Owning your own home

Nothing like using what’s at hand to fit a purpose

How I have been renovating for a year and still find things that make me think "WTAF?" There's a hole in the side of the chimney breast, presumably from a redundant aerial on the stack. They drilled inwards and knocked out a stone, and instead of knocking up mortar and breaking the stone down, they rolled up yellow pages and tissue, and packed the hole and painted it.

There was an open fire that was frequently lit.

Classic 1980s DIY hack.

We pulled out a load of early 2000s newspaper from ours. Was being used as draft excluder.

scoblebrick thread >>>>>>>>

I used a pillow in a binbag

needs moar vitso

Nice, I filled the form and supplied them with the required photos.

Just moved to Somerset and the 20yo boiler might need replacing soon anyway. Also removing the boiler would open up a whole wall in the utility room as it's situated bang in the middle of the said wall.

Times was hard.

Flooring advice please?
My partner wants to rip up the carpet in our spare room and replace with vinyl/lino/laminate etc.
Space is 12.5m2 modern block of flats so flat concrete floor underneath. Square room with a couple of small inset bits but no weird alcoves or angles.
It’s her yoga studio so ideally have a little give underneath but overall it just needs to be flat, sweat proof etc. Ideally it’d be pink marble effect apparently 😅😅

Pros and cons of the various options?

Rough labour estimates?(including carpet removal).
Flooring looks to be £10-£80/m2 depending on how fancy. I presume there will be underlay and sealing around the skirting boards to contend with as well.

Anyone on here do flooring or recommend someone in NE london?

A few people on the bathroom & kitchen thread have installed Lino / rubber flooring.
I’ve fitted a floating cork floor in my office which I think is nice. I’d have thought Lino would be a good shout

pink marble effect

https://www.forbo.com/flooring/en-gl/products/linoleum/marmoleum-marbled/marmoleum-marbled-all-colors/bqxt7s#3268 not sure if this lands on the right colour, if not search Honeysuckle (it's Very Pink)

Quick update on my falling down extension. Got the report through and it's shit as expected.
Seems the engineers massively underspecced the foundations particularly not taking into account the neighbour's huge willow.
Looks like we need to underpin an extra metre of foundation, (and no doubt have to redo the UFH pipework as a result). Estimated cost - an LFGSS kitchen. FML.
Engineers that the builders used have, unsurprisingly, gone out of business.

Will speak to the builders and see what recourse we have through their insurance etc.

Ah shit man.

Thankfully if the builders appointed the engineer then your contract is with the builder so their insurance should pay.

You can either work with them directly or claim through your home insurance who will reclaim from the builders’ insurance.

A shitter, but fully fixable without the need to find the money yourself, cos it ain’t your fault. This is what insurance is for.

What a fubar. Good luck, though

Fuck sorry.

Thanks all - I'm sure it'll get sorted, but will be a massive PITA in the meantime.

Good luck, sounds painful 😣

Any recommendations/forum-approved solicitors for a leasehold flat sale in Islington?

I used a local place for a lease extension that seemed good but their conveyancing fees look to add up to around £2.5k which seems more than the average.

Looking at ripping out the old smelly carpet and sanding the floorboards in the house we've just bought.

Has anyone used draughtex https://www.draughtex.co.uk/ for sealing the floorboard gaps ?

Don't bother going local. Proximity has no effect.

Search this thread for recommendations, or use personal recommendations you trust. Don't use mortgage brokers recommendations.

Shit (or overloaded) property solicitors are fucking awful, they eat up your time, can put your sale/purchase at risk, and put you at risk.

Not me, but if you search here and the diy thread ppl have.

Thanks, will have a proper search.
And agreed, just looking for one who is competent and won’t add stress to the process.

Don't bother going local. Proximity has no effect.

The advantage of going local is that you can drop off signed original documents in person on exchange day when they lose the ones you posted a week before. Ask me how I know...

I paid £1,600, last year to a loose family friend. They sold my leasehold in Lambeth in record time, very good If you want a name then email, might be a bit more now. If you're people are good, why not just use them. You'll only save a few quid and it's all more stress.

I've used it a bit. It does help, you can still feel the cold from under just less draught/draft.

If you haven't sanded already I would look at lifting the boards and adding insulation. Alternatively, you could look at using timber slivers before sanding.

I wish I'd insulated under when I did it now.