Owning your own home

£2-3.5k but depends on all sorts of factors.

doesn't seem outrageous to me.

scaffolding and roof repairs are expensive in London's famous...

Does he reckon it’s 2.5 days work for two people + materials?

Feels a touch spendy but then what’s the damage that’s being fixed? If there’s a lot to do it might be reasonable. His local whatsapp group or equivalent could yield some good recommendations, get more quotes if poss

How much does your dad think it should cost?
He should reflect on that presumed amount and compare it the quoted amount, and maybe look further into other quotes/material costs if he feels their one is too high

Roof cleaning: is using one of those people with a long reach pressure washer a terrible idea?

Yes

Really long shot - has anyone managed to sell a house in Hounslow recently?!

https://www.hounslow.gov.uk/info/20055/building_control

We are currently unable to provide searches for dates after 3 May 2024 due to an issue with our system.

Someone in our chain can't get searches on a Hounlow propery because they're not able to provide the - it's stalled the exchange for months, without an end date available. I'm the link in the chain where I'd have to ditch my (Hounslow) buyer to remove the issue, but I have no idea if there will be resolution in a week or another three months so can't make an informed decision as to whether to do so.

I can't believe it's not been possible to sell a house in a London borough since May, there must be a way through it.

Good chance someone here's gone through it, so they may be able to say more but: after the Hackney cyber attack (which stopped them from running searches), I believe people got some form of indemnity insurance. This went on for months (years?) so it's certainly possible to buy/sell without a search being complete.

edit Just checked - they're still not able to do some searches! Bonkers.

Yep I'd have thought indemnity cover would suffice.

The guy who is buyingthe Hounslow house has been informed that 'indemnities aren't worth the paper they're printed on'. I'm not sure whether that's true, but there's likely little scope to change his mind on it.

I actually don't know what the contents of a building control search is - are they likely to be any significant in the worse case?

Then what's better? Ladder and a brush? That's straying dangerously close to 'not paying someone for something I could, technically, do myself, but actually never will'. Some guy we had round was talking about scaffolding, but that seems excessive for a 2 storey house.

I just had a positive, engaging 40 minute conversation with my neighbour. Chuffed, albeit a touch confused. I basically just said I'm having a serious issue, coming towards being uninhabitable (water in every time it rains), and that I'm not asking for anything at the moment (i.e. access) but I am needing to get it repaired. Showed an album of photos/videos.

He told me the wall was re-rendered in 1981. And that it was rendered before that. I didn't say we are looking at getting it re-rendered overtly, but did say it has a shelf life and I've spoken to renderers - so he must have been thinking it. He didn't use any words like aghast this time. I was expecting him to say you are not re-rendering that wall.

Gave me tips on building control if replacing greater than a % of render you need to insulate, told me about rendering at the back of his house, and told me about lead work under his coping stones.

Hoping I can just pop round with a proposal when I have one, and hopefully doesn't involve scaffolding going up and down more than once (though it may well do). His drive will be out of action and it could be messy but workable.

Have you not got copies of your searches when you bought the house? Could be a half way solution

Sounds promising. If you can get that sorted you can get anything sorted. Keep at it!

It's not my house - it's someone else in the chain. Worth floating though - thanks

I think the other theory is you're better not to clean it. If you clean off the muck then it leaves gaps which leak.

Edit: mentioned above

It involves removing the existing slates, laying a cement bed plus some brick works and relaying slates - probably at least 2 days work for 2 people but I am only guessing? He's not on any whatsapp groups or neighbourhood social media things unfortunately.

Thanks @ChasnotRobert and @Dugtheslug for input too

I’m after recommendations for outdoor lighting. I’ve done a search as I’m sure this has been covered, but haven’t turned up as much as I was hoping.

So, I’m after some wall mounted lights like the attached pic. Probably in black rather that’s silver, but could be swayed. It’s to go on Victorian red brick and in my head black would look better?

I also need to replace a couple of outdoor PIR security lights. Is that a case of whatever’s on offer at Screwfix? Or is there a good brand to go for.
Cheers

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https://www.lighting-direct.co.uk/outdoor/wall-lights.html?lyco_format=1720 Up and Down lights, they have them in black. I've always been happy with what I have got from them

Nice one, thanks

Why would you want lights shining upwards on your house? Looks shit and is bad for wildlife.

We have a covered area outside the entrance to the house (a sort of decking area at 1st floor level) and I’m thinking those lights would shine up to illuminate the underside of that to create quite a nice effect. Still pondering at this stage though

Ah that makes sense.
I am not into that one beam of light going up the facade,think it looks stupid. But indirect light is great. Would investigate if those beam things so a nice job of that, would think more diffused might be better.

Moss holding my roof together? Sounds about right. Just going to brush the single storey bits and get a guy to clean the gutters. Quite a few plants growing up there.