Owning your own home

But only just, right?

Thanks all for the responses to the render question, I figured as much. Pretty much all the houses have cracks in the render and I guess it’s just par for the course with old buildings, crap builders, settlement etc

It was towards the end of the month.

Brilliant

What's that now, about two pints down the local?

We didn't because it'd be bought/sold recently and is one of many flats. Got a basic survey done and the guy was like "yeah I'm here every couple of years" or whatever. There's no need unless you're buying some weird shit.

Vodafone do us well, partners on contract, something like 100/120gb unlimited/unlimited for £23 a month sim only, then can get a handful of additional sim only for I think I get 60gb for £10 a month? Something crazy. Internet at my work is often shabby so end up just using my phone on the 4G to get things done, not been over the limit yet. Starts to make paying for line rental + vat + broadband package a bit of a joke.

If you've got some time I'm sure they'd appreciate if you check the usual things. Do all the windows and doors close properly (I'm now a DG ninja, getting them all shut tight for winter at all the houses I frequent), does it have nice fitting heavy curtains. Gas heating, is the boiler at the right pressure, right input/output temps, all the rads working and not full of air or sludged up, have a go at setting TRV's appropriately for the rooms they use the most. Maybe show them that its worth going around and physically turning the TRV depending on time of day so the heat they are paying for is going into the room they are in and not heating some back spare junk room to 25c for no reason*

Older/not well folk really need a background heat in their bedroom for Nov>March, ideally something safe so if they forget it doesn't cause a fire or burns. Oil filled 1-2 kw electric plug in job is a good call, often not enough in an old house to actually get the room upto temp, but enough to maintain reasonably well some heat overnight until the gas CH comes back on timer.

Electric blanket + quality high tog new duvet (they degrade over time, age, sweat, use) is the most efficient thing to do to ensure they are warm and well and get some proper rest.

*This is a real issue, when I've had older family they weren't senile, but certainly get stuck in their ways. YES its important to sort of heat and air out unused rooms, but honestly number of times I'd go into a totally unused room (one set of grandparents had closed the door to a badly built 70's extension one winter, and taped the cracks shut to keep the cold in/out...) only to find a set of rads pumping out heat making those rooms warmer than the actually used parts of the house. And a week later i'd return to find they'd done it again. We'll all be old one day and also get stuck in our ways, ad nauseum.

Our last bill was £360, small two bed terrace.

If I wanted to put in some trickle vents and new window sealing on my shitty old windows who would do it at a reasonable price?

I looked into trickle vents years ago and I think the majority of advice was to not have them.

@cupcakes was said a structural survey. Not RICS. There is often a lot of confusion on this

https://www.istructe.org/find-an-engineer/structural-engineers-near-me/search/handy-tips/what-is-a-structural-survey/

We will tell you if you house is likely to fall down, we are literally not allowed to look at fire etc.

That being said, I don't think a structural inspection/report is required for most purchases but I would always recommend a survey of some sort depending on your appetite for risk.

Trickle vents are supposedly mandatory on new windows so just.... New windows?

The rule is you can't make ventilation worse, so the new windows might not have trickle vents. But if you're getting new windows you should be chosing those that have them anyway

we've got cement render on the back of our mid-terrace, also cracked in a few places - i've taken solace in that speaking to anyone/everyone on the street, they've all got very similar stories about this kind of thing (as well as stuff like damp/rotten floor joists etc.)

Doesn't make it any cheaper to sort out, though, which is a shame :)

Fun day chez Brun.

Got up to no heating or hot water, F.75 fault on Vaillant boiler. No big deal, had similar a couple of years ago and topped up the pressure. Thought to keep an eye on it, being aware an immediate drop would indicate a proper problem. All seemed ok but then got a message from downstairs neighour wondering why water was dripping through their ceiling.

Location was obviously below my bathroom radiator, so pulled up floorboards in the hall and reaching under the bathroom floor confirmed the leak. Got a man to come out who did a very efficent job of disconnecting the leaky bit from the system and leaving me with heat minus one bathroom rad.

I can cope with this for now, but fixing it properly presents a bit of a dilemma. Getting at the actual problem isn't possible without lifting the tiled bathroom floor, and unless the rather large tiles come up in one piece (obviously not gonna happen) I expect that would leave the whole thing needing retiling.

He alternatively suggested the pipes could come through the floor in the hallway and then go through the wall, but that will presumably look very shit.

I'm wondering if an electric bathroom radiator would be the best solution. Anyone have any experience of them? Would appear much less hassle to install, and I also like the idea of having one radiator I could use for occasionally drying shit during the six months of the year when the CH is off. Bonus if one could be connected directly to Hive.

If I wanted to put in some trickle vents and new window sealing on my shitty old windows

This baffles me!
Please could you cut a slot through my window?
Please could you make my window less draughty?

There's very few trickle vents that actually seal well when closed.
All my trickle vents are filled, taped over and the useless flappy bits refitted.
They don't offer much/any ventilation unless there's a wind blowing.
Open the window properly for a few minutes rather than a constant chill when it's really windy.

Yes. Electric bathroom radiators / towel rails are good.

just came here to vent (again)
just been informed that our vendor is going to put the property back on the rental market in January unless we exchange pronto.
The reason we haven't exchanged? Our solicitor has continually failed to pass on requests for information or documents that we know they have been sent (confirmed by agent, vendor and their solicitor) and a long list of excuses of a similar level to "the dog ate my homework"

it's rescuable, either by a rocket up their arse or as suggested by the agent of switching solicitor (they have one in the wings waiting) to the same firm as vendor but a different branch where both parties know the urgency and can review and communicate in days not weeks/months.

why am i having to post this FFS? i see it as 3 of us (seller/us/our buyer) all have bought a ticket to go to sunny uplands but the person who needs to drive the bus has not even found the ignition switch or engaged first gear.

Is £225 a rip-off for gutter cleaning?
Because the roof is high 2 people are required for ladder safety.
Sounds like a lot to me for putting up a ladder and filling a few buckets.
3-bed semi in North London.

Quote frombensgutters.com/

No dudes with a big vacuum attachment?

They have one yes - access is tough over conservatory

I wouldn’t be too fussed paying £225 for all our gutters to be cleaned as I don’t own a ladder, I don’t like heights and it doesn’t seem ott compared to other trade’s rates.

I remember being quoted £300+ for my 4 bed semi down in Hampshire. So £225 seems fair.

Woah woah dudes, we paid £70 for our 2 story, 3 bed terrace gutters last month, cleared by 2 guys for a relatively high terrace property (11m) SE London. It’ll be a bit more other side of the river, but they’re taking you for a cake walk.

At £225 I’d rather buy a very posh brand new ladder for myself to keep, buy a nice pub lunch for myself and buy a nice pub lunch for a mate’s time to just hold the ladder base whilst I pull crap out the gutters from what would only be a 30-45 mins job.

Tip - ask your neighbours who they use for normal window cleaning and just get them to do it for you for a bit extra, rather than calling out “specialists”, specifically .