will research the diaphragm but probably try to call someone in.

Does anyone know a good gas person in Nw10?

Thanks again

We had that recently with a Valliant, there is a filter in it somewhere which gets blocked easily, and causes it to show f22 error, so might be worth trying to find and clean any filters, this one was tiny, like the size of a 5p.

Possibly the water intake filter needs cleaning, and if it's not clean then the boiler path for water to be heated will be getting clogged up. Depending on where this may be happening in the system it can result in either low or high pressure... the pressure monitor is one place, so is the clog before/after the monitor.

Shouldn't be too expensive to fix, at worse may involve replacing some other filters and brass fittings as those will have been eroded a little. But this is an eminently fixable issue.

I used this guy for a similar job https://rokas.london/ he was freaking excellent. I couldn't give a line-item cost for this part of the job as I was having a Nest thermostat installed at the time, and the annual inspection, so he did a deal for all of the labour as a single thing and my invoice will be meaningless for you.

What I will say is that he is conscientious, not a crook, definitely knows his business and did an absolutely stellar job.

Thank you so much! This is so helpful. I just repressurised again and two radiator valves were in fact leaking. I will tighten them and see if that will work. If not I will follow up on the filter, and ask downstairs neighbours to look out for leaks on the ceiling.

Really appreciate the help!

We had a couple of pressure drops recently, and the plumbers advice was, you can have small leaks when the system is warm and at a higher pressure which will go unnoticed because they just evaporate when the pipes are warm. We have multiple radiators off the walls at the moment which means there is ample opportunity for small leaks.

As a side note, sorry if this is pointing out the obvious, make sure you repressurise when the system is cold.

Nothing too obvious for me when it comes to House DIY ;)

Thanks again

This is the guy I've used, was very good. Not sure if he'll cover as far as NW10 but may do.
http://www.full-flame.co.uk/

One was probably stud, don't know about the other.

The fact that they've just denied removing any walls is the concerning bit.

Surveyor (ironically) might help you?

30 minutes. Laser measurements are a thing and quick. Nothing else on that list should take long.

The main issue is that to check it's been done properly may involve some invasive work and it's freshly decorated (and also who pays).

We had a pretty extensive survey (4 hours or so) but at that point we assumed that building regs certificates would be in place for the walls, etc

I've built a huge concrete dining table (same method as counter tops). It's a pain to seal it as it needs some prep and then plenty of coats of wax (3+).

You get marks from heat (to the wax), or wine spillages (through the wax). If you sponge up spills quickly then it's meant to be ok. We've embraced the marked/spilt/spoilt look and it's great but I'd think twice about the same approach for the floor. Perhaps concrete floor sealants are much, much better however?

We used a cheap bulk buy of Brazilian slate tiles with black grouting for our whole ground floor... similarly: hides the dirt, easy to clean and a nice contrast to comfy rug 'zones'.

So the vendor has now changed the story to they did remove a wall but it was a stud wall and that doesn't require any building regs certificates (which I think is true, not 100%).

Obviously my issue is how can I tell if this is really the case? The wall isn't there anymore so hard to tell if it was load bearing.

Its not necessarily impossible to tell.

A decent surveyor should be able to look at the thickness of the joists above it, the direction that they run in and surrounding structures to make a reliable educated guess.

Edit, they certainly they should be able to tell if an intrusive survey is required.

Cheers. Do you mean they can tell without an intrusive survey or they'd have to do an intrusive survey to work it out?

It's a wall that was separating the kitchen/utility room downstairs. It's all plastered/decorated now and a new laminate floor upstairs.

I mean that they should be able to work out if an intrusive survey is required. A stud finder should be able to tell them the direction that the joists run in without any invasive work being carried out. They can determine the approximate thickness of the joists by looking around the staircase for a measurement. The biggest indicator however would be by being above the area where the wall was removed if the floor feels like it bounces when walked on then there are issues.

Without getting too boring there are easy formulas (and tables for the hard of thinking) that determine the maximum span of a joist. By knowing the direction that the joists run in and their approximate thickness (they come in standard sizes so the actual amount of guess work is very little). They can determine fairly easily if support is required from below. Also if the wall was running in the same direction as the joists it is MUCH less likely to be load bearing although not impossible.

NB all of this is assuming there is not a wall on the first floor above where the now removed wall was