Help please don't know what to do???

jem132

Hi I would like some help re what to do so I have seen the most perfect house for my family a old lock keepers cottage 10 mins walk to town but it has no ch so do I get ch fitted along with a new kitchen and bathroom or stick with the open fires there is in each room. The kitchen is not very big I wanted a big kitchen but will give this up for my dream home and also bathroom is downstairs allso needs replacing. So does anyone know the price of coal, logs by the tone and how long that would last??? Just a bit worried this house is money money money and the os in me says wait for something else but head and hart and dh say let's do it I am confused lol

[Deleted User]

If you believe that this is the house you really want and can see yourself living there for many years to come then go for it .I grew up in a 13 roomed house that had no central heating or d/glazing and the bathroom was edwardian to say the least but although at times we felt the cold in the winter the fact that we had so much space to play in and a huge garden made it all worth while.If its your dream house then these things can come along as you get slightly better off and can afford them Its a goal to work towards.No house is perfect (although I'd make sure the roof and drains were ok.You can see what this house will look like in your minds eye but don't expect it to look like it tomorrow good things are worth waiting and saving for and look at the fun you will have turning it into a comfy family home.I'd say if you can afford it then go for it and worry less about kitchens bathrooms and CH they are the added bonus's that happen along the way

jem132

The house has had a new roof recently and new gutters there does not appear to be any damp that you can see anyway but it has not been lived in for a few years its been used as offices for the local council it is quite remote there is nothing around put town 10_15 min walk down the canal. It's got some lovely out buildings an old stable not really that huge garden as half would need to be a drive for my car dh van and dh beloved moterhome. I don't think I could drive down to it as you have to go down the toe path wich is only 7ft wide dh said you will in time arrhhhhh. It is lovely tho

Eliza_2

You can change everything about a building but not the location. If the location is right, then over the years you can add everything else. Not everyone has central heating, it isn't a necessity at all. I'd be more concerned about my pets or kids falling in the water, if that isn't your worry I'd say brilliant.

I would also check whether a public footpath runs right beside it as they often do. You might not mind groups of ramblers peering in your windows every weekend but I have one running through my garden and I have no idea why, but people think it's fine to gawp in my windows or shout as they go through. It's something I'd check for in my next house.

Sounds lovely otherwise though, where is it?

thriftwizard

I'm with Jackie; it may not be totally practical but it sounds as if you could, in time to come, do a lot with it. We had no central heating upstairs in this house, and a creaky 30 y.o. boiler, for the first 10 years that we lived here, and the kids never seemed to mind.

You might find there are grants available to do things like insulate & you might also be better off installing a woodburner or two; they are much more efficient, and safer, and you'll spend far less in fuel. Our neighbours have two, and had their chimneys lined with pumice when they put them in, and haven't switched their central heating on since; that was 3 years ago. The pumice-lined chimneys act as giant radiators and give off heat for days after the fires have gone out. He works in a trade related to building so can pick up lots of wood for free, too. Pick the right woodburner & you can even cook on it some of the time, thus saving even more.

Those outbuildings sound wonderful...

jem132

There is public footpath out side the front door and we would have to put up a iron fence all the way round for kids and dog. I am a worried about kids and the canal literally been on my doorstep but the youngest six and they know about the dangers of the canal as we walk down it all the time and open locks there dad lives in a apartment allso on the canal /river side they play there all the time :eek::eek: its on the leeds and Liverpool canal. 10/15 mins out of town. We are going bk today for another look round

lostinrates

Ok, a couple of points.

I am just about to have ch installed for the first time in two years, and have lived without it before.
I am looking forward to it, but it's not traditional ch, it's a pellet boiler. In your location with difficulty of access other alternative forms of heating might work better long term. ( e.g. Air source heat pump). For this the install cost is higher but there are renewable heat incentives (it's been a long time waiting for details butvthey were recently issued) which more than cover install cost. We might consider airsource as additional heat provision if need be.


Secondly, in the short/ medium term. Living without heating is ok, it takes a certain sort of 'spirit' and determination.

Open fires in more than one room with children is going to be a little wearing, you will need to keep the children where you can see them, and have excellent fire guards. It's not impossible but it will be draining.

We use about two double loads of wood a year for a woodburner. You will need to check local prices, but IMO soft wood is a false economy. Also consider that when you are out you cannot safely leave open fires, so that means not whacking the heating on to get ready then pop out and return to a warm house, it means a cold day if you are in and out, or out for a long time. Often, when you are exhausted lighting a fire seems more effort that it's worth.

If you are ipll, or the children are ill, the fires still need lighting for warmth. This can be draining. Ok with a cold, but with a migraine or flu, or worse, it can seem totally soul destroying.


On the otherhand, we would not be with out them ourselves. We find that our wood burner, while more efficiet on paper, is not as efficient at warming a room as open fires. While we are looking forward to ch, a totally passive system like mains gas seems less vital to us ( when I can not manage we will pay someone to come in a couple of times a week to fill the hopper).

It's possible, it's ro,antic and it's idyllic sounding. Write a list of all the negatives, Try I gaining them, acting them out. A wheel barrow full of wood per fire an afternoon or evening, oimagine moving that.

camelot1001

Sounds fantastic!

I live out of town and a car is a necessity, there is a bus service but only 1 every couple of hours but it is there in an emergency. Remember, you have small children who will need ferrying about all the time so fuel for the car would have to be taken into account.

I have a coal fire and a log burner (I also have electric central heating but it's too expensive to run apart from special occasions!). Coal at the moment is about £14 per bag (delivered by the coal man) and 6 bags lasts me for a couple of months. I am lucky that a friend gives me logs so I don't know how much they would cost if I had to buy them. Remember if you do get wood for free it needs to be cut and seasoned (a chain saw and axe will become your best friends!).

All that said, only you know how you feel about the property, as JackieO says, the comforts of modern living will come in time.

jem132

We were thinking we may have Woodburners fitted and ch in time I would like old school like rads and have the heating and hotwater off the Woodburners. Would this work not sure if the it has mains gas better see about that today oppps

VJsmum

Make sure it is properly surveyed, make sure you are fully aware of rights and easements that there are concerning it. A new roof and gutters are one thing but if the foundations are poor then that may cost an awful lot to put right - particularly in that location.

Is the canal popular for leisure boaters in the summer time (or out of season), will that impact on the freedom your children have to play outside? Are there plans to develop the area in the future - many canals are key locations for development now - and will that impact on the value of the property.

Heating and so forth are minimal considerations to the wider implications of buying such a property.

jem132

hi thanks for all your replys we have been back today for another look around and have decided against it as it has big cracks that you can fit a pen in and we have been told by a surveyer that we know and says it needs tieing together and under pinning so we are bk on the look out for a new home.:eek: