Owning your own home

Ours is 80 wool 20 synthetic and the critters still enjoy it.

Well, we’re getting about 50sqm mid range wool carpet with premio underlay (and stairs) fitted for £3.5k from Tapi in Nov 2024, so it sounds about right. Considering that I don’t move in circles where I, my wider family or contacts know, or care, how to fit carpets, it seems fine.

We also have moths, although I think we're slowly winning the battle. I've squished the odd larvae and using traps to keep an eye on numbers.

I was worried it was our underfloor wool insulation but I'm more convinced it's the carpet or underlay.

That's not bad, £45/m² for the carpet and £12/m² for underlay. Fitting is effectively free.

I'm cheap and would probably have stopped at £30/m² for carpet but I think of it as consumable.

Perhaps it is me being a cheapskate but I think 45 a metre is incredibly expensive. Mine was 16.99 a sq m and feel like a million dollars. Even though it was 16.99.

I’m torn, I tbh.

I can understand not wanting to jeopardise the sale of one’s own house. At our last place, our neighbours were ignorant cunts who played shit music on their balcony all day, but I didn’t mention it at any point when we were selling.

On carpets specifically, this is my take as well!

I want a motion sensor outdoor light to go by the front door, to help with finding the keyhole in the dark and provide a little more security / reassurance for my wife.

We have previously had solar ones which aren't great, and have broken. There appear to be a handful of rechargable options available but they also look poor quality.

I had an electrician coming round so asked them to take a look.

There's no existing wiring in particularly useful places, so the best way to do it without a tonne of redecorating inside is apparently to run the cable outside from my lounge, and then a long and up a stretch of external wall. This has to be protected, so that would be in galvanized conduit. I think I'd be ok with the sort of industrial look.

But then he said that means I need a light that's built to accept conduit from below (20mm opening), rather than rear entry with the cable going straight through the wall. Only problem is there don't seem to be any of the former available. Any ideas?

Would it be possible to connect from a ground floor ceiling light fitting located in the floor of a bedroom upstairs accessed via the bedroom floor? If you have floor boards it's very easy to do and then just thread the wire through to where it's needed eg the storm porch.

Mr Beams do really good battery powered lights. Obviously they use batteries, which do run out, which can be a faff. But, I had a similar issue with no existing wiring and got a Mr Beams light probs changed the battery twice a year ~£10 total. Less faff and you get what you need.

They aren't that cheap, but they do work. Get one and be done and don't bother with running cables all over the place.

I’ve just had a few of these put in at our place. I wanted wired so I can control them through Home Assistant and wasn’t too bothered about hiding the wire.

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I recently got one of these. It's battery powered and takes C batteries which is uncommon but it fits the bill- motion sensitive but only at night. We've got a little storm porch so it's tucked inside.
Auraglow Stainless Steel Outdoor Battery Powered Wireless LED PIR Motion Sensor Security Wall Light IP44, Cool White Cylinder Sconce for Porch, Garage, Drive and Garden https://amzn.eu/d/itdeKtM

+1 for Mr Beams.

Maybe have a solid sesh scrolling though tlc https://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Main_Index/Lighting_External_Index/New_External_Wall_Lighting_Index/index.html

Is there a regs reason you can't drill the bottom and put a grommet of some sort?

Looking at this, I'd have thought you could drill a neat hole with one of those armoured cable lock nut grommet things.

2 flat share of freehold property. The other flat is selling up. As the joint freeholder I'm being asked by the seller's solicitor (on behalf of the buyer's solicitor) if I/we the landlord charge a fee for receipting the Notice of Transfer.

I'm guessing the answer is no in this case but it's made me think that if there is a charge should I be doing something with this document when received?

No, it’s entirely up to you whether to acknowledge and return or not. 9/10 times the recipient doesn’t bother (at least in the context of security notices served on large corporate tenants, but the principle is the same).

So it's just information and the only thing I would potentially do is acknowledge receipt?

That’s right. The only reason it’s being served on you is likely due to a requirement in the lease for that to happen on an assignment.

Yeh it’ll be exactly this. A relic. @damitamit

Thanks, that's super helpful!

blaming carpets when kids are the real issue. love the carpeted rooms at ours

This reminds me of when I owned a flat the managing agent, who was an utter corrupt cunt, used to charge £150 plus the vodka and tonic to receive an email and update a spreadsheet he held when you remortgaged to note who your mortgage lender was.

I get that they had to know for a whole host of Reasons but to charge that sort of money was an utter joke.

Thanks all on light chat.

I'm not sure if it's regs or not but the electrician says they insist on conduit for outside wiring, so @TTM 's neat solution wouldn't work. But the light looks like it could accept conduit from below, what model/make please?

Battery lights suggested do seem like a much simpler option, albeit perhaps not the most aesthetic

Will ask the sparky about willingness to drill a hole in a light intended for rear cable entry, good tip

LAP lights from Screwfix

https://www.screwfix.com/p/lap-bronx-outdoor-adjustable-wall-light-black/4069r?ref=SFAppShare

They seem well made and offer models with PIR.

Pretty sure armoured cable is also allowed.

More awkward to install for sure but in my industrial experience a better bet than most plastic conduits.

Yep, the electrician who installed those didn’t specify the need for conduit