Owning your own home

I have exchanged and completion is set for Monday!
Super happy. Thanks for all the buying advice/ dodge that one with a barge pole/ lease advice over the last 8 months or so

Congrats!!

Congrats. Now the real fun starts.

Well done!

Cheers all! Off Monday and Tuesday so should get everything moved over

Enjoy your new home!

Damp experts assemble:

1. what might cause the musty smell in the cupboards and how do I start eliminating sources? As far as I can tell, there isn't any water source in that area and the CH system is holding pressure.
   
2. How long do walls take to dry out and how do I know if I've solved the water ingress around the sink/door?
   
3. Is it worth worrying about the old rot?
   

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Might be worth marking the position of the air bricks.

Now the real fun starts.

Now why would you spoil that??

Might be helpful to mark which are exterior walls (if any)

@Howard @danb updated! It's also ground floor with no evidence of damp on floor above.

Nearly done. Doubt I'd recommend these guys as there are some messy details I'm going to have to argue with them about on Monday. If he sorts it then maybe.

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what might cause the musty smell in the cupboards and how do I start eliminating sources?

What's underneath? Until you've hit dirt underneath, you're never going to know for sure.

This stuff can get rid of most surface moulds.

How long do walls take to dry out and how do I know if I've solved the water ingress around the sink/door?

I gave ours months. A wet winter will let you know if it's sorted or not.

Is it worth worrying about the old rot?

If it's dried out and not crumbly, you could slap a load of hardener on it.

owning a house is just one thing after another isn't it. just a stream of never ending (expensive) pish

We've had a similar weird smell thing at ours. I'm kidding myself that it's caused by damp soil dirt under the house that's become damp due to the nature of the rain we had this year.

But I suspect I'll have to pull up the floor at some point to have a look.

but it's your expensive pish, that's the point

the absolute very best thing about owning a house(flat/whatever) is that a sizeable chunk of the money you pay every month is basically being forwarded to your future self.

It was really bad when we moved in (2017) but no visible mould inside cupboards.
Since then I’ve fixed the tap and sink, repaired the gutters and had the chimney stack capped and re-rendered. We’ve also had the boiler/CH system done and no leaks there.
Things aren’t going mouldy, just getting damp and clumping/etc.
I suspect I will also have to pull up the floor at some point but everywhere else in the house I’ve done that, it’s just very dry dirt.

Could it be condensation?! It’s a high ceiling and quite open to other rooms/rest of house but there’s no real extraction.

Could well be condensations, although the fact that it is close to an area the other side of the wall/stairs might suggest another cause, although could be coincidence.

That has been my experience, yes. Probably £50k over 6 years, on top of the mortgage.

If you’re fortunate to live long enough.

Oh boo hoo.

Just buy an absolute shitter like mine, then all the work needs done anyway and you know what you’re getting.

I bought an absolute shitter - I've done all the work and then... more fucken work appears. neverending forth road bridge mfer

Similar situation.

The benefit of buying a shitter and then fixing it up is that the problems that come later also come with a sense of guilt and regret that you don't get if they were someone else's poorly-chosen builders or decorating skills.

You need that new paint they have that only needs done once every ten years.

I used actual wool when I did ours