Owning your own home

Ta!

Thanks; any specific ~30KW model to look out for? Would like to be able to comfortably have the heating on (3-bed, 8 rads, single bathroom) and do the washing up whilst someone showers.

It’s a Vaillant ecoFIT pure 830 which was the recommendation from the plumber for a three-bed (two reasonable, one tiny) detached house built in the early 80s.

Gets good reviews from what I’ve seen too, it replaces a very aging Potterton Suprima which we knew would need to be swapped out at some point in the near future anyway.

Edit: just spotted your reply above…we’ve also got eight rads and one bathroom, in case that’s helpful.

Thanks!

How's the flow rate into a bath? Some reviews online say the flow rate is very low...

Waiting for the leak to be found and fixed before it’s fully operational, but the information suggests it’s twelve litres a minute which is what the plumber thought was suitable for us knowing the area.

Depends how much warranty you want and how much hot water.

Main is 5 years, 600 is 7 and 8 is 10 years and all are the same boiler. We've fitted maybe 200 at this point between them and are really haven't had many problems.

A combi will always have a reduced rate and have to throttle it back to get hotter 12l/m at the above which is plenty. If you want to let it rip and want tons of HW stick in a Platinum 40 for 4 odd litres extra a min but you'll pay extra for it.

Thank you.

I was actually looking at a Platinum 40+, this is the top candidate right now.

The platinum is a old design but its a great boiler, imo the best baxi might have ever made. Its a duotec and they changed the name because they brought the new ones out. My only issue with them is they are heavy as fuck like a worcester expect very reliable.

Getting money for a refurb job at remortgage time, how easy is it? Do you need to supply quotes/etc upfront or do they take your word for it that the money will be going on the refurb?

Looking for 40-50k to update the internals* (including a decidedly non-40k new kitchen) of a 3-bed first floor London flat.

Should be fine on the affordability side. LTV would remain below 35%.

* Rewire - inc networking - which begets new carpets and an excuse for a complete redecoration, plus most of a new kitchen - nothing fancy. Some general carpentry to sort out storage. New shower and cubicle (easier than cleaning it I suppose).

Nothing majorly structural, just adding an extractor fan in the bathroom (forgot to spec this last time round), maybe putting in underfloor heating in the toilet as it has nothing at all at the moment, and sorting out the slope/fall of the waste pipe from the kitchen as that goes through a wall pretty much horizontal.

The rewire is the fundamental thing, but doing that means a redecoration and may as well redo the carpets if they're all going to have to come up (some desperately need replacing anyway). The rewire of the kitchen will almost certainly mean pulling the existing kitchen out, so that can be added to the list too - definitely not 40k kitchen territory.

Heating is fine, Combi boiler was replaced 3 years ago and is running well with annual services. Existing radiators are good. That's the only other thing that it would be sensible to think of whilst the floor is up. Might consider radiator boxes but that can wait as they're not urgent.

Also, whilst we have access, can add some underfloor noise dampening to keep the noise down from the flat below. (It's a converted Edwardian house so noise separation isn't great.)

Everything else (e.g. some non-double glazed sash windows in one room) can wait until there's cash in the kitty as it's not triggered by the destruction of the rewire.

When I did this a few years ago I said I needed to borrow extra for a loft conversion and that was all that was involved.

It's just an affordability thing - they could give a fuck what you use it for.

If you ask a broker, weirdly they will tell you that this is not always the case. Mainstream lenders seem to think the risk is different for different loan purposes. Borrowing to invest / consolidate debts / buy another property are seen as red flags.

We bullshitted the bank to free up funds when the kids were young and we were in a bit of a fix. Gave them a fictitious list of improvements and costs and that was that.

Same for me (giving bullshit) and the key phrase was "plus contingency" apparently. Only problems might arise if they loan on the condition that work is completed.
Which happened to my sister's Sister-in-Law.

Sure - sorry, I meant more that you just say renovation and leave it at that. If you say you want to borrow £50k because you've seen a cool NFT, they will have a different outcome :D

ah gotcha. yep - "I need £50k to fund my gambling habit for a few months" is not going to have a positive outcome :-D

Only problems might arise if they loan on the condition that work is completed.

Ha. This is genuine refurb work (plus contingency).

Definitely not a 40k kitchen NFT plus 10k on Manky Dobbin in the 4.30pm at Newmarket.

Definitely not a 40k kitchen NFT plus 10k on Manky Dobbin in the 4.30pm at Newmarket

Disappointing but it means you'll be fine; especially with the low LTV.

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Not buying a flat again in a hurry.

October, my shit cowboy builder fucks up and causes the hall light to trip. I am Flat 3 first floor.

Flat 2 on the ground floor's sani flo / macerator thing lost power as a result and overflowed, causing a leak into Flat 1 in basement flat. Emergency plumber came out that night to fix it.

Basement flat has said > there was over £15,000 of damage to my flat, with replacement of the ceiling, carpet and furniture from the soiled water escape.

Feel so bad for the basement flat. The basement flat has then asked Flat 2 for £1,277 or £1,627 (if the money she gets doesn't cover the £350 excess) for excess heating to dry it out/ cost of cat in the cattery and some other stuff such as basement flat increased contents insurance premium.

Just a massive shitshow, that is hard to pin on my builder (see pic of the flooring sealant in the hall light and water leak from doing his own plumbing). Hopefully the £1,277 or £1,627 can be paid by the insurer. Whole building loses through increased buildings insurance.

My builder gets away scot-free from it. On the subject of my builder, I didn't pay him the last 10% as he didn't finish and caused a lot of damage. I asked for £2k back to fix damage and get someone else to finish the job. No reply. Leaving it. He also hasn't paid the electrician who is holding my paperwork to ransom until the builder gets paid.

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This is an awful situation and this is perhaps not really the point, but is it normal for the toilet to overflow just because it's lost power? Would this happen if there was a general powercut too, or anything else tripped the fuses? If that's true that was surely an accident waiting to happen... I would put more of the blame on whoever designed the toilet rather than your builder (not that I'm defending him as clearly he's a terrible bastard anyway)

Yeah I'm wondering how fucking a communal hall light could result in an appliance in a flat being starved of power. What is going on there?

No defending the builder but your house should be on a different circuit and that tripping shouldn't trip the other flats power circuit so unless he's rewired the full flat it sounds like its a historic issue pre builder and possibly not his fault.

Maybe the theory is the thing that fucked the hall light also fucked the circuit in the flat. You've still got to ask why the sanitary thing was wired in such as way that a problem in the ceiling fucked it, and why when it is starved of power it doesn't fail safe, but there we go.

Ill tell you why because they saniflows are absolutely pish and break all the time.