Preparedness for when

GreyQueen

It was a vivid experience, believe you me. When I read or hear about people rebuilding homes from scratch, over months or years, whilst living there, all I can think is that they're insane. Or masochists.

That convo between Son and his labourer was hissed just outside the kitchen and was clearly not intended to be overheard by the client.

Coupla years ago, my landlord wanted to replace the bathroom in my flat. I could have handed over my keys on a secure signover to their contractor but that was unacceptable to me as who knows if they're copied before they come back and it'd mean I'd have tradesmen in my home without my eagle eye on them.

So I took time off work as annual leave for the week. Wasn't a bundle of laughs in terms of the disruptions but most of the fellers were diamond geezers, although I could have done without the floorers muttering between themselves about how they effing hate these effing small bathrooms. I'm not over-enthused myself, fellers, but it wasn't me who built the Towers.

The only potential problem was headed off by me being there when the sparkie wanted to stand in the brand-new tub with his boots on to connect the shower. And likely scratching the new tub with grit, the condition of which I'd be held responsible for as the tenant, when I ever move.

I had an old blanket at hand which I folded up and insisted he stand on, which he did with ill-grace. Tough. But I'm a woman of middle-age and pretty determined, and don't mind standing up for myself.

I usually get on very well with workmen, it's a combination of being down to earth, nobody's fool and making a mean cup of tea. A pal of mine supplies quality chocolate biscuits to her temporary employees by the tinful and it seems to help.;)

Oh, and a council inspector found the following in a privately owned rental house recently - a double plug socket installed above the sink immediately behind the taps.

Frightening, hey?

craigywv

mrslurcherwalker wrote: »

salting stone is i think a built in stone shelf in an old cold room where the carcass of the freshly killed pig was salted by rubbing salt into the flesh prior to curing it for hams and bacons usually there were hooks in the ceiling above it for the flitches/hams to be hung between saltings and brinings.

i was thinking of a salt block ,the cattle lick it to get macro and micro minerals..............no im not smart i googled it.

greenbee

GreyQueen wrote: »

Oh, and a council inspector found the following in a privately owned rental house recently - a double plug socket installed above the sink immediately behind the taps.

Frightening, hey?

Parents new place had the dishwasher socket installed below the sink...

mardatha

I'm in a very rural area of Scotland and the HA workmen are nice people - but they totally ignore me and talk only to the RV, cos he's a man!
Last time I started talking only to him as well -- "can you tell him not to put the switch up there, it's too high for me"... the electrician didn't know where to look

twiglet98

Aldi have an 800W petrol generator for £59.99, maybe useful backup for a freezer if the power goes off?

Frugalsod

jk0 wrote: »

Ah, maybe not. I've only had the money to employ them since 1997, so maybe I'm a poor judge.

I have fallen out with every builder I've ever used for these big renovations. That's four lots so far. I'm not sure if that's a fault in my character, or builders in general.

It is probably that most builders are borderline cowboys.

thriftwizard

Frugalsod wrote: »

It is probably that most builders are borderline cowboys.

Or wannabe rock stars... I well remember walking round the corner, when they were doing our conservatory, and finding two builders leaping up & down, hair flying, playing air guitar enthusiastically along to my son's rendition of "Sweet Child Of Mine" which he was practising upstairs for his GCSE Music solo. As we weren't working to a strict schedule - cut price because they are all retained fire crew, so a job could take a week, or six weeks, depending on how often they get a "shout" - it just made me laugh. They did a grand job, too.

the_cake

We have just had two builders repairing the oak frame of our old cottage, and they were abso-blooming-lutely WONDERFUL. The gaffer is a perky 66, 'the boy' a mere 43. They turned up on time every morning, were completely self sufficient (although we did make them buckets of tea) had a half hour lunch break at the same time every day, and listened to Radio 4 - very quietly! They were not only delightful company, they did a beautiful job. They have repaired the frame using proper materials - reclaimed oak where needed, lead, lime based mortar strengthened with hemp. After they left, we had a very small leak when it rained and hailed torrentially a few days later; I rang them, and they turned up to repair it within two hours, at a weekend.... for no charge. They also charged us less than the original quotation, as some of the oak was not as rotten as it looked on the surface. Honesty and craftsmanship does still exist!

twiglet98

greenbee wrote: »

Parents new place had the dishwasher socket installed below the sink...

Mine is in the cupboard under the sink too, in a 1920s farm cottage done up in the mid-80s by an owner who didn't believe in paying anyone to do anything he could botch himself. I have a functional dishwasher in its allocated slot, but choose to wash up by hand.

I generally look for good old 'stuff' in preference to new - I did buy a new fridge-freezer 22 years ago, which is still working perfectly, and get new washing machines (infrequently). Every piece of my furniture is pre-owned, and most of my clothes too.

vivatifosi

pineapple wrote: »

I've been considering trying to save money by downtrading to a property which is not within sensible commuting distance of ANYWHERE.
This used to be a lot more do-able before the days of people on short working weeks or being able to network from home. Plus a lot of properties in pretty Yorkshire Dales villages have been bought for silly money as second homes - sending up the price of properties generally and making local housing unaffordable for youngsters (or people like me).
Of course the local people themselves have had a hand in this by selling to non residents in the first place.

DH and I have been looking at getting a place abroad. You can get some lovely cheap places in Sweden - middle of nowhere and a bit of a preppers paradise in terms of resources. Not that I know anything about Swedish prepping you understand:o.

There are very few Swedish properties on Rightmove and this is far more expensive than we were looking at, but something like this:

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/overseas-property/property-44697211.html

There are lots of properties on Swedish wesbites for £50-60k with a bit of land.

The only problem with cheap houses in Sweden is that we were looking for one in Spain.