Owning your own home

our population would have to stop growing and actually significantly reduce. What are the chances?

If we keep setting fire to the planet, we won't need to worry about housing. I'll be dead before then though so I'm going to burn ALL THE FUEL NOW!

House prices will fall 25pc if interest rates keep surging, a leading think tank has warned, after higher borrowing costs triggered the biggest drop in wealth since the war.
The Resolution Foundation said rising interest rates had already wiped £2.1trn off British household wealth in the past year alone.
However, the think tank said that young adults could emerge better off as property will be more affordable and their pension savings will go further.
The report warns that Britain’s “unprecedented” wealth boom of the past 40 years is nearing an end, as higher interest rates trigger a surge in mortgage costs, falling house prices and a sell-off in government and corporate bonds. It also notes that Britain saw total household wealth rise from around 300pc of national income in the 1980s, to 840pc – or £17.5trn – by 2021.
It comes as data from Rightmove today reveals that asking prices in the South East dropped £5,000 in a month to an average of £490,386. Across the nation, asking prices fell by more than £900 on the month to an average of £371,907.

I never understand this. Young people can be better off...if they are willing to get loans at exorbitant interest rates? Isn't that even more difficult for the average person? I imagine it's much more common today for someone to be paying an affordable mortgage on an overpriced house than an overpriced mortgage on a decently priced house.

I never understand this. Young people can be better off...if they are willing to get loans at exorbitant interest rates? Isn't that even more difficult for the average person?

If wages are going to remain mostly static, on a long enough timeline nobody can buy a property regardless of the interest cost of the loan.

House prices dropping 25% benefits everyone medium to long term, and 6%+ interest rates won't last forever (I hope).

We have a drain under the downspout at the front of the house, it goes perpendicular from the house out towards the road. It takes the roof run off from me and my neighbour. It has always been slow draining but only ever a problem in massive downpours.

I got an extension for my Karcher K2 but could only get so far. Thinking mine was just weedy, I called in some pros, who then couldn't get any further either.

They came back out, lifted a slab, removed the U-bend and stuck a camera down and found a root mass.

They came back out with a picote milling machine and cleared the root mass, stuck the camera down again, only to find that the drain runs smack into a line of bricks, which were the old footings from the front yard wall. First thought was that whoever installed the old wall just cut through the drain. But we went and had a look at the next two identical houses (ours is in a run of four) and theirs just dumps the downspout onto the floor. So we now think the weird drain was a shit attempt at a soakaway or it was just put in for looks.

£1200 to clear a drain that goes nowhere. FML

Speaking of drains and soakaways and the like, we're looking at getting our front yard redone.

Options for drainage seem to be a bit of soil at the front for plants, some type of gravel trap or a covered over guttering .

We're thinking of going for the bit of soil and some plants (assuming the dimensions work out with fitting a bike shed in there) but wondering if one thing or the other is a better option? The builder didn't have a strong opinion either way.

You can get a discount on your water bill if they aren't taking away any rainwater though? Only fifteen years for you to get the £1,200 back.

Goes into the proper drains at the back of the house. Looking at maybe directing the front round to the back.

£1200 to clear a drain that goes nowhere

Paying someone money to be told you need to spend more is all I have experienced in home ownership. Hope you get it sorted!

Cheers, if anything, it will soak away 4m from the house instead of 2m now the root mass is gone. They are going to come back to me with suggestions.

25 percent would probs make stuff more affordable but it depends if the mental monies folk were pulling out there arse stops too which I cant see stopping.

I'm in a standard victorian terrace (although end of terrace) with a side return. It's a pretty useful spot for DIY, drying clothes, fixing bikes, pizza oven, etc in the summer but not too useful in the winter due to rain.

So, I'm thinking of some kind of retractable awning that I can wind out when necessary in the winter? Anyone got any recommendations or done anything similar. There seems to be a huge variation in prices for these things.

