Author Topic: Need access to neighbour's land to maintain gable wall.  (Read 19404 times)

Aunt Maud

  • Le Flâneur.
Re: Need access to neighbour's land to maintain gable wall.
« Reply #75 on: 15 May, 2015, 09:08:07 am »
Glad you said sofas, I was wondering who DFS were.

I'll give one example of why I never extended any credit to the overly smart and over mortgaged people I worked for.

I built a very complicated and expensive single storey extension to the rear of a Georgian house, which involved amongst other things, propping the neighbours elevated 16th century stone cottage and excavating underneath it for 4 meters to remove the soil and underpin it, to get the extension to fit.

I took my deposit as usual and work began. Half way through the project, when the client was due to make one of their fortnightly payments. His wife took me aside and sheepishly asked if I could wait a bit for it. "OK, no problem, but I'd like it next week, as I have to buy £4000.00 of lead for your roof".

Next week came and I asked for the payment before I ordered the lead..............Cue much dithering from him, "Um!"

Um?.............. "You do have enough money to continue with the project, don't you ?"

"Yes........... kind of, we've gone and invested the money we borrowed for the extension in the stock market."


David Martin

  • Thats Dr Oi You thankyouverymuch
Re: Need access to neighbour's land to maintain gable wall.
« Reply #76 on: 15 May, 2015, 10:27:03 am »
My view is that when the job is done the money is due. For larger projects (either in terms of time or in terms of money) agreed stage payments are the way to go. My folks had an extension done, which takes some time and costs some money. This was staged so that at each point the builder was paid for works satisfactorily completed, reducing the risk to client and builder. Unspecified deposits and stage payments against time rather than targets are a no-no.
"By creating we think. By living we learn" - Patrick Geddes

Mr Larrington

  • A bit ov a lyv wyr by slof standirds
  • Custard Wallah
    • Mr Larrington's Automatic Diary
Re: Need access to neighbour's land to maintain gable wall.
« Reply #77 on: 15 May, 2015, 11:48:55 am »
Hold on. There's a house in Croydonia that might end up looking nice. Stop right there. I hope you're going to put a discarded fridge out front. There are some standards.

Careful, lad!  Schloß von Brandenburg is technically in Croydonia, though five minues on foot would see you in Lambeth, Bromley or Southwark, according to whim.
External Transparent Wall Inspection Operative & Mayor of Mortagne-au-Perche
Satisfying the Bloodlust of the Masses in Peacetime

Aunt Maud

  • Le Flâneur.
Re: Need access to neighbour's land to maintain gable wall.
« Reply #78 on: 15 May, 2015, 12:01:29 pm »
My view is that any materials to be delivered to your property should be paid for or invoiced at the time of order unless a credit account is created. Once they are within your property they officially belong to you, whether fixed or not.

I'm not talking about £500 jobs, but jobs in the thousands and tens of thousands.

For everyones peace of mind, the whole process should be written down before things start moving.

This includes how much deposit as a percentage for the whole job and a schedule detailing when payments are to be made and how much, plus an agreed no payment strategy and details of any guarantees for the work.

Leave nothing out and all should go well.

Re: Need access to neighbour's land to maintain gable wall.
« Reply #79 on: 15 May, 2015, 01:06:29 pm »
Hold on. There's a house in Croydonia that might end up looking nice. Stop right there. I hope you're going to put a discarded fridge out front. There are some standards.

Careful, lad!  Schloß von Brandenburg is technically in Croydonia, though five minues on foot would see you in Lambeth, Bromley or Southwark, according to whim.
Is Schloß von Brandenburg on Crystal Palace parade?

Mr Larrington

  • A bit ov a lyv wyr by slof standirds
  • Custard Wallah
    • Mr Larrington's Automatic Diary
Re: Need access to neighbour's land to maintain gable wall.
« Reply #80 on: 15 May, 2015, 01:09:46 pm »
Inside the CP Triangle (like the Bermuda Triangle but with more poncy restaurants).
External Transparent Wall Inspection Operative & Mayor of Mortagne-au-Perche
Satisfying the Bloodlust of the Masses in Peacetime

ian

Re: Need access to neighbour's land to maintain gable wall.
« Reply #81 on: 15 May, 2015, 01:23:39 pm »
As a former resident of the People's Democratic Republic of Croydonia (and dweller at the bottom of Anerley Hill), I have reserved rights to demand that discarded white goods be placed in a garden, that pebbledashing should crack and break like some masonry version of eczema, and what garden peeks from shade of the rotting car offers a bountiful harvest of weeds. And let no pavement not be blessed by a discarded mattress.

Re: Need access to neighbour's land to maintain gable wall.
« Reply #82 on: 15 May, 2015, 01:24:40 pm »
Without wandering too far off topic, jsabine, DFS don't wait three years, they have their money before you even get your sofa, as it's all done through finance companies.

I see your point, though, just gave a bad example :)

I do know that about DFS - using them as an example was supposed to add an amusing wrinkle in terms of the retailer-supplier payment terms being doubly irrelevant to the customer where their payment was not even made to the retailer.

Oh well, it amused me. A little.

