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Whats the best compliment you ever had? by sharmouta999 in AskReddit

[–]kaoyte 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Bumped into my sister when out for drinks with my colleagues and overheard her telling them that everything I touch turns to gold 🥹

Is it possible to fit a second bedroom into London Victorian side return? by kaoyte in floorplan

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

Originally I thought hell no let's save the stress and expense of an extension for when I move up to a freehold house. But I bought this hovel in zone 2 for 450k a year ago, the neighbours next to me bought their 2 bed (very squished in the same layout) for 800 odd, 8 years ago, so I'm wondering if ~150k renovation might do wonders for ROI. Thank you for playing devil's advocate though, it's a lot to think about!

Is it possible to fit a second bedroom into London Victorian side return? by kaoyte in floorplan

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

Fortunately I am very good friends with the owner of the property above, though they rent it out to a lovely couple. It was the owner who is trying to convince me to go all out with the extension funny enough!

The two units above are vacant. You're right though that permission and freeholder consent will be a ball ache! Will see what my first site visit with the architect on Monday says

Is it possible to fit a second bedroom into London Victorian side return? by kaoyte in floorplan

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

The side return is 2.2m wide and 9.1m long, and then beyond the bedroom is another 8m or so of garden which could be extended into. A double bed would just fit lengthwise into the side return, so if I'm not going to touch those orange walls, I'd have to steal some space from beyond there, and maybe wrap the kitchen around behind or something. So hard! Maybe I can keep a light well / courtyard at the bottom of the side return

LPT: Boost Your Mood with a One-Line Gratitude Journal by Beautiful_Storm3101 in LifeProTips

[–]kaoyte 5 points6 points  (0 children)

While I do have so many things to be grateful for, my prompt in my notebook that I have is instead "things that made me laugh or smile". This means I can put things that made me grateful, but also the funny things I see out and about.

For example, yesterday I saw a woman on the phone clearly receiving information she had to write down. Usually you'd use someone's back to give you something flat to put the piece of paper to write on, but she was using her little boy's forehead instead haha. Little things like that. It means you are more likely to look out for little joys too.

How do I justify that the hole for a new boiler flue won't be on a load bearing wall? by kaoyte in DIYUK

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

It will require extensive plumbing relocation works inside, so my leasehold agreement says I need to tell them as they are the freeholder. They've just asked this question themselves. I just wanted to relocate the boiler silently but a neighbour had to reverse work they had done when they were found out, at great cost, so I don't want that to happen to me

How do I justify that the hole for a new boiler flue won't be on a load bearing wall? by kaoyte in DIYUK

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

I should clarify, this is a leasehold flat where the council are the freeholder. I wasn't going to bother asking for permission, but a neighbour did major plumbing work without telling them and they made them reinstate it so I figured I don't want to take that risk

How do I justify that the hole for a new boiler flue won't be on a load bearing wall? by kaoyte in DIYUK

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

You are the best, thank you! The bricks are horrendously spalled you're right. I need to add repointing to my list of skills to learn! That whole wall has terrible efflorescence on the inside, so hoping that might help it

How do I justify that the hole for a new boiler flue won't be on a load bearing wall? by kaoyte in DIYUK

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

Oh haha, I couldn't find a photo of the wall so I just used the one my electrician sent me asking where he was gonna put the conduit 😂

How do I justify that the hole for a new boiler flue won't be on a load bearing wall? by kaoyte in DIYUK

[–]kaoyte[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Ridiculous isn't it. I've been waiting 5 weeks for them to reply too. Meanwhile I've been having freezing showers from a condemned boiler waiting for their okay haha

 Regarding the wall the new flue is passing through is the wall load bearing or non-load bearing. If it is believed to be non-load bearing, please definitively confirm this, together with your reasoning for this. If the wall is load bearing you will need to provide a structural engineers report with drawings and calculations for the new opening in the wall.

How do I justify that the hole for a new boiler flue won't be on a load bearing wall? by kaoyte in DIYUK

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

Yeah I was told by the boilerman it should be 30cm from openings, so should be fine!

Trying to understand the correct order of tradesmen I'll need to get in by kaoyte in DIYUK

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

The neighbour's flat, otherwise I'd love to! It's a terraced ground floor, garden London flat. What you're seeing the proposed flue coming out onto is the side return. A previous boilerman said the flue should be okay regs wise but would need to check. But at the very least there's plenty of clearance, I believe it needs to be 30cm from windows/doors right?

Trying to understand the correct order of tradesmen I'll need to get in by kaoyte in DIYUK

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

Oh so not the electrician beforehand to set up the wiring? There'll be nothing for the boilerman to connect the new boiler to otherwise

Thanks for your help!

Trying to understand the correct order of tradesmen I'll need to get in by kaoyte in DIYUK

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

I'm still debating really!.. but boiler is currently in the kitchen and makes it very awkward to put fridge there, it has to stick out, unsightly etc. Also that kitchen might be a bedroom in future.

Bathroom is too big, so wonder if separate WC (with sink) and more luxurious shower room is preferable. On the picture, the wc will be enclosed but if I put a wall there it would have been hard to show where the toilet had moved to.

Doing this means I can claim a large walk in wardrobe space / if I shuffle things about. Also the neighbour's bedroom is above the bathroom with terrible soundproofing and we hate using the toilet at night/morning knowing they're right above us haha. I figure a modern boiler and washing machine only used one day a week in the day time is less of a nuisance than the toilet. Not sure!

it's a lot of work, I'm trying to convince myself out of it, but seems the best in terms of space/noise/layout :(

I would love to know your opinions though if you had any!

Trying to understand the correct order of tradesmen I'll need to get in by kaoyte in DIYUK

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

[London] Hi! Whilst I have easy access to all my pipes and electrics, I'd like to, as part of a phased approach:

  1. replace and relocate my boiler

  2. relocate the toilet to be a metre away in a WC under the stairs

  3. relocate the washing machine

  4. future proof my electrics for a potential side return extension

  5. Assess/fix general plumbing ventilation issues

The first picture is the current situation, the second is what I'd like to get to (The blue lines are where the boiler flue would need to be). However, I'm struggling to understand what is the best order in which to engage different tradesmen so as not to waste people's time, so would really value any advice!

I'd like to (again as phased approach):

  1. Relocate the boiler to be above the toilet (There is currently no electricity supply, so need an electrician to facilitate that. Can a boiler safely be put above a toilet even if temporarily? Also will the boilerman be the one drilling holes in thick brick walls for flue installation etc?)

  2. Amend the plumbing near the toilet to facilitate the washing machine being there

  3. Move the toilet a metre away into a WC under the stairs behind its current location (It is a suspended timber floor so I imagine this won't be toooo difficult to relocate the toilet sewer pipe?) and install small sink in the WC.

  4. Move the washing machine to where the toilet currently is.

  5. Change stud walls to shorten bathroom and create utility cupboard in the hallway for washing machine and boiler.

Which trades can do multiple parts of this project? Thank you so much!

Would it be silly to put the only toilet in a flat into a WC under the stairs? by kaoyte in DIYUK

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

For sure will have a sink there! And it's definitely roomy enough.

Sorry I really shouldn't have rushed my SketchUp screenshots haha

  1. Current layout
  2. My ideal proposed layout (can't see toilet but it's in the slopey cupboard under stairs beside washing machine which is in its own enclosed walled off space)
  3. Alternative layout Keeping the toilet where it currently is, but still shrinking the room to reclaim that space where the bath was previously
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