Moving to a new build.
Discussion
Holding deposit down, solicitor stuff started. Supposedly ready by Christmas.
Currently in a rental that I've been in 5 years now so I'll expect some overlap which will make sorting out the new place easier, although it's a 160 mile round trip.
So I'll have lots of questions
I'll probably put up curtains in the end but as a quick fix, has anyone used those push to fit no drill blinds, any good?
And in order to get the cheapest house, I've had to accept a NNE facing garden.
It's 5m wide by 10m long, which ain't bad for a small 2 bed house, compared to all the others around the country that I've seen, but.....
With 8ft high fencing and the sun already low in the sky, I was there last Sunday on a bright sunny day and virtually all the garden was in shadow.
They are throwing in a lawn but I'm wondering if they should bother, although that's a lot cheaper than paving it.
Any tips for a short north facing garden appreciated.
It's a mid terrace but my parking space is at the back with a short alley to a gate at the back of the garden. So good for moving messy stuff and bicycles without going through the house.
Parking space comes with an EV charger connected to the house supply but I'd only buy an EV as a second sensible car and with only one space, that's a bit inconvenient.
There are two solar panels on the roof and the heating and hot water are via an Air Source Heat pump.
Sunday was cold and blowing a hell of a gale yet inside the bare house with concrete floors the place felt comfortable heat wise without the heating being connected yet.
So hopefully low bills.
As I'm the only one going to be living there, what's the best way to make sure I have hot water when needed, seeing that the shower is connected to the tank.
In my current flat I have an electric shower and put the kettle on to have hot water to wash up
Anyway, I'm not excited about this sadly as I'll be ending my 64 years as a Londoner born and bred, but financial needs must.
So any advice will be greatly appreciated. Thanks all
Currently in a rental that I've been in 5 years now so I'll expect some overlap which will make sorting out the new place easier, although it's a 160 mile round trip.
So I'll have lots of questions
I'll probably put up curtains in the end but as a quick fix, has anyone used those push to fit no drill blinds, any good?
And in order to get the cheapest house, I've had to accept a NNE facing garden.
It's 5m wide by 10m long, which ain't bad for a small 2 bed house, compared to all the others around the country that I've seen, but.....
With 8ft high fencing and the sun already low in the sky, I was there last Sunday on a bright sunny day and virtually all the garden was in shadow.
They are throwing in a lawn but I'm wondering if they should bother, although that's a lot cheaper than paving it.
Any tips for a short north facing garden appreciated.
It's a mid terrace but my parking space is at the back with a short alley to a gate at the back of the garden. So good for moving messy stuff and bicycles without going through the house.
Parking space comes with an EV charger connected to the house supply but I'd only buy an EV as a second sensible car and with only one space, that's a bit inconvenient.
There are two solar panels on the roof and the heating and hot water are via an Air Source Heat pump.
Sunday was cold and blowing a hell of a gale yet inside the bare house with concrete floors the place felt comfortable heat wise without the heating being connected yet.
So hopefully low bills.
As I'm the only one going to be living there, what's the best way to make sure I have hot water when needed, seeing that the shower is connected to the tank.
In my current flat I have an electric shower and put the kettle on to have hot water to wash up
Anyway, I'm not excited about this sadly as I'll be ending my 64 years as a Londoner born and bred, but financial needs must.
So any advice will be greatly appreciated. Thanks all
croyde said:
They are throwing in a lawn but I'm wondering if they should bother, although that's a lot cheaper than paving it.
Any tips for a short north facing garden appreciated.
Gravel it. Any tips for a short north facing garden appreciated.
I had a small North facing garden in a new build, 6' fence one side, garage the other but November to March half of it never got any sun so I tried all the little fixes you could do to a lawn like aerating, sharp sand, etc. but it just turned into a boggy moss lawn. Next door dug out the top few feet and got someone in to do it all properly and it looked fantastic for 18 months then just went to a boggy moss lawn again. I now rent out that house and the tenants just gravelled it and put some shrubs and roses in pots on it and it looks much better.
Not quite as exciting as one of your previous ideas to mine to the Canary Islands, but pleased for you nonetheless!
I’ve had blinds (not the push fit ones though) from blinds2go previously and they were good quality for the price
The turf the builder puts down will be crap, but it’s better than bare soil (which will be 3mm of soil over 3ft of building rubble)
I’ve had blinds (not the push fit ones though) from blinds2go previously and they were good quality for the price
The turf the builder puts down will be crap, but it’s better than bare soil (which will be 3mm of soil over 3ft of building rubble)
Friend has just moved to a new build, and had the foresight to commission a professional snag report.
