Home DIY

Link to the listing?

In 2021 they installed underfloor insulation so imagine it's going to be tricky to get at?

Is the ground floor suspended? If so there should be a hatch somewhere you can look at the wall below floor level and see if there's the DPC layer. Injected DPC is impossible to check on, you have to trust that it was done right. None of the damp looks too bad and if you're not in a hurry you can spend some time working out what's causing it.

I thought it was just going to be a touch up job on the cracks and bits

The problem is if water has got behind and blown the mortar, same with the plaster behind the wallpaper inside. That bubbling wallpaper is on the chimney breast so likely an issue with the roof where the stack was removed.

How are the electrics in the house? Did you notice what kind of sockets they're using and how many per room? Doing a rewire would be the biggest job, but does tie in with redecorating everything.

Also, what do the neighbours houses look like? Are they all rendered? Can you find any sale listings for any?

Chimneys aren't structural, I can recommend a good sledge hammer.

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Exactly a mile uphill from me. I used to live up on Grange Road for 5 years so know the area well. Nice and close to Grangewood Park and I still take my daughter to Rugby Tots up at All Saints at the top of Grange Road. Will be a quiet street for traffic obvs, but there will be footfall cutting through from the park heading down to TH. You're probably just at the limit of where parking gets a bit of a free for all on match days.

I hope this is sarcasm? 🙃

Only way to find out is to get hammering

Heh - didn't mean to put the wind up you - sorry!

A lot of damp I'm old houses is not necessarily because they are old, but because over 100 years, people have done stuff to them without consideration for the appropriate materials.

That spray on acrylic render, for example, is quick, cheap and easy, but fails all the time, smd cannot be repaired properly. Failed impermeable render on a solid wall house is just as good as holding a permanent bucket of water against it.

The floor insulation could be a source of damp - if there is crap underneath the floor that breaches the DPC layer, that's a problem. Lifting and looking is the only real way to know.

When you say the DPC was done in 82 - is that the injection stuff? In which case, it doesn't really matter - it's still a bit rubbish.

I'd want to know what's going on at ground level in the adjoining ground at the front and back - is it built up, is it concreted, is there drainage, are there air bricks etc...

Also, are there any drains that might be cracked.

I was on cypress road about 500m to the east for many years about 12 years ago. I loved that flat. Great area.

on the bastead damp thing I remember being in a small carpeted living room with a coal fire - the pull through would lift the carpet in small bubbles, like whackamole , unfortunately that heat can only be generated by burning stuff #oldmadthread

I just starred a strava segment up there.

Trying to find things to look forward to and motivate myself to ride a little more, so easy to spend all evening every evening trying to research things at the minute

It's all good, useful to know.

Booking in a damp survey for next week and electricians hopefully this weekend so should get a better idea soon of what's required and then costing

Don’t let the damp survey folks scare you - what is needed is likely to be remedial as per @TW and unlikely to be having tanking injected into random walls, which is what plenty will try and sell you on. Fix causes not symptoms.

If it gets any colder keep an eye on it, people used to snowboard down that road.

Yeah that.
@HeyHey Every bit of damp we’ve had in our places has been nothing to do with the DPC. They have always been leaking something, something piled against a wall be that soil/render/plaster or poor ventilation. Ventilation has always been the key to sorting it out.
You’ll be fine, it just takes time to suss out where it’s really coming from.
Good luck, not that you’ll need it.

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Cooker is on its own 30a circuit and the meter looks to be a modern smart setup.

I'd stick in a new dis. Board for the added safety of rccbs and let the spark tell you if there are any significant issues when they test the circuits afterwards.

The most obvious problem with the consumer unit is the lid can no longer be fitted because of the larger modern breakers that have been fitted. It looks like a new earth will be needed from the gas/water entry point to the CU.

A wiring insulation resistance test would reveal wiring condition. If you don't have any shared neutrals between circuits and the wiring is in good condition a replacement CU might be enough.

It's not like there aren't houses all over the country running similar setups to that without a problem but you might want rcd protection for sockets etc.

Interesting, thanks.

Got a spark coming Friday for just a visual and some quotes but will then probably proceed with an EICR.

I want to replace two outside doors for our brick shed.

Is there anything special I am looking for, or need to consider?

You should consider building your own, I read somewhere that it's completely straightforward.

Really shit basic decorating question. If painting something like a frame, mirror, or cabinet door, I will do it on some newspaper. The newspaper will then stick to it and be a real pain in the arse. Should I be using decorator's tape on the item being painted?

2 Attachments

Find something to raise the item in question so it's not in direct contact with the newspaper?

Good shout. On that second pic the mirror, I slotted newspaper in, painted it, bit harder there. Maybe remove it before it cures in that example?

Find something to raise the item in question so it's not in direct contact with the newspaper?

This. I bought a bunch of painter's triangles/pyramids for cheap but anything will do.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Painters-Pyramid-Stands-10-Pack/dp/B003L2DDAI