Also, is mounting such a thing to the side of the house wise or could it fuck some stuff up?

I would put a fixed timber frame with clear corrugated plastic over it to make a sort of conservatory roof. The frame could be this shape 📐 and sit on battons attached to the side wall. Only because a retractable awning will be more expensive and probably not look as nice as a fixed roof done with well selected materials and finish.

Just realised you said end of terrace … that changes things in terms of design. Would need a couple of vertical bits to hold it up or fix it with some chonky concrete bolts into the brick

Does it have a bed of rocks underneath? I think you call them French drains or something here but they're called something else in Oz. Basically run the water far enough away and the loose rocks instead of soil at the end contains water while it soaks away (I presume that's what you're assuming it was meant to be)

Could you make it one?

Yay, we now have a thermostat in the lounge in deg C instead of fuckoffancientbastardmeasurements deg F

Challenge here would be

• it not looking really shit
  
• easy to deploy, easy to wind back in
  
• surviving severe weather; think wind
  
• what happens to the water it catches when it rains
  
• preventing damp should leave it out for significant time in the winter
  
• achieving the weather protection you want
  
  

Most folks use these things in the summer as sunshade; I'd be surprised if one would offer enough weather protection to really increase the value of the space in inclement weather?

The sparky we had over suggested a wall-mounted heater install (where we previously removed a storage heater) that can be plugged into a normal socket and controlled by phone or whatever so remotely switched on. Anyone got any DO buy/DON'T buy comments on this kind of thing?

Also sounds like the 13 install of circuit breakers now needs a refresh to be up-to-spec - more RCDs or something so there's more moolah gone but safety first, eh kids?

Anyone have any experience with external wall insulation? We are in a 1930s mid terrace with solid walls with no cavities.

I suspect it’s not “worth” the money in terms of bill savings, but maybe the comfort is worth more than cash terms. Partner is concerned about potentially introducing damp issues.

I struggled to find anyone that would do it, and the prices were a bit bonkers.

The expectation with external insulation is, is I understand it, that the condensation envelope actually ends up outside the brickwork, so damp is less likely (certainly moreso than if insulating internally).

I dug in to it a bit, seemed more appealing than internal as you don't lose internal space. Less disruptive as you don't need to refinish everything either.

The trick would be finding someone you could trust to do it properly on an older property (or any property, for that matter). Suspect you'd also need planning of some sort. If we had a good excuse to do significant work to the house, I'd put some energy in to researching it more, as I can imagine just getting pointing re-done or rendering re-done would be painfully expensive too.

I thought about that as an option but it's the window I look out of whilst working so don't really want anything permanent blocking the view or the light.

@Howard that's about where I've got to. Most are described as showerproof but also suitable for year-round use so fuck knows. Not looking really shit when retracted is a concern but there isn't much useful stuff that I can find online.

Any recommendations for a home buying survey in/around SE6? Looked at Collier Stevens which was recommended on here previously.

And as a recommendation back, we got screwed over in our last house sale but our conveyncing insurance eventually came good these people

Anyone got experience of external wall insulation on 1960s houses?

Edit; just realised the conversation above has happened while I was waiting to find a free moment to post my own question.

A mate lives in a postwar terrace where the houses are made of concrete mixed with rubbish. So sort of solid non-cavity walls.

They had external insulation and render (I want to say 6mm insulation). They love it. Immediately noticeable difference. No damp.

When they did it, it was pretty inexpensive and what with the crazy engery prices would have paid it's way.

I’m gonna get some quotes but I expect it to be £10k+. I know there used to be grants but there don’t seem to be any right now. Maybe I should wait until some come back, it’s just annoying as I need to get some scaffold up to fix the gutters and I thought I could save a bit by doing 2 jobs!

@Cupcakes there’s a few houses locally with it who I plan to knock on the door and ask - maybe you can have a wonder round and see if you have a local too? At the very least it’ll give you an idea what it’ll look like