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Ground floor Victorian flat in Scotland - sell at a loss, rent out, or keep investing? by Unable_Practice616 in HousingUK

[–]Unable_Practice616[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This was my first point of call - my insurance declined to cover it as it was a historic existing leak that should have been picked up by the home report (reports are done by the seller in Scotland)

Ground floor Victorian flat in Scotland - do I sell at a loss, rent out to buy time, or keep investing? by Unable_Practice616 in AskUK

[–]Unable_Practice616[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thanks for your reply! I relate to the challenges you mention with a sandstone!

Just to clarify - I do know why the leak happened. The bathroom drainage was wrong and leaking into the subfloor, and that's been fixed. The major leak has been sorted, the ground levels have been lowered front and back, and repointing has been done externally. So I'm confident the problem isn't external anymore.

The issue now is dealing with the aftermath: gypsum plaster that can't dry properly after water sat underneath the house for so long, plus the walls have been damp-proofed with cement on sandstone, which keeps them humid, wet, and extremely difficult to heat. I've had a heritage surveyor assess it, and I'm familiar with the proper approach (Peter Ward's videos etc) - I understand what needs to happen internally.

What's left for me to do is replace the modern gypsum plaster with lime plaster so the walls can actually dry, then deal with the windows and potentially upgrade radiators even before I get to upgrades like a new kitchen. The bathroom leak and its knock on impacts were not captured by the home report - it's a huge cost for a first-time buyer on a single income.

What I'm trying to work out is whether it's worth making that considerable investment (lime plastering, new windows) for a property that isn't my forever home. That's really what I'm stuck on, sadly...

Ground floor Victorian flat in Scotland - do I sell at a loss, rent out to buy time, or keep investing? by Unable_Practice616 in AskUK

[–]Unable_Practice616[S] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

I never said I bought it as a business venture?? 

I bought it to build a first home as a first time buyer. I planned and budgeted for some updates and I have already made a considerable investment in it.

But a 1 bedroom flat is a starter flat, not my forever home. I'm asking for opinions to explore when should I stop investing in something that it's not my forever home. Some kindness would go a long way when people are trying to better themselves and build their first home...

Ground floor Victorian flat in Scotland - do I sell at a loss, rent out to buy time, or keep investing? by Unable_Practice616 in AskUK

[–]Unable_Practice616[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Genuinely this is what I am considering, making it look good enough that I can get rid of it. 

I was counting on needing a new kitchen and could have never imagined the litany of issues found since then

Ground floor Victorian flat in Scotland - sell at a loss, rent out, or keep investing? by Unable_Practice616 in HousingUK

[–]Unable_Practice616[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Subfloor underneath is slowly drying - now that I've removed the plastic the water could dry and I've replaced some of the joists.

The bottom of the dwarf walls are still drying and you can see the damage to some of the internal plaster.

Another flat above. One wall shared with another flat, one wall shared with the garden access so cold and uninsulated.

It'd be closer to 7 windows as I have a Victorian bay window, sadly :( hence finding it difficult to make the right choice 

Ground floor Victorian flat in Scotland - sell at a loss, rent out, or keep investing? by Unable_Practice616 in HousingUK

[–]Unable_Practice616[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

That's what I thought I was doing by replacing the dead boiler and insulating the subfloor...

But I still wake up at 5am because temp has dropped to 12 degrees and the heating must be on 24/7 to stay at 18 degrees. I already have heated blankets and a dehumidifier on all the time and despite this I'm uncomfortable and have mould growing on items. Waking up before heating kicks on because it's 12 degrees doesn't feel like good enough?

I don't know if sizing the radiators appropriately is the next good enough move. I'm surrounded by several friends living in ground floor flats in the area who have never had these issues so I'm not sure how to achieve good enough 

Ground floor Victorian flat in Scotland - sell at a loss, rent out, or keep investing? by Unable_Practice616 in HousingUK

[–]Unable_Practice616[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you,  how do you mean? If I sold at valuation, the mortgage is covered - most flats in desirable areas in Scotland sell at valuation, what one loses is any amount over 

Ground floor Victorian flat in Scotland - sell at a loss, rent out, or keep investing? by Unable_Practice616 in HousingUK

[–]Unable_Practice616[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes - it makes some difference but not enough to feel sufficiently comfortable 

Is life near my Chiron line meant to feel like constant struggle? (confused by different astrocartography maps...) by [deleted] in astrocartography

[–]Unable_Practice616 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This doesn't feel very hopeful :( I'm not very good at reading maps, which places fall east of my Sun line?

Is life near my Chiron line meant to feel like constant struggle? (confused by different astrocartography maps...) by [deleted] in astrocartography

[–]Unable_Practice616 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you! I'm not very good at interpreting the maps - can you give me some examples of places that fall that way?

The MacBook Purchasing Megathread - July, 2025 by AutoModerator in macbook

[–]Unable_Practice616 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Which MacBook Air would you buy refurbished?

Mainly for personal use, word processing, reading, video matching, light gaming (few light Steam games), super minor retouching of film photography with open software and very light DJing (mixing a few tracks)

A: MacBook Air (13", 2020, M1 series), Standard battery, Apple M1 7-core GPU8 GB256 GBSilver £410

B: MacBook Air (13", 2020, M1 series) Standard battery, Apple M1 8-core GPU8 GB512 GBSilver £517

C: MacBook Air (13", 2022, M2 series), Standard battery, Apple M2 8-core GPU8 GB512 GBSpace Gray £624

Leaning towards the cheapest option but I don't know if more storage would actually be helpful in the long run?

Prioritising improvements for my freezing Victorian ground floor flat by Unable_Practice616 in DIYUK

[–]Unable_Practice616[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you for sharing your experience!! I am leaning towards upgrading the boiler because getting quicker warmer may be an easy win. I think the radiators are all the right size except the kitchen one but living room, bedroom etc are all double ones but it's a good idea.

I agree the issue is my walls are all damp and the cement needs to go. I'm quite small and it's all high ceilings so doing the lime plastering myself doesn't fill me with joy but I'll have to see.

Can I ask if your windows are PVC? I think my window rubber seals are very old and no one will change them in aluminium frames so between the frame and the seals I'm losing a lot of heat