Owning your own home

not used it, but heard good things - both from youtube DIYers and the chap who sanded our floors.

worth thinking about insulating the ground floor if it's suspended and there's room?

I used this method:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCGpRpKKGV8

mainly as it was cheaper than this method:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXJDwjkoEkQ

By another measure using a remote agent where the company is working for your buyer/seller can also speed the process as the middle leg of any journey is a walk across the office.

Ground floor I wouldn't unless you get underneath and insulate them, make sure sedum air vents working well etc. Lots of folk block them up when thru spot their carpet coming to life on a windy night.

Upper floors sealing not so important unless you've got draughts from somewhere. But proper floor on the bare boards is prefable all around.

We used Zoe McCulloch at My Home Move, she was really good and their website has a good portal where everything's online. However they're a big company and I'm not sure you can request specific people to work your case.

I have.

The only thing I'd add to the advice above (definitely add insulation if you can) is that if the gaps between your floorboards are uneven, it might sag or fall down in places.

Positive news on rates, quite a few lenders have announced reductions. Still fairly marginal but whether it’s a combination of lower swap rates, or lack of business, lenders are tentatively reducing them.

Thanks, will drop you a message, would be good to have another option.

The specific person I dealt with for the lease extension may not do conveyancing so I’d be crossing my fingers that the others in the company are decent.

Thanks, hadn’t heard of them will look into them

We looked at that but ended up going with slivers having insulated from underneath.

Gluing and hammering them in was a bit tedious (trying to avoid too many knots in the slivers, matching the sizes, inevitable unwanted tapering of the gap/sliver/both, glue everywhere).

That said, taking the excess off with a sharp chisel was very relaxing process.

Pics and sauce please.

Thanks all! @hvsds - I've been considering that sort of insulation - how long did that process take you? Would probably skip the draughtex if I insulate - thought it might be a quick fix alternative.

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

I've used this, it did a good job, looked innocuous and was easy to fit. It took an afternoon for a 3x4m room. It made a really big difference. Get some knee pads before you start fitting it!

I've since taken a (different) ground floor up and put wool underneath (I think that's what that youtube is doing), it took about two full days and was quite a lot harder - lots of broken floorboards, prying out nails etc - at several points I thought I'd made a big mistake even starting it :) Then hardboard over the top of the boards, laminate floor insulation foam (c.6mm thick) then laminate floor - this second stage took another weekend.

There's no draught at all any more and the room is noticably warmer than the first room, but it took a lot more work.

really not long at all, all things considered - with a staple gun and a stanley knife in hand, did about 50sqm in less than a day.

that was with all the boards lifted already, actually - which was probably another day or so to lift them all, remove the old nails, and then another day afterwards to re-nail them all down again.

There's no draught at all any more and the room is noticably warmer than the first room, but it took a lot more work.

Make a big difference in delaying turning on the boiler, our gas bill now have a extra £10 to carry forward from the government as a result.

Saw this, got very excited about what it could be. Much disappoint to find out asking is £3.5m. Casual. Should have remembered the adage about needing to ask the price meaning you can't afford it.

Clearly priced to be floored and rebuilt as something much larger and carved up.

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I'm sorry, how fucking much??

clearly priced for the plot of land rather than anything .. looking at next door, it could easily have flats build on it?

Yup! I think I kept my composure but the call ended swiftly after this was known.

what did you re-nail them with? cut class nails? (think thats what they're called)

Woah. Payday for someone's inheritance. Lucky.

They should develop a low block of flats and keep the penthouse for themselves.

£3.5m still looks an awful lot for that plot of land.

Folks are paying £1m for modern 3 bedroom flats* around here. Recouping the £3.5m, building costs and a bit of profit doesn't seem too far fetched given location and proximity to city.

* yeah I know they should know better

If you built to the same density as the flats next door, that's maybe up to 12 flats with a market value of 500k - 100000 each. That makes 3.5m seem not so big, I reckon.

annular ring nails - these ones: https://www.screwfix.com/p/easyfix-annular-ring-nails-2-65-x-50mm-1kg-pack/18553

some folks prefer the ones where you don't see the heads so much once they're in, but looks fine to me - the old holes where the old nails leeched/stained around them are more visible anyway

edit: also yes, i broke the cardinal rule of decorating before finishing the floors, and yes i do have various spots of paint here there and everywhere - will call it 'character' or something...

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Just placed an order with fittingly. So far they have been awesome to deal with. Their design tool works really well (on Chrome, FF not so much) and any issues I had, their online chat fixed it in seconds on the design I was working on. Decided to go for a "paintable" finish on the doors as we didn't fancy any of the options they had (even though they have loads). Also left out the drawers we were planning originally as they were an extra grand. Ms_com has plans for pull out baskets instead. Push comes to shove I can make drawers later. The wood effect on the insides and edging looks much nicer on instagram examples than in the design tool. Still undecided about how to paint the in fills; wall colour, skirting colour, something else. But that can be for another time.

All in (shipped) was about £5.3k. They have a 20% sale on until Friday. They had 25% that I missed a little while ago if you booked their design consultation (which was handy for double checking a few things). But I asked the person on the design consultation if they could do better than the current 20% as I was miffed I missed out on the 25% and that if so, I would be ordering today. Came back with 30% off, which was nice. But I imagine it's a DFS situation and you'd be foolish to pay whatever their RRP is at any given time.

They reckon 2-4 weeks for flat pack (installation would have been another grand). I will report back.

Odd shape is to fit around the chimney breast.

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