Owning your own home

Bought a house in June, had cavity wall insulation fitted end of summer. December-ish we started noticing a few very localised damp spots on the inside of the front elevation (facing prevailing wind). They get noticeably worse in heavy rain.
Had a local company do a fairly simple damp survey (£115). Their conclusion is a couple of dirty wall ties need dealing with and use a high quality masonry water repellent cream (1280+VAT).

Any thoughts on water repellent creams and how effective they are?

Had another quote (Alpine Surveys) for a damp survey at £350+VAT but this one seems much more comprehensive from what they’ve said they’ll do. Considering it as a second opinion.

Anyone got any comparable prices for damp surveys?

This sounds like the standard snakeoil salesman technique to me. We have a cream for what ails you!

That’s what I thought initially, then looked into it and it’s this kind of stuff which doesn’t seem too bad from reviews.

https://www.wickes.co.uk/Stormdry-Masonry-Water-Repellent---3L/p/133883

Loved going to a couple of houses one hour inland from almeria friends of ours had bought in the seventies when I was a kid.

But isn't it just dry and hot there and only getting worse?

I've got someone coming to repoint the back of my house in spring (he's done quite a bit of work for me and whilst a little clumsy/messy definitely not a snake oil salesman) he's recommended applying this as a boots and braces type thing (north facing wall).

There seem to be a lot of reasons why it's such a low price. If you don't have the building skills to achieve it yourself it makes it difficult to strike a balance with someone who does.

My main concerns would be the integrity of the slope it's built on and it's connection to other buildings in the proximity.

In the past when I've found somewhere to dream about doing up there have always been some big reasons why the property isn't really cheap.

That part of the coast is very nice though and the view would be lovely when it's all completed. I'd want to know roughly how much you would have to spend before you can sit on that balcony because even if it's mostly plaster and paint I'd expect some land/rights/access issues there.

What kind of walls did you have, and insulation did you get?

Thought we'd enquire about the cost of stripping a 6x4m lounge plus small hallway, stairs and landing of wallpaper, prepping and skim/re-plaster to give us a fresh start to the place...c.£3,750. Oof.

I must be jaded by price increases lately - that didn't seem too bad to me!

We spent a couple of months stripping all the wallpaper out our house to get it replastered. Found the effort required hugely variable- some almost fell off by itself, some seemed to be epoxied on and was scraped off millimeter by millimeter.

Would be tempted to try taking a small section off then see how you feel about the quote. Imagine there's a lot of contingency in it. For context, our plastering cost c. £3k for mebbie 7 rooms.

Yeah, the road it is on is not on street view and the owner wasn't exactly fulsome in his reply when I ask about access although that could be for a number of reasons. There are nice houses on that street though. There would be a lovely view and, at the same time, you'd still be close to the town's amenities, such as they are. The walls look thin for an area in which traditionally walls are incredibly thick; and the roof that is visible looks like corrugated metal/asbestos. I just like dreaming. I would do my share of the onsite labour-time and pull my weight in other ways (spanish/local knowledge/admin). @c.h.e. southern europe is said to be destined to being uninhabitable in the near future cos of climate change. I probably would avoid in july-august.

The quote's itemised nicely...it's down as two people for 3x days for the stripping at £900, so that's c.£2,650 for the plastering bit including prep. and tidy.

Maybe it is a reasonable price overall, just wasn't quite what we were expecting having guessed it would come in at around £2,500 including the smoothing of ceilings (which would be another £1,000 on top). Turns out we were half right... :-)

Will be giving the removal a go this weekend to see if it's horrific.

Fuckin hell, I must get into that game. More money in that than gas rn.

Neighbours doing a loft extension so we've received all sorts of letters from prospective surveyors for the party wall etc... What do we actually need to do / ask in this situation if we're happy for them to get the loft done?

Anyone had condensation issues on modern alu window frames? Need to decide soon and was interested in real life experience, apparently the thermal bridge is effective but I don't trust anyone in sales.

Until they serve you with a letter, nothing. Whatever they do present to you should explain the process.

I'd say, as a minimum, you want to request that they have a joint surveyor do a party wall survey. It's the sensible option to cover yourselves but also keeping the cost down for your neighbour.

Beyond saying 1950’s cavity wall I’m not sure what the wall type is. The insulation is from Instabead.

Thanks that’s interesting to know. Good to hear a friendly recommendation rather than just sales talk.

There's a big variation between frame profiles and some are going to be better than others. I'd avoid the likes of the 88 Aluclip, as that's just a nice UPVC window with a trim stuck on. I'd be buying aluminium windows for the strength and rigidity of aluminium.

This lists a few profiles.
https://www.archiexpo.com/architecture-design-manufacturer/aluminum-window-profile-23777.html

Like any window or door attention to detail when building the frames and fitting is probably more important than the actual profile!

I’m on the other side of this.
At some point you’ll have 4 options to choose from, I’ll paraphrase…

1. Yeah no worries go nuts
   
2. No issues, but let’s be sensible.
   
3. I don’t trust you.
   
4. I don’t trust you or any professional you hire.
   
   

Fwiw I’d recommend option 2 as it helps protect both parties. We signed option 1 with our neighbour which was prob a little careless although there were no issues. I have a problematic neighbour who goes for option 4 every time.

I waited for our Catford neighbours to get in touch and then their builder stuck a load of steel in the party wall, built something that was nothing at all like the plans and fucked off. I’ve still not heard anything. I suggest being proactive.

Agree with the above. When I had my loft done the steels, which involved the party walls, were done on the very first day

Plans and party wall are two different things as far as I am aware.

The kind of person that doesn’t serve one is unlikely to follow the other, don’t rely on people to do the Right Thing in LFL.