Owning your own home

They want somewhere quiet so I steered them away from a split town house.

I stand by this because I reckon it's better to be paying service charge and leasing from a housing association which seems to be quite forward thinking (the flats have Hyperoptic 900mb broadband, they use electric vans, current residents seem happy etc.) than hearing your upstairs neighbour every time they take a whiz.

If under 18m then i think the exclusion on that basis (with or without cladding) was announced end of July, so it may not filter through to the banks changing their processes that quickly.

An EWS1 was requested by my buyers first attempted Lender in February, they wouldn't provide any information beyond 'building requires an EWS1'.

With our sale there was a change in guidance due from RICS in April, so our buyer waited until that was released and tried a different lender.

Second one, I met the banks valuer and asked him what he thought, he said we needed one, I said we didn't, we walked round together and he went away saying he would read up, but no promises. We didn't get asked on this occasion. It was about 3 weeks after the guidance was updated to the valuation and the changes had obviously filtered through, but some lenders are slower than others.

Pipework is a million times better than our plumber did.

That's what I was most impressed with. Nothing was listed out so I don't feel like I paid for something additional I don't need. I assume it's just installed as standard. And the quality of the pipework makes me less worried about it leaking. Also, he's been good at coming out to sort other niggles (not of his making) so far.

Although, there is a drip/trickle through the tundish and out the overflow pipe when the HW is on but from a Google, that is likely to be a dodgy valve (two potential culprits, one more likely than the other as it is happening straight away rather than to do with any over heating) rather than an installation problem. He's coming out next week to sort anyway.

It's often a warranty requirement of the cylinders I think - how on earth it got accepted as such by the manufacturers is beyond me - if they really don't want hard water going through the cylinder they should be mandating the installation of high flow water softeners, but they're bulky and have running costs people pretty much won't accept.

Given that the magnetic devices do naff all and peoples' cylinders don't seem to be getting clagged up with limescale I suspect it's not needed at all, but it's not like you get an inspection window to take a look at what's going on inside.

Anyway, unvented is amazing and I'm glad we have it too.

Putting the feelers out for someone to do our rendering work. End terrace, Victorian/Edwardian. Renedered front and back, side return is brick. Renedering is cracked and blown in places, windowsills and surrounds have seen better days and the pointing on the side return needs a good refresh. General "make weatherproof and pretty" stuff. Then painting front and back.

The builder we just finished up with seemed to be avoiding it like the plague. So I've put out a few quote requests on Checkatrade but will happily take recommendations from here. We are based in CR7.

Would be interested to hear how this goes as we will likely need to do ours in a few years. We are also Edwardian end of terrace.

I lived in a split house for years, never heard my neighbours taking a whiz. When I talk to all of my mates in flats it just seems such a ballache (even those who have fast broadband and electric vans). Getting anything done always seems like a huge hassle, both to convince the housing association and then the logistical issues.

I need recommendations on putting some shelves in. It's a big area, around 3m high ceilings and about 2.5m wide.

Looking for some inspiration idea/images. I'm thinking more modern than traditional. Thought there were lots of examples on this thread but I'm struggling to find them.

Vitsoe is the way.

It's £££ right? I'm a graduate student, so it's likely not feasible.

can do diet vitsoe by buying one of the bracket systems screwfix/toolstation stock

That's more what I had in mind - hunting for examples to persuade myself (and my partner).

Also hunting for sources for the timber for the shelves. MDF is a no, and my partner's not feeling the ply vibes. Beech would be nice.

I mean magnetic filters dont work on water because they aint any rust in them so you would never fit them on that side of things but on a heating system its a different story.

Valchromat or Richlite maybe?

We had the kitchen fitters in and they're just wrapping up,
Question, do you tip trades people who are working for other people and the work been subbed out to?

Question, do you tip trades people who are working for other people and the work been subbed out to?

Hmm, depends; what music have they been blaring out since they arrived?

On forum recommendation I got Elfa twintrack from ironmongery direct, not too spendy and good quality. Not on forum recommendation I got block laminated oak shelving from Wickes to go with it which is definitely not high quality but does the job (with a little gluing and sanding). I might have preferred ply but these didn't need cutting.

That's very useful, thank you!

Edit: I've now seen the chat about it on the DIY thread :)

At the cheaper end too, IKEA Boaxel. Got some in the office, gym and bedrooms. Very simple but does just work

Black twin slot shelving with ply fixed with nice slotted Japanned screws?

Round the edges of the ply and Danish oil to highlight the layers. Gives you a sort of utilitarian vibe that'll look less cheap than white ones.

If you want to get super keen paint a black line under the tracks so the slots are less visible.

Not sure how economical it'll be over that area but we bought some cheap pine shelves tops from Wickes, stained and then used these cheap triangle brackets that were from B&Q I think.

1 Attachment

This is what we're doing after ripping off the idea from @Señor_Bear

Still haven't decided on the shelf material yet. I doubt ply would get past the internal auditors.

There's a video about it from that kindly old man who does good power tool reviews.

But just normal wood shelves tops would look nice in yours.

Edit here it is https://youtu.be/YL1-vMyzk5A

11 weeks in to our chain-free purchase of an empty property...

(we've actually got the mortgage offer and signed the deeds, so who knows what else might have been done - but whatever it is we haven't heard a word about it)

1 Attachment

Thats a joke.

Is it worth mentioning to the solicitors that you could take your business elsewhere? They're taking the piss.