Owning your own home

I just think it has a bit of a way to go along the gentrification ladder than the other places mentioned, and I'm a wanker and want to have easy access to expensive coffee and even more expensive beer.

Can report now. We got this one because my folks got the same one 18 months ago, they bought theirs to replace a rangemaster that had finally died after 25 years of service Spare parts were still available for the old one when it died but it had become uneconomical to repair (it was going to cost more in parts and labour than a new unit).

My folks have the slow cooker one ours has a proving drawer but other than that they are identical. I have 2 very minor criticisms:

1. The door mounted roasting tray holder is shit as it doesn't hold a full size roasting tin so it's in the bin already.
   
2. The ovens can be a little aggressive, especially if you put a roasting tin Infront of the fan when using the fan forced oven (the fan assisted convection oven is better though).
   
   

If you are looking to buy any kind of range cooker I would highly recommend range cooker showroom in Pinner they are a small family run business, they deal directly with Rangemaster (as well as some of the more glam manufacturers like LaCanche) and units are manufactured to order, which isn't normally a problem. Unfortunately covid and our lovely, shiny and in no way whatsoever crippling blue passports mean the lead time is currently 5 months. When our old oven broke the lead time was 3 months; when we explained our situation to them they offered us a variety of ex display models with a full manufacturer guarentee, this may have caused more problems as it meant that my wife dithered for ~ a month before deciding that the spec wasn't right (even though some of the units had a very good discount) so we had to wait.

I do hear you, and it's clearly coming for a place of frustration, so I'm not going to respond with anything to make that worse.

I'm not sure if you've investigated it but I think you can instantiate S146 proceedings against a co-freeholder if they're not maintaining their end of the bargain, especially if ground rent is not being paid (assuming you have that), though I am not a lawyer.

Fair do's. Although boozers is one thing we're not short of there's 5 and a tap room all within 10 mins walk of my house (not that they're much use at the min), coffee is getting better but granted we've got a fair way to go before peak hummus/sourdough is a reality.

Yeah, love that little cut through! I think Leytonstone and Wanstead stations are both about 15 mins walk or so- which is certainly not far but I was previously about 100 metres from Blackhorse Road station so somewhat spoilt.

There's spare shelves in the garage too- our offer was conditional on the seller on throwing them all in with the purchase

Update I’ve dug out the trench at the front of the house (where damp is showing internally) to half way down the first course of bricks.
The red circle shows a load of brick and concrete (an old garden wall possibly?). It’s about 120mm or so above the level to which I have dug, shown in green.

1. Could this be contributing to the damp? If so do I need to try to remove it with a hammer and chisel?
   
2. Do I need to remove the parging? It’s not in good nick but I’m nervous about exposing the wall more and getting into a situation that rapidly gets out of hand. Can’t really afford a big bill at the moment.
   
3. My neighbour has recommended this Dryzone stuff. He’s planning to drill into his wall with a 12mm drill and inject it at various points. Is this likely to do any good in a solid wall?
   
   

Lots of questions but I’m out of my depth so open to more suggestions/advice. Thanks again to @TW for his thoughts a couple of days ago!

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My neighbour has recommended this Dryzone stuff.

Is he a snake oil salesman? Damp proofing creams like that do very little and the people who sell it for a living usually will recommend that you put specialist plasters up inside (normally closely related to cementicious render). Don't get me wrong there are times where these products can be useful but it is normally a lot less often (by factors of 10s if not 100s) than is suggested by the salesmen. As far as dpcs go @TW is right and a house the age of yours will almost certainly have a bitumen based dpc (it will show as a black line of mortar in-between 2 courses of bricks) which is easy to spot and in some ways superior to a plastic membrane as will tolerate more settlement of the building.

To my mind you should do the following next:

1. Leave the trench as is but try to find the dpc if you have to scrape the parging away so be it looks like it needs repairing fairly soon.
   
2. Take off the damp plaster - it will need replacing anyway you should be able to do this yourself.
   
3. Leave it to see if it dries out after this, it should be noticeable if you can get a de-humidifier and run it in the room it should help
   
4. While it is drying keep an eye out for cracks in the render as it could also be a / the problem.
   
5. If this works leave the trench as is and try to find a way to divert the water collecting there away from the house there are a number of options such as pea shingle and guttering or ground drainage pipe. I have a strong suspicion that the clay soil is at least part of your problem.
   
   

Remember that eliminating damp is a process of elimination this will take time.

