Owning your own home

Bit of a Ted talk. Sorry.

Do people normally announce they're going to have a child in Ted talks?!

Congrats again, but for me a shower over a bath is neither horse nor mule, I want my bath to be a bath and my shower to be a shower. This might be influenced by years of crappy rental properties though. At least your bath will be a decent size so you won't be slipping around the bottom of it.

@TW @Ramsaye @bobble - despite the family connection I've never actually been to Hopton Hall (and didn't realise the reservoir path used to take you past it - I don't think my Dad knew that either). Apparently the rose gardens are very nice so I'll put it on my list.

It's a Vaillant Ecotec Plus 832

New house has one of these, are you happy with it?

Sorry about your Nest, that sucks. I don't think ours even went down strangely.

Congrats @stevo_com - that's a lovely front door/stained glass/hallway combo, and well done for getting that much done already!

You know about the poltergeist, right?

I read Kate Summerscale's book about it recently, really enjoyed it.

(Please keep that fireplace as is, maybe with some nice wooden panelling for a Twin Peaks vibe?)

If the poltergeist can help me shift all our shit around multiple times, then they're welcome to stay. The fireplace might be a bit of a lost cause. The big brick plinths out harshing by buzz and might have to be caved in with a big hammer at some point.

We have eliminated most of the smoke smell already by lifting and dumping the underlay. Big curtains in the living room will be washed when our new machine arrives. Haven't even really opened the door to the previous lady owners bedroom except to peek in, she was a bed smoker. It's bad in there, but at least that's too of the house.

Already used the dishwasher, which I've not had since leaving my parents place. Even their it was "illegal" to use it. Can't believe I've been washing dishes by hand like a mug for so long. Getting a heat pump tumble drier too, again not something I've had since I left home.

Internet was supposed to be yesterday, but no one showed. Having to tether the smart telly to my phone for nursery rhyme/anti-toddler-meltdown purposes. So if that arrives, it's on to the Deco, Tado and Simplisafe set ups.

There are obvious disrepair type things in the place (holes in plaster, cosmetic cracks, damage from previous leaks etc) and it needs an overhaul really. But the main thing is it's just minging. Like it hasn't been cleaned in 5 years. Already feeling much more comfortable with a bit of a wipe and a vacuum in most places.

Impressive you could see past that when you viewed the place. Was it occupied at the time?

Yeah, a middle aged couple who'd lived here 30 years. They were separating Nd she slept in the too bedroom and sat and watched telly in the living room. Was a stronger smell when they were here.

I think poltergeists tend to move stuff around but not in a helpful way...

Seriously though, would really recommend the book, it's fascinating:
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/sep/19/the-housewife-the-ghost-hunter-and-the-poltergeist

Local history for you too!

she was a bed smoker

So grim.

That's a shame about the fireplace, I was imagining Great Northern Hotel from Twin Peaks vibes.

This question isn't aimed at anyone in particular but why is everyone splashing all this cash on smart home security setups? Are you all living in super high crime areas or something?

I've never felt the need in Clapton, and now we've sold our flat I can say that it's gentrification has been somewhat overstated. But the odd crack head ringing our doorbell and asking for money and the mardy druggie house just down the road don't worry me enough to order a Simplisafe or whatever...

I think we have one too. It feels a little underpowered but I can only compare it to my parents giant almost commercial system

We are doing it as we live in the middle of nowhere, so when we are away from home, if someone did break in they would have as long as they like to clear stuff out.

I used to have to spend nights away occasionally for work, so it gave my wife piece of mind that she could hit a panic button and someone would come calling.

They removed the bodies under thr floorboards then?

This is similar in size to what I have, actually its bigger so would have thought you could fit a bigger shower in than that (if you wanted).

This is what I ended up plan wise, I'd recommend marking it all out with masking tape too to get a real world feel of how it all fits.

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Poltergeists are often associated with strange smells. Fact!

aye yer not wrong i suspect.

maybe if i fire up youtube and the Wickes website, i can turn this small job into a massive fucking job...

Rural crime can be really scary so I totally get that.

I'm not a total sceptic, if it's just for piece of mind fair enough. At the moment we have a one bed flat so if someone tries to break in when we're here I'd hear it. If they break in when we're out, I don't think one of these would stop them getting our stuff.

New house has three stories (woop!) and I guess I could be busy upstairs while someone was merrily breaking in downstairs.

Have you gone back to a separate shower?

Yes, we are three stories, with us sleeping on the top, having internal cameras means I can look at those at night rather than go up and down 2 flights to see what that strange noise was...

When we moved to E17 and had our own front door we felt somewhat paranoid after living 3 stories up for so long.
We went a bit nuts, have Nest inc alarm (imported) and Yale for the big yellow box (and smart alarm).
Ouyr Nest is our every day alarm which runs through HomeKit and auto alarms and the Yale is our "we are away for a couple days" deadbolt like alarm.
Oh neighbours were broken into last year so feel the overkill is maybe valid.

My only thought.... Where are your towels going? I know with that layout if I put a towel rail by the shower I would always get in the bath then realise they were out of reach and vice versa...

Nah, that's an earlier iteration of the plan. I over plan. A lot.

Given your 'not overlooked' situation that makes sense. Rensburg is so quiet though, maybe I do need to be worrying too?!

I've always gone big on physical security - the front of our place is pretty secure as when we moved into a ground floor flat facing the street in Hackney security obviously crossed our minds - partly because I think traditional alarms are pointless. Our neighbours kept going off recently and I suspect I was the only person who actually took any interest, people just ignore them.

At least with smart ones the person with an interest in checking can, even if they're not there.