Owning your own home

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  • Boxing in is fine imo so long as there is access for servicing etc

    I'm just taking the function over form to a ridiculous degree and embracing the aesthetic that if it looks like a cupboard, it's a cupboard... and if it looks like a boiler, it's a boiler.

  • Yes, I remember their website listing installers in London last year but not this year.
    I emailed them and it took them a week to come back with talk to Boilerhut in Cardiff.

  • Edit: Maybe the wrong place for this.

  • I haven't made a decision yet. My old Vaillant broke down 2 days into lockdown, I called their
    service number to book a fixed price repair and they told me it's too old they don't repair it
    or stock parts.
    So I thought fuck it I get a Viessmann but they took ages to even reply to an email and then
    I didn't want a massive operation in the kitchen while we are stuck at home.
    Wasted 10 days trying to source a diaphragm for the Vaillant to try a repair myself, failed and
    got a plumber from down the road to sort it out. Now I am thinking of just getting a new Vaillant through him when this pandemic is over.

  • We got on well with them and they're friendly (and we often get gifted chapatis and Gujarati sweets)

    Don’t mess up a good thing.

  • You might spend a while making the pipes look pretty!

  • Sorry as going to come back to you yesterday...

    Opening them when it's hotter outside isn't recommended as I understand it.

    Sort of. Firstly, the temps you mention (eg 26 at night) sounds hotter than outside, generally. Secondly - yes sure if you are actively cooling the inside, then don't open the windows. Comfort isn't just temps though, it's a combination of temp, humidity and air movement. So increasing air flow can make it feel more comfortable even if it doesn't change temp.

    I don't have expertise on active cooling machines. Nor do I know much about reflective films, sorry. Taping paper on windows works, but you can't see out of them.

    If I was to suggest low energy approach - or what you might try while waiting for the active cooling thing to arrive:
    Day-time:

    1. Reduce as much solar gain as possible. Daylight is fine, it's sunlight you want to block out.
    2. Ventilation - In the morning, hopefully the inside is relatively cool, so as it hots up outside you might want to not let too much hot air in. But, once inside is hot too, try to encourage air-flow. One-sided ventilation only really works in a small room. It's much more effective to encourage cross-ventilation. So, you open both windows in your living room. Or open a window there, prop your doors open, open in furthest right bedroom and kitchen too.
      Your considerations there are going to be - where is the prevailing wind coming from? Where is the sun coming from? Ideally you want the incoming air to be coming from a shaded part of the building - this will change throughout the day, but it makes a difference. Note that air takes the easiest route, so you can get dead spots. Fans can help with that. South and West-facing windows are the most problematic.
    3. Convection/ stack effect - hot air will naturally try and get out at the top of the room. So try to open windows as high as you can for air to get out (no idea what your windows are like, but trad sash are great for this). This pulls air in from any openings/vents lower down (not good for toddlers) but could also be a consideration when trying to encourage cooler/shaded air in from one place and hot air out from another place. If you only have low down openings, the hot air in the room just stays there, stuck.
    4. Night-time - open everything up as much as you can and get through flow, try and get rid of that hot air and replace it with cooler. Assuming outside is cooler. At 4th floor you have the benefit of not so many moths/mosquitos/thieves coming in at night, and tend to have some air movement. But not much shade. Do you have any exposed thermal mass - like a concrete floor finish? Unlikely, but if so, cool that down at night as much as you can.
  • Thanks! This is pretty much what we've been doing for the last couple of years. If you cast your mind back to the summer of 2018 where we had weeks with highs in the 30s and it was very still, passive cooling strategies become ineffective. Our place lingered at the 29-30 degree mark inside, despite our efforts and fans and whatnot. IIRC 2019 wasn't quite so crazy but still a bit wild at times.

    10,000 BTU monoblock cooler on the way - I'm thinking of it as £600 of insurance. Hopefully won't have to use it that much.

  • Is the fence yours of theirs?

  • He recommended that if I'm looking at that level of quality that I investigate Worcester Bosch as there were more installers, efficiency is nearly equivalent.

    I don't think reliability is anywhere near Vaillant though, although it's a while since I researched boilers. All the good installers seem to recommend Vaillant.

  • I'm not sure actually, that's a good point.

    If in the deeds it said it was theirs, presumably it's not even our decision to replace it, especially if there's nothing structually wrong with the one that's there.

    Maybe we just need a shit load of bamboo.

    We got some really nice pakoras passed over the fence not long after I posted that yesterday. I felt bad.

  • If you don't already, having a high screen for the first couple of metres next to the house really makes a difference. It doesn't have to be a fence. Say how excited you are to be growing your favourite plant and stick a 6' trellis up with something leafy. Ok it's not solid but it will give a little bit of privacy.

  • Something like a big sail shade, hung vertically as a wind break?

  • We got some really nice pakoras passed over the fence not long after I posted that yesterday. I felt bad.

    Don't - they are clearly fattening you up for a reason

  • Bit of trellis on top the fence (if yours) or on stakes your side. Will be still pretty open, but you can plant some trailing plants that will gradually give you move privacy and will be nice for everyone to look at. Or bamboo - but that easily gets out of hand.

  • You should have it in the searches your solicitor did. That would be my first port of call.

    Bamboo in planters would work well if the fence isn’t yours. If it is, then I’d put a fence up and just let them know, you’ve been doing work to the property so it shouldn’t come as a surprise. If they ask say it’s to lower you insurance premiums. We get on with our neighbours, they’re a lovely couple with kid + dog - we speak to them every so often but without a fence the garden wouldn’t be a relaxing place.

  • just remember that bamboo is one step removed from japanese knotweed.

    Approach with caution.

  • As long as you read about what you’re doing it should be fine. If you plant a load of running bamboos in the ground with no protection then you’re in trouble. If you go for clumping and plan in containers then should be fine for the above.

  • Thats pretty much bs, every installer has there preference. The years of shit boilers and one manufacturer being better than another is really over. They are all offering long warranty's on them now. Worcester as much as they win which are so over priced its unreal.

    The new Baxi stuff is pretty good, weissman's are decent as are valliant but they all have long warrantys now which you just pay for in the price of the boiler. Worcesters are the worst to work on from experience.

  • I asked this 2 weeks ago - but has no-one ever told their mortgage provider that they have a +1 living with them? The terms of my mortgage say that only I can live here, and I want to make it legit. I thought it would be a relatively common scenario.

  • Don't they only care if you're charing rent?

  • No it's something about the other person gaining rights to live there, so if I were to default on the mortgage, the bank have an agreement with me where they can repossess it, but they don't have an agreement with anyone else who might live there.

  • Can’t you just get a cohabitation agreement drawn up?

  • Although I’ve not heard of that from a lender only when someone is worried about their estate planning

  • I guess the bank would want something in writing saying the person won't exercise rights gained through living there. Just wondered if anyone else had done it really, assumed it was common.

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Owning your own home

Posted by Avatar for Hobo @Hobo

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