Everything needs fixing!

jonnyb1978

DREKLY wrote: »

Don't go there, British Gas have an appalling reputation, they will condemn your boiler for the slightest thing, so they can sell you a new one at an inflated price, see the "Energy" forum if you don't want to take my advice on this. They are dreadful.

Agreed. I had these out to fix a problem. My own research I found a problem with the circuit board. By replaced the fan and next day same problem. Came out again and replace another part even though I told then about the circuit board... Bill comes to fix two one off fixes. I argued it was same job as they never fixed it the first time.

Rang my bank as I had free home emergency cover. Next day problem solved... It needed new circuit board.

Alias_Omega

^^

I now have Halifax Bank, and use the Free Boiler Breakdown Cover. However, on the Rental Property British Gas has been used without any issues.

However... HomeCare = Nightmare... Needed a powerflush, however the same engineer fixed it without one... #LongStory

aggypanthus

Get an interest free credit card instead of a loan, ie M And S, its about 16 mnths free.

redrabbit29

OP here - thanks for so many responses. All really useful.

I think it's unanimous, the boiler does need to be the priority, and after thinking about it, you're all right.

The boiler does work, however I am expecting it to break within the next 12 months, and it is really old. I've had a recommendation of a firm, and I've emailed them to see if they cover my area, and to see if they can come and see what options I have, and give me a quote.

In regards to bathroom, I think I definitely need to do some of the work myself. I'm terrible at DIY, but I should be able to remove the tiles of all the walls, and maybe just gut the bathroom. This will only be when I'm ready and in a position for work to start.

I'm definitely not paying £7500 for someone to replace the bathroom. I think that's excessive.

Thanks everyone, need to start reading up on bathroom DIY and at least get an idea of what order things need doing in, as I'd like to try my best to cut costs down. Will maybe plan to do this later in the year after the boiler has been sorted.

aggypanthus

Good luck.

jc808

Be careful about strippping/ gutting out 'because I dont want to pay someone to do it' - if you have to pause the work due to money issues or some other reason, youve already commited by removing your doors/ kitchen/ bathroom whatever.

Anyone can demolish stuff - doesnt mean you need to do right away. I learnt this lesson the hard way on my first house, lived in a shell for a year....

onomatopoeia99

redrabbit29 wrote: »

My Car (Y reg Focus) is good, but in the last two months I've spent £600 on replacing bits that were just worn out. Like I said, good car but just at that age when things need sorting out.

I drove to work in a W-reg car today with 116,000 miles on the clock. Normally I use a 51-reg car (Audi estate) which currently has 176,000 miles on it. So I have a little experience of cars that age

Provided it has been serviced regularly to the manufacturers schedule, not abused, cambelt replaced (if it has one) at the correct times and so on, it should not "blow up" - catastrophic engine failure normally requires neglect or extreme bad luck nowadays (I was the victim of the latter last year, unfortunately). There's a lot to be said for bangernomics if you are faced with spending choices - a car you pay (for example) £6,000 for will still need money spending on it on a regular basis, not usually as often as a 14 year old car, but often enough.

So, carry on with the car until something too expensive goes wrong with it would be my suggestion, you might get a few more years out of it yet and it's not like it's going to depreciate much more!

Gordon_Hose

DREKLY wrote: »

Don't go there, British Gas have an appalling reputation, they will condemn your boiler for the slightest thing, so they can sell you a new one at an inflated price, see the "Energy" forum if you don't want to take my advice on this. They are dreadful.

Not had an issue with British Gas. They've been out to my 9 year old Baxi combi boiler a few times to replace parts/fix issues and have never tried to condemn it or sell me a new one.

redrabbit29

onomatopoeia99 wrote: »

I drove to work in a W-reg car today with 116,000 miles on the clock. Normally I use a 51-reg car (Audi estate) which currently has 176,000 miles on it. So I have a little experience of cars that age

Provided it has been serviced regularly to the manufacturers schedule, not abused, cambelt replaced (if it has one) at the correct times and so on, it should not "blow up" - catastrophic engine failure normally requires neglect or extreme bad luck nowadays (I was the victim of the latter last year, unfortunately). There's a lot to be said for bangernomics if you are faced with spending choices - a car you pay (for example) £6,000 for will still need money spending on it on a regular basis, not usually as often as a 14 year old car, but often enough.

So, carry on with the car until something too expensive goes wrong with it would be my suggestion, you might get a few more years out of it yet and it's not like it's going to depreciate much more!

Good post. When it gets MOT'd I usually pay for oil change and filter change. It has 96000 on the clock so not too bad really.

Do you think I should try learning some
Mechanics?

I don't have any tools but considered buying a socket set. Id like to be able to change oil myself, maybe breaks, wheel bearings, things like that.

I'm fed up of relying on someone else and not knowing what actually I'm paying for

Mistral001

It is easy to forget about maintenance of houses and cars. Up until a few years ago, I was working up to 60 hours a week running my own business and I have to admit that I neglected both my car maintenance and my house maintenance a bit. Since then I have caught up but the lack of maintenance, has meant that some exterior timber which did not get painted when it should have, will now need replacing and generally the house is in not the better for my neglect.


We can hate maintenance I know as it costs money and we often cannot see the difference. However, I find that once I take an interest in it, then I can see the difference and take pride in the fact that a neighbour has to replace window frames years before I have to or spend 1000's replacing a flat roof.