Owning your own home

We were having the whole roof re-battened, felted and tiled anyway so it didn't change the overall cost by a big %, but even when the roofer was up there quoting, they had no real clue until the felt was off. Lesson being, assume a full replacement and be pleasantly surprised with the bits that need less work.

Another slightly related question. I'd sworn off old houses but it's the only one we've seen that seems to fit the bill in every other way. It's 1920s which I think means it should have a cavity wall. Are houses of this age less fussy about breathability than solid wall construction/Victorian? I'm thinking if we need to skim, or replace render, can it be gypsum/cement without a huge risk of causing issues?

I don't think it's had cavity wall insulation, but are there any other pitfalls to consider in terms of causes of damp?

This is the facade if it says anything.

1 Attachment

I don't think you can assume 1920s means cavity insulation, ours is 1925 and solid wall.

My 1930 house is solid wall. I'd assume anything is solid wall until there is something specific that suggests otherwise.

but are there any other pitfalls to consider in terms of causes of damp?

The full-render? 😬

All of the other houses on the street are a similar style, and have stretcher bond walls (where they are not rendered down to the ground) - that suggests most likely cavity.

The render can be covering up all sorts of problems though.

A look at the brick bond if exposed will tell you, if you see the end of the brick between stretchers then it’s solid and will be 9in or thereabouts when you look at the depth of the wall in the window reveals.
If you see whole bricks then there is likely a cavity plus the walls will be thicker.

Pretty standard for the street, and the area, virtually all the post-war houses here are full render

Nice one, lining up a 2nd viewing so will try and see

Update: the house is probably 50s, found a map without it on from 1952... Never rely on an estate agents copy for facts! Pretty sure it has a cavity walls.

relatively minor point; it looks like the whole of the front roof of that house and the neighbours runs into a single gutter run which has a downpipe on "your" side.

it's highly likely that this will exceed capacity in heavy rain and result in spillage out of the left hand corner.

Could be, next door has the original hipped roof, I suspect there's probably a downpipe on the side but I'll check it out next time I'm passing.

I've had this thread on ignore since our sale has been in progress as I couldn't face reading anything about houses whilst it was going on.

Finally completed today and feeling pretty great, such a relief to have it all sorted. Now the search starts for place to buy in lyon, I'm hoping house buying is not such a wild west shit pit in France.

Also, we used Heather Harry at setfords for the convayencing and she was bloody brilliant, always on it pushing things forward and great at explaining everything. Can't recommend her enough.

Congratulations that man.

I remember when I was buying, the sound of Kirstie Allsop's voice was enough to send me into a homicidal rage.

My new roof is leaking and despite a 25y guarantee, the roofer isn't responding. This seems legally enforceable but how would I do this? Or do I phone my insurance?

There's 3 small GRP flat roofs on different levels on our new house. At least 2 of them have been leaking, it seems for a while. I've patched some small holes temporarily but water is still coming inside. I'm not an expert but the roofs probably need an extra coat of GRP.

It was the contractor who appointed the roofer but the guarantee is on my address so he's putting it on me to get the roofer to come back. In the end it's likely the contractor's responsibility (I paid him for a waterproof house) but I like him / he's very helpful / I need other things from him so I'm ok with chasing up this roofer, for now.

After many calls / emails / messages, the roofer did respond to a whatsapp message when I mentioned 'legal action' but has since gone silent again. The longer this waits, the more damage it does. How do I get him to come and do this properly? Or do I get another roofer and if so where do I get the money from: insurance, small claims against the roofer? Or do I just put it on my contractor?

1 Attachment

These style warrantys are worth the paper they are wrote on sadly, if he knows your gonna do that they will fold and just start up under another name sadly.

Ha, I wasn't too bad when we were buying but selling has been horrible. All I could see in the house were all things wrong and I was just waiting for it all to go wrong. Once their survey can back fine I started to chill and most of it went when we exchanged.

Just the fact that we're out of the country was making the thought of having to start the sale process again a full on terrifying prospect.

I would contact your insurance and see what they say.

Then gather evidence/documentation on the warranty and put this back on the roofer and remind him of the warranty. If you can be bothered you might be able to get some legal blurb from citizens advice or similar around how to ensure that warranties are adhered to.

Generally my experience has been more positive when the relationship is amicable with trades so I guess you might want to tread lightly first.

You could always ask the roofer and/or contractor to pop round for a quick look, keep it informal and then remind him of the warranty whilst they are there.

Good luck either way, leaks are shit.

Locked in 4.93% on a 2 yr fixed today. Hopefully HSBC will reprice downwards between now and the end of March but it’s a good rate considering where things were recently.

Question is whether locking in for 5 is something to consider. Any consensus on long term rate changes?

I locked at 3.8% for 5 years back in August based on what we knew then.
The days of ultra low interest are behind us but I read may edge down over the next few years but not by a much.

In the end it's likely the contractor's responsibility

small claims against the roofer

These two aren't really compatible - the roofer could just have the claim struck out, as there is no contract between you and him.

Any claim is with the contractor (whom you might like, but is mugging you off).

If the roofer is an independent subcontractor then they are liable iirc

Wouldn't say so, inflation is expected to drop to sub 3% next year and 2% in 2025 with sub 1% growth this year and year after.

FWIW I fixed at 4.49% this summer for 2 years for peace of mind eventhough I expected the rates to fall.

It's a supply side inflation, rate rises just makes peeps choose between eating/heating or other essentials while prioritising their finances tied to rising rates.

They're liable, sure.

If their contract is with the the builder, though, that's the person that has the claim.

The householder's claim is against the builder that they paid to do the job (if I'm reading it correctly), that then appointed the roofer as a subcontractor.

It all depends who paid whom, and for what, as to who makes the claim.

Has anyone got a recommendation for a mortgage broker?

For the past few renewals, I've pretty much just phoned up ours (a recommendation from here actually) and my renewal / change has been taken care of. But he's recently retired and I'd like something similar again!