177 issues identified - The level of (lack of) attention to detail on finishes that it uncovered was ridiculous. Everything from a pencil drawn c*** and balls on the main bedroom walls to a built in freezer that couldn't be opened as a radiator had been fitted too close to it.
They also had a leaking toilet upstairs which meant the kitchen ceiling had to be replaced once fixed. One other crazy one was the light switch in the main bathroom. It was a pull switch and hung almost down to floor level. The site agent asked if they wanted it cut, which they did. The imbecile asked to do this cut the cord flush with the ceiling switch fitting, making it impossible to use, and potentially live!
I'd definitely consider one for a new build. Whilst the above examples were fairly obvious, they know far more than the typical housebuyer as to what to look for.
177 issues identified - The level of (lack of) attention to detail on finishes that it uncovered was ridiculous. Everything from a pencil drawn c*** and balls on the main bedroom walls to a built in freezer that couldn't be opened as a radiator had been fitted too close to it.
They also had a leaking toilet upstairs which meant the kitchen ceiling had to be replaced once fixed. One other crazy one was the light switch in the main bathroom. It was a pull switch and hung almost down to floor level. The site agent asked if they wanted it cut, which they did. The imbecile asked to do this cut the cord flush with the ceiling switch fitting, making it impossible to use, and potentially live!
I'd definitely consider one for a new build. Whilst the above examples were fairly obvious, they know far more than the typical housebuyer as to what to look for.
MesoForm said:
croyde said:
They are throwing in a lawn but I'm wondering if they should bother, although that's a lot cheaper than paving it.
Any tips for a short north facing garden appreciated.
Gravel it. Any tips for a short north facing garden appreciated.
I had a small North facing garden in a new build, 6' fence one side, garage the other but November to March half of it never got any sun so I tried all the little fixes you could do to a lawn like aerating, sharp sand, etc. but it just turned into a boggy moss lawn. Next door dug out the top few feet and got someone in to do it all properly and it looked fantastic for 18 months then just went to a boggy moss lawn again. I now rent out that house and the tenants just gravelled it and put some shrubs and roses in pots on it and it looks much better.
Mid-terrace should be great for heating. Ours never really got properly cold so could get away with minimal heating most of the time.
croyde said:
There are two solar panels on the roof and the heating and hot water are via an Air Source Heat pump.
An EPC box ticking exercise. 2 panels should cover your background electricity use, but not much more.Such a wasted opportunity by builders nowadays, it would be minimal cost to add a meaningful amount of panels.
They should at least give more panels as an option with the build.
superpp said:
croyde said:
There are two solar panels on the roof and the heating and hot water are via an Air Source Heat pump.
An EPC box ticking exercise. 2 panels should cover your background electricity use, but not much more.Such a wasted opportunity by builders nowadays, it would be minimal cost to add a meaningful amount of panels.
They should at least give more panels as an option with the build.
Have to say nothing confidence inspiring so far, although the current soil looks quite deep
What the F have I done..
This is after a year at looking at proper old houses that needed so much work beyond my budget, this popped up, got a load of money off and being able to sit there and discuss options like buying a new car. Suckered me in...
MesoForm said:
croyde said:
They are throwing in a lawn but I'm wondering if they should bother, although that's a lot cheaper than paving it.
Any tips for a short north facing garden appreciated.
Gravel it. Any tips for a short north facing garden appreciated.
I had a small North facing garden in a new build, 6' fence one side, garage the other but November to March half of it never got any sun so I tried all the little fixes you could do to a lawn like aerating, sharp sand, etc. but it just turned into a boggy moss lawn. Next door dug out the top few feet and got someone in to do it all properly and it looked fantastic for 18 months then just went to a boggy moss lawn again. I now rent out that house and the tenants just gravelled it and put some shrubs and roses in pots on it and it looks much better.
20mm single with planting pockets is what I've done in my North facing garden, plenty of nice plants will grow in the shade. I also added some sandstone stepping stones and small seating area/patio to break up the gravel a bit
croyde said:
I'll probably put up curtains in the end but as a quick fix, has anyone used those push to fit no drill blinds, any good?
Yes and No - we've had a few of them.They're dead easy to install/remove (assuming you've measure correctly). A knurled knob at the end allows you to tension them and there's zero chance of them falling down unless you use them as monkeybars.
However, we've had two failures of the raising/lowering mechanism. Basically the chain loop rotates smoothly but it's disconnected from the actual blind.
