Owning your own home

"Hull"

My washing machine is making horrible noises, like there's a bearing that's shot or something. It crunches like a knackered headset when you turn it by hand, and sounds like it's going to explode when it's spinning.

I'm hoping it's repairable rather than a throwaway - has anyone got a recommendation for a repair chap in West London?

I've done the bearings myself in the past. They often don't last long. When I looked into a pro doing it many years ago the labour for the job meant it wasn't worth it.

No floorplan or internal photos? Might be a dodgy buy, I would recommend a visit before purchase.

"Hull"

"Grim"

I'm hoping it's repairable rather than a throwaway

As @Airhead said I suspect this is only economically viable for high end machines. If it's a Miele they do a service where they will come and try and fix it, but if they can't you get the callout charge deducted from the cost of a new machine (with them).

Looks like a CounterStrike level

My last washing machine noise turned out to be a junior hacksaw blade (!) trapped in the tight bend of the drain/sump and was dragging along the outside of the drum. Worth checking just in case it's something similar as a potentially easy fix?

I've fished out more than my fair share of bra underwires from washing machines over the years.

You can definitely tell the difference between that and a bearing.

Anyone moved house to be in the right catchment area? I don't mean relocate, I mean literally moved a few blocks

I've fished out more than my fair share of bra underwires from washing machines over the years.

Show off

Bearing failed should mean the inner drum is loose in the outer drum which you can usually feel with your hand.

Problem with new bearings is there's a lot of weight involved in normal operation of a washing machine drum so if the bearings are not set perfectly they can deteriorate fast.

We kind of did. We needed to move, and schools played a big part in the location 1/2 mile away.

Suppose a huge chunk of SDLT is cheaper than private school fees in the long run.

The problem with "catchment areas" is that unless the school is so large (or the catchment area so small) that it can guarantee that everyone in a certain area gets in then it'll end up coming down to distance-to-school as a tie-breaker as there is usually a huge variation in intake between years.

Some of the local primary schools around us have been as low as 120m once siblings have been given their precedence.

Also, if this is the case, then this will often be priced in to the properties close to the school.

(MiniGB's old primary moved to a ballot rather than distance-to-school to help get away from this system gaming.)

tue. you cannot bank on distance to school to guarantee an entry as it the factors can vary a lot every year.

Think there might be a bit of asbestos in that

Yep: We moved about a mile to make sure eldest got into an OK school.
Our old place - which we loved - was about 50m outside the "catchment area" of the only school we really liked.
There was no guarantee which school the eldest would have got into - there is no such thing as school "choice" in those situations.
We looked at renting our place out and renting somewhere nearer (but they've rightly put a stop to that), and also buying a second smaller place with the view to returning to the original place a few years later.
In the end we sold up and moved. At great expense and stress.
Eldest will start at the school we wanted in September. But she actually won a music scholarship to another OK school, and I suspect if we'd stayed in the old place she would have got in under furthest distance as demand each year is different.
But hey!

Bragging about my wife's worn out clothing? Hardly

Thanks for the replies (so far)! My old mate from school sends his kids to secondary this year but said he would move if he needed too. I was surprised but I think that's only because in my mind I've always tagged catchment movers as snobs who think they're too good for St Stabbers Comp.

Now I'm in that situation myself I totally get it. In reality our local high school is perfectly good. The old headmaster used to present Why Don't You? remember that? But we're in the enviable position of being a short distance from two exceptional schools, which feel like they'd be a better fit for our eldest. We also love where we are and our home so it would be a wrench. Worth it though.

Why don’t you (go out and do something less boring instead etc ) was presented by a group of Welsh kids if my memory serves me right. Was he one of them?!
https://youtu.be/uRUhjFF5a6Y

They had regional gangs but he was the breakout guy so they made him the main presenter, Ben Slade

The guy from Woof is behind the new London Interdisciplinary School if all their education needs to be TV based...

Ah just googled him, Welsh and looks like a Tory MP...
Anyway back to houses. Where do the kids want to go?
Our daughter chose to go to our towns comprehensive- just finishing year 7 and loves it. She has loads of mates and is doing well. Lunchtime scraps make it sound a bit like Grange Hill.

It’s a bit far off for him to be making that decision but he’ll want to go where whoever his friends are then go, which will probably be one of the two we want but currently can’t get him into

Well up for that.