Can a house make you depressed?

spenceeyftb

Hang on you've got rats in a rented house and an obvious problem with your electric but nothing has been done yet?

You do live in the UK I take it? Where we are entitled to certain standard if renting?

Tell your land lord you'll keep back payments if he doesn't sort the problems. I know from renting that these kind of threats usually result in progress. If they don't move out.

Sorry that the start of my post was a little sarcastic but you can't be expected to live like that. Are you able to move back with parents until your house build is complete?

Fire_Fox

DiscoCat54 wrote: »

We are in the process of buying a new build so fingers crossed we should be moving out in 4-6 weeks. I'm sure it will come with its own set of problems but I'm looking forward to a ceiling light in every room and being able to sit where I like without the worry of insects falling through the light fittings and landing in my hair/dinner!

Please still take action on the electrics and vermin, this house may not be safe for the next occupants either.

Saturnalia

Apologies for being dramatic, but you might not HAVE 4-6 weeks.

My aunt was incredibly lucky to survive carbon monoxide. The hospital said that had she not been admitted at the time she was, she would have died within the next 48 hours in her flat.

Ironically enough, what kept her alive was the fact she was a heavy smoker and had every window wide open all day all weathers, but as she got worse she was sleeping longer, therefore not smoking as much and keeping the windows shut for longer.

She pulled through but had a nervous breakdown a few months later. That probably wasn't caused by the physical effects of the CO, she had had depression in the recent past (the reason she never put 2+2 together that something else was wrong was she thought her depression symptoms were to blame) but finding out she was so close to death certainly would not have helped her mental health.

Thank goodness my aunt did recover fully and quickly from both. But that is always my first question now if someone says they are more tired than normal, especially if they are in a rented place, have just moved in, the weather has just got colder... do they have a CO detector and do they check it?

DiscoCat54

Well... as luck would have it, today I have run out of oil so the AGA is off. I put £500 worth in the tank exactly 4 weeks ago today and quite frankly I'm not prepared to pay that much per month for an oven that runs at 300 degrees and tepid hot water that I have an immersion to heat. I'll have to half fill the tank on leaving and pay for the heating man to come and re light the burner but I will still be better off. I will highlight all of my concerns around CO2, vermin, electrics once more to the EA and LL and if I am asked any questions by prospective future tenants I will answer honestly.

pinkteapot

That's interesting - can you open all the windows to air the place as much as possible? Then, it would be interesting to see how you feel in the next few weeks if you're not using the gas appliances....

DiscoCat54

Hi Angelic. What's your situation, if you don't mind me asking?

PlutoinCapricorn

Most possibilities have been covered already, but I have heard about places with bad histories affecting susceptible people. For example, if someone died horribly there. Do you know anything about the previous occupants?

Houses built over old graveyards or plague pits have been mentioned as a possible cause of unease too.

DiscoCat54

There's not much history on the house. It was a worker's cottage which, before the land was sold off, was in the grounds of the mansion house up the road.

I'm not getting any nasty vibes as such although I suspect I'm not sensitive to anything paranormal..

No cold spots or anything like that in the house and no areas that make me feel uneasy

DiscoCat54

Etonian Rifle, I'll have no choice but to 'fess up as the oil tanker will be seen and heard by the LL. If they'd been able to deliver today I might have got away with it but the earliest they can do it is Friday and by then it will be too late to restart without intervention from a heating engineer.

shegar

DiscoCat54 wrote: »

Hi there. No, I don't have a CO detector... I think a trip out to get one this morning is in order...

What were your CO readings today.?