Blinds2go were excellent and promptly sent out replacement parts FOC, even though one blind was well over a year old.
croyde said:
superpp said:
croyde said:
There are two solar panels on the roof and the heating and hot water are via an Air Source Heat pump.
An EPC box ticking exercise. 2 panels should cover your background electricity use, but not much more.Such a wasted opportunity by builders nowadays, it would be minimal cost to add a meaningful amount of panels.
They should at least give more panels as an option with the build.
Have to say nothing confidence inspiring so far, although the current soil looks quite deep
What the F have I done..
This is after a year at looking at proper old houses that needed so much work beyond my budget, this popped up, got a load of money off and being able to sit there and discuss options like buying a new car. Suckered me in...
I'm sure you'll love the house, so just enjoy it.
It's a great feeling walking into your own property.
Gravel the garden and plant a few shade tolerant things in pots that you can move around.
Ferns, hostas and fuchsias will do well. A climbing hydrangea if you've an ugly wall or fence to cover. Or just because. The flowers smell lovely.
You will be grateful for the north-facing garden when it's 36C in the height of summer, though the other side of the house will cook.
Ferns, hostas and fuchsias will do well. A climbing hydrangea if you've an ugly wall or fence to cover. Or just because. The flowers smell lovely.
You will be grateful for the north-facing garden when it's 36C in the height of summer, though the other side of the house will cook.
croyde said:
superpp said:
An EPC box ticking exercise. 2 panels should cover your background electricity use, but not much more.
Such a wasted opportunity by builders nowadays, it would be minimal cost to add a meaningful amount of panels.
They should at least give more panels as an option with the build.
Thought as much. What do you think their output will be?Such a wasted opportunity by builders nowadays, it would be minimal cost to add a meaningful amount of panels.
They should at least give more panels as an option with the build.
Generation is probably in the range of 600-800kWh per year, but without a battery a large chunk of that will be during summer daytime when you're unlikely to be able to use it. Make sure you get an MCS certificate from the seller so you can apply for an export tariff with your electricity supplier.
You can use a solar PV calculator to get an accurate guestimate of annual output. https://re.jrc.ec.europa.eu/pvg_tools/en/
superpp said:
An EPC box ticking exercise. 2 panels should cover your background electricity use, but not much more.
Such a wasted opportunity by builders nowadays, it would be minimal cost to add a meaningful amount of panels.
They should at least give more panels as an option with the build.
No house builder will offer that! They spec each house with the minimum no of panels to get the certificate, the electricity supply for the estate is then specced to just about cope with every house having those panels on a FIT. Basically there is no extra capacity for more panels than the basic. Even though most panels will never put out 100% power back into the grid and some will be used for battery storage the electricity companies won't allow it. Very short-sighted but the builders are all about maximizing profit so up-speccing the substation isn't in their thought process. Such a wasted opportunity by builders nowadays, it would be minimal cost to add a meaningful amount of panels.
They should at least give more panels as an option with the build.
Make sure there are lights and switches in the sensible places you'd expect them to be.
My mum's new build has all the switches for the hall stairs and landing at the bottom of the stairs at the front of the house with no switch for the hall by the kitchen door at the back. So when it gets dark you have to grope your way along the hall to the switch cluster. 'Fixed' by having a table lamp on a timer. The outside light at the back of the house is on the right with the switch on the right of the bifold doors rather than by the back door on the left which is where you want the light and switch when going outside in the dark.
Niggles but really poorly thought through and not cheap to rectify.
My mum's new build has all the switches for the hall stairs and landing at the bottom of the stairs at the front of the house with no switch for the hall by the kitchen door at the back. So when it gets dark you have to grope your way along the hall to the switch cluster. 'Fixed' by having a table lamp on a timer. The outside light at the back of the house is on the right with the switch on the right of the bifold doors rather than by the back door on the left which is where you want the light and switch when going outside in the dark.
Niggles but really poorly thought through and not cheap to rectify.
595Heaven said:
Friend has just moved to a new build, and had the foresight to commission a professional snag report.
177 issues identified - The level of (lack of) attention to detail on finishes that it uncovered was ridiculous. Everything from a pencil drawn c*** and balls on the main bedroom walls to a built in freezer that couldn't be opened as a radiator had been fitted too close to it.
They also had a leaking toilet upstairs which meant the kitchen ceiling had to be replaced once fixed. One other crazy one was the light switch in the main bathroom. It was a pull switch and hung almost down to floor level. The site agent asked if they wanted it cut, which they did. The imbecile asked to do this cut the cord flush with the ceiling switch fitting, making it impossible to use, and potentially live!
