Owning your own home

Just used blueairs app to get outdoor air quality, it’s “excellent”. Makes me feel we don’t need one?

If you live on/near a main road I'd absolutely get one. Make sure you get one with a carbon filter and consider the recurring cost of new carbon filters.

Nah, but opposite a water treatment plant which I thought may effect things.

Anyone got any thoughts on this?

I took the photo yesterday evening after there had been some rain. As you can see the parapet of the house prevented the ground closest to the wall getting wet.

However, as you can also see the bricks are wet in this section. These bricks always stay slightly dark wet looking to some degree.

My thought is that maybe water is seaping down our neighbours shit rear extension and then somehow water is running along the dpm and exiting here.

I'm not too fussed or going to do anything about it, but now I've thought about it properly, my brain has locked on.

1 Attachment

The air quality can change from day to day though. The blueair app is pretty good for that actually. Also, they're pretty good for when you're cooking as they get rid of any smoke/smells much quicker I've found.

Looks like the DPM doing it's job

Is that not a slate course that all the water is below? I.e doing what it should?

This^

As I said I'm not worried because it's under the dpm.

But where is the water coming from?

It's not from the flower bed because it's dry there.

To my inexpert eyes I would think that’s an internal leak probably from your neighbours plumbing above you.

homepathy

this thread

I’ve found modern recirculating kitchen extractors with multi-layer grease filters and activated carbon filters do a really good job of filtering the cooking grease and aromas, certainly much more effective than the useless recirc extractors from decades of yore.

My 'builder' didn't fit the charcoal filter on mine so I've been reflecting on how shit it is for the last year or so

What do people's cleaners do in a 2hr sesh?

Like we all have cleaners... 👀

Lol. What?

Mop floors, clean bathroom, clean kitchen, hoover

Can't get em to dust

Yeah, mostly that.

Last time we had a cleaner it was for 3 hours once a week for a 3 bed flat. Could be done in 2 hours but the extra hour was to do a deeper clean on each of the rooms in rotation.

I miss it because we were just more likely to keep our place in order to avoid the "pre-clean before the cleaner comes" panic.

We stopped it last time both of us weren't working full time (hard to justify otherwise) and then Covid/WFH meant we've never restarted. We've tried to find a cleaner a few times since but all of the ones recommended to us (from neighbours/friends) already have enough work on the days they are in the area.

My god the 'pre cleaner clean' really fucks me off

Spoke to my building's insurer. They said a claim due to the weather may be possible but is unlikely ('wind wasn't 50mph'), but that I may get some help via accidental damage.
First port of call is to get a builder out - I'll fund this - to diagnose it.

Neighbour (next door) won't be happy regardless, even if a builder leans a ladder against our wall if the base of the ladder is on his drive. This is my main concern at the moment - more than the leak itself. Will read up on what the law is regarding access for necessary maintenance.

In an ideal world, insurance company sort all of it inc liaising with neighbour, repair works and replastering / decorating bathroom.

1 Attachment

Obviously very easy for me to say, but my impression throughout this whole debacle has been "give less of a fuck what your annoying, unhelpful neighbour's feelings are and get the house you're living and stressing in fixed."

Look up the ‘Access to Neighbouring Land Act 1992’ which, and IAMNAL, should give you some weight in your step as it can result in a county court order enforcing access for you.

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1992/23/contents

We have 3 hours for a 3 bed house. Cleaning, mopping, hoovering, dusting, cleaning dishwasher/microwave/etc, changing bedding, empty bins.

Majority of time seems to be kitchen and bathroom.

Currently doing the pre-cleaner tidy up at the moment in fact. Place would be buried in children's toys without it.

thanks will check that out

Cheers all. Finally found someone who'll do 2hrs pw instead of the seemingly mandatory 4hrs.

Just done the pre-cleaner tidy. Last week was out first week and carnage with my OH away all week for work and taking on a new project. This week there's been two of us to do it the night before.

Making a neighbourly dispute like this official also means you'll have to declare it when you come to sell, which can put off prospective buyers. Agree that you might try to care less about what the bastard neighbour thinks anyway.