My neighbour has recommended this Dryzone stuff. He’s planning to drill into his wall with a 12mm drill and inject it at various points. Is this likely to do any good in a solid wall?

No. Nor in a cavity wall, eally. It's pretty much hokum.

I'd leave the cement part of the parging intact - it's probably bonded tight onto the bricks, and will damage them if you remove it. If it's orriinal(ish), it's probably less likely to be breaching the DPC.

If the uncovered bit you've circled is not structural, I say dig away!

getting into a situation that rapidly gets out of hand

I see you've read my contributions then

[edit]

what @Bobbo said

Speaking of damp, I've had some issues arise after the latest pissing rain.

Before I bought the house the render was removed and my suspicion is that they didn't do a great job of repairing/repointing what was revealed. Does this sound a likely reason, have a couple of similar patches in other rooms?

Also appear to have damp on a chimney breast (on the ground floor) with little idea of what could be causing that.

Any suggestions on what/who I should be getting in to look at this stuff? (North London) Cheers

My neighbour has recommended this Dryzone stuff. He’s planning to drill into his wall with a 12mm drill and inject it at various points. Is this likely to do any good in a solid wall?

are they one of those weird types who recommend something they haven't actually used yet?

I think it's actually relatively quick to get out into proper fields and stuff from NE (10 miles?), I think SW is over rated in that aspect, lots of urban sprawl and only a couple of routes to get out so you end up in the same place. Where are you in SE?

Agree re. SW, and I also find I spend longer having to navigate bigger roads round that way and less on good lanes.

Am in forest hill, the journey out does include the first 25mins of dross but then it's great. I always find in Essex there's a long way to get through Epping, Loughton etc which doesn't seem very exciting and then I can't find as many decent lanes as out in Kent.

Corr result!

I'd say despite being a further walk from the tube, the location is better - the amount of nice walks around this way is great

What road are you on?

We lived on Stacey Road until 2019 and then couldn't afford a bigger place in Forest Gate, as much as we'd love to have moved there.

I'm still jealous now when I see the Tromso and Arch Rivals Instagram.

Top of Odessa Road, pretty much opposite the tap. Dangerously easy to pop out for a cheeky pint.

First coat of Zinsser on the walls and ceilings in the nicotine stained living room. Plan is to hit that with white matt emulsion, wait for the windows to go in, the chimney breast remodel and plaster then go for colour.

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Turns out the measurements I had for trying to plan out our prospective new bathroom were totally wrong (I copied the estate agents' drawing so I shouldn't be surprised).

It's made me think a separate bath and shower might be too much to try and squash in.

• L-shaped bath, yes or no?
  
• Any suggestions as to which of the layouts below might be better, and why?
  
• Karndean flooring - any good?
  
  

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Deffo bath under window.
I’d go option 1 personally

L shaped baths - nah.
This is about the same size and mine started off, think you can do something smart here to get walk in shower and bath in.
Let me dig out my plans..

Also the conditions make you financially responsible for what the landowner decides to do with the building, but doesn't make you responsible for the work itself - unless you're on the board of an RTMCo or a part Freeholder. And imo both of those are better positions to be in than being obliged to take whatever nonsense the freeholder decides to do with the property.

Given the amount of work I get from internecine RTMCo squabbles and share-of-freehold fights, I'm far from convinced that's true. The fundamental problem with flats is that there's a common structure which needs to be maintained, unlike with a house. And for reasons which are more cultural than legal, I suspect, the UK generally seems singularly ill-equipped for dealing with the conflicts that this inherently produces, not least because property is seen as more of an investment rather than simply somewhere to live.

I think you can instantiate S146 proceedings against a co-freeholder if they're not maintaining their end of the bargain

Looked at this recently. You can't. Not least because section 146 notices only apply where there's a proviso for re-entry, and that only applies to their obligations as a tenant, not their obligations as co-landlord.

Edited to add: I'm involved in a similar case to grams' at the moment. The only way out of the impasse seems to me to apply under the 1987 Act for the appointment of a manager. Which is a whole world of pain.

My bathroom is the same size, maybe smaller. I went with option one.

I'd love to see plans and photos - is this for the one you're currently trying to get the tiles etc for?

It's so long since we've been allowed to play football that I'd forgotten why a separate bath and shower are so useful.

The issue is that we're moving the bathroom because the current one is nasty and feels cramped. We're worried about making another one that's nicer but still feels cramped.

option 1 for sure