I'd definitely consider one for a new build. Whilst the above examples were fairly obvious, they know far more than the typical housebuyer as to what to look for.
Just over 200 on my sister's new build a couple of years back....177 issues identified - The level of (lack of) attention to detail on finishes that it uncovered was ridiculous. Everything from a pencil drawn c*** and balls on the main bedroom walls to a built in freezer that couldn't be opened as a radiator had been fitted too close to it.
They also had a leaking toilet upstairs which meant the kitchen ceiling had to be replaced once fixed. One other crazy one was the light switch in the main bathroom. It was a pull switch and hung almost down to floor level. The site agent asked if they wanted it cut, which they did. The imbecile asked to do this cut the cord flush with the ceiling switch fitting, making it impossible to use, and potentially live!
I'd definitely consider one for a new build. Whilst the above examples were fairly obvious, they know far more than the typical housebuyer as to what to look for.
The crowning glory being that the house was sold with 2 parking spaces to the front and delivered with one!
That took many months and threats of court action before it was sorted.
I wouldn't trust builders to deliver anything properly, so 1000% get a professional snagging report
Congrats on the purchase, having seen your other threads I know its been a long time coming. Hopefully you are somewhere with decent access back to the city.
I made the move a good few years ago now. I go back regularly because I miss the buzz, but I knew I'd never be able to afford the sort of place I'd want in an area I'd be prepared to live in!
Going back to the garden, I agree gravel is probably the way forward, especially if gardening is not your thing (certainly isn't mine).
I made the move a good few years ago now. I go back regularly because I miss the buzz, but I knew I'd never be able to afford the sort of place I'd want in an area I'd be prepared to live in!
Going back to the garden, I agree gravel is probably the way forward, especially if gardening is not your thing (certainly isn't mine).
595Heaven said:
Friend has just moved to a new build, and had the foresight to commission a professional snag report.
177 issues identified - The level of (lack of) attention to detail on finishes that it uncovered was ridiculous. Everything from a pencil drawn c*** and balls on the main bedroom walls to a built in freezer that couldn't be opened as a radiator had been fitted too close to it.
They also had a leaking toilet upstairs which meant the kitchen ceiling had to be replaced once fixed. One other crazy one was the light switch in the main bathroom. It was a pull switch and hung almost down to floor level. The site agent asked if they wanted it cut, which they did. The imbecile asked to do this cut the cord flush with the ceiling switch fitting, making it impossible to use, and potentially live!
I'd definitely consider one for a new build. Whilst the above examples were fairly obvious, they know far more than the typical housebuyer as to what to look for.
Conversely I moved into a new build 12 months ago. We had one ceiling repainted, one kitchen cupboard that needed a replacement door, and one patio door that's really stiff to close no matter how much it's adjusted, and the garage door needed a wee tweak of the locking mechanism. Everything else is spot on. It's warm and dry. Good storage. Nicely laid out. I'm really happy.177 issues identified - The level of (lack of) attention to detail on finishes that it uncovered was ridiculous. Everything from a pencil drawn c*** and balls on the main bedroom walls to a built in freezer that couldn't be opened as a radiator had been fitted too close to it.
They also had a leaking toilet upstairs which meant the kitchen ceiling had to be replaced once fixed. One other crazy one was the light switch in the main bathroom. It was a pull switch and hung almost down to floor level. The site agent asked if they wanted it cut, which they did. The imbecile asked to do this cut the cord flush with the ceiling switch fitting, making it impossible to use, and potentially live!
I'd definitely consider one for a new build. Whilst the above examples were fairly obvious, they know far more than the typical housebuyer as to what to look for.
North garden - I had one that was sloped north before, so even worse than yours! I too would avoid grass and go gravel and paths. Think drainage. Think shrubs and trees that don't shade on winter but do in summer. Think light coloured to bounce light around. And don't have great expectations of things growing really well.
Take the time to fit proper blinds and windows - we had 24hrs with cardboard against bedroom windows. But we had pre ordered the blinds and curtains, I had stocked up on good Fischer drywall fittings and scews.
Don't paint for 6 months - you likely will get some settlement cracks. But also allows you to see what your room usage is like, the light etc.
Also learn how to manage your heating system well. Ours was just set at 'max heat, that will do' by the installers. It took a couple of weeks to learn to balance the system and turn flow temps down as low as we could while still having hot water. We also discovered the anti-scald devices were set way too conservatively and so baths were cold and showed cool. A wee twist and everyone was happy again.
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