Re: Need access to neighbour's land to maintain gable wall.
« Reply #83 on: 16 May, 2015, 02:48:59 pm »
Inside the CP Triangle (like the Bermuda Triangle but with more poncy restaurants).
Strange area that, ever since F.W. Woolworth closed - you can buy scented picture frames and hand made tagines, but you try getting your hands on some bog rolls or lightbulbs - not a chance.
I think it is trying to be a high altitude version of Lordship Lane, East Dulwich.

Re: Need access to neighbour's land to maintain gable wall.
« Reply #84 on: 20 May, 2015, 10:57:22 am »
Well as agreed the interim payment was paid, and they're now back, the tricky bit has been scaffolded (took about 30 mins) and work is proceeding.

As a former resident of the People's Democratic Republic of Croydonia (and dweller at the bottom of Anerley Hill), I have reserved rights to demand that discarded white goods be placed in a garden, that pebbledashing should crack and break like some masonry version of eczema, and what garden peeks from shade of the rotting car offers a bountiful harvest of weeds. And let no pavement not be blessed by a discarded mattress.

We've let the side down, ian. The council are so desperate to stop flytipping that they'll get rid of anything (or several things) if you pay them a tenner (probably even a body if you wrapped it up well enough - cf their Don't Mess With Croydon campaign). So when we found a load of old furniture in the shed in our garden (beyond help) we did. God knows what the neighbours think. Paying the council to take things away. Whatever next.


ian

Re: Need access to neighbour's land to maintain gable wall.
« Reply #85 on: 20 May, 2015, 12:19:37 pm »
Croydon are actually very good. We had a 'street manager' who regularly used to come around to collect the mattresses (seriously, what is it with the mattresses?) and deal with issues. (Compare to Tandridge, who eventually get around to responding with the stock 'we don't have funds for that'. Despite my paying more council tax for the dubious privilege.)

Shit cycling provision, though. There's nothing in Croydon that can't be solved by adding more traffic. Other than the traffic.

Aunt Maud

  • Le Flâneur.
Re: Need access to neighbour's land to maintain gable wall.
« Reply #86 on: 20 May, 2015, 04:03:51 pm »
Did they disappear, or were they letting the scratch coat harden ?

Re: Need access to neighbour's land to maintain gable wall.
« Reply #87 on: 20 May, 2015, 04:47:44 pm »
Well, they'd already allowed time for that in the original schedule, which we're now over as work stopped temporarily while we were having our 'discussion'.

They're just leaving now; went and had a look and it looks like they've done a bloody good job so far to be fair.


Aunt Maud

  • Le Flâneur.
Re: Need access to neighbour's land to maintain gable wall.
« Reply #88 on: 21 May, 2015, 06:00:29 pm »
Excellent, are you a happy camper about it ?

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: Need access to neighbour's land to maintain gable wall.
« Reply #89 on: 21 May, 2015, 08:47:27 pm »
And have the neighbours been burgled yet?

Re: Need access to neighbour's land to maintain gable wall.
« Reply #90 on: 21 May, 2015, 09:09:59 pm »
And have the neighbours been burgled yet?
Please Miss!
Deliberately provocative post!

Re: Need access to neighbour's land to maintain gable wall.
« Reply #91 on: 21 May, 2015, 09:29:26 pm »
Excellent, are you a happy camper about it ?

It's funny that you should mention camping; we were supposed to go to Blackberry Wood this weekend (booked for a long time; the works were supposed to be over by now) but that would contravene the housesitting at all times rule  ::-)

There are some very small hairline cracks around the door reveal; one of the lads said something about the limewash filling those in; I'm not sure how true that is, perhaps you can advise... But otherwise it looks a very neat job.

And have the neighbours been burgled yet?

Also funny you should mention that. She's just been round to tell me that they've left a ladder up which obviously the burglars would *love*. So I obligingly went out the back to move it but unfortunately it was very long, very heavy and very solid (ie not aluminium or anything like that). I called my mum (housesitter general) out to help but we both have zero upper body strength and additionally it's so bloody long we were worried it would slip and break a window. Rob is out playing Warhammer til late tonight, not that he's exactly a muscle man either. There's also an unhelpfully placed jasmine archway thing in the garden (it's a very tiny yard really) which means it's not a matter of simply laying the ladder on its side, but of lifting and manouvering it to stop it crushing the arch which neither of us was strong enough to do.

After listening to me and my mum bicker for about ten minutes as we tried to decide what to do, neighbour called over the fence that her husband was in and he'd come and do it for us. Which he did as though it weighed nothing at all. It's now horizontal and locked to the scaffold with a D-lock (as we've been doing every night).

I will be happy when this is over.

ian

Re: Need access to neighbour's land to maintain gable wall.
« Reply #92 on: 21 May, 2015, 09:49:00 pm »
Do you live in the Versailles of West Croydon?

It never ends by the way, now you can gaze upon your pristine exterior and wait for it to crack. Entropy, you may as well embrace it.

I can regale people with the fact that my house is named on Google maps. I figured something exciting must have happened here. Perhaps someone was murdered by bears. Also the last owner designed the sets for several leading BBC TV shows. Which may explain the shaky nature of some of the DIY.

Gattopardo

  • Lord of the sith
  • Overseaing the building of the death star
Re: Need access to neighbour's land to maintain gable wall.
« Reply #93 on: 21 May, 2015, 11:58:02 pm »
Croydon are actually very good. We had a 'street manager' who regularly used to come around to collect the mattresses (seriously, what is it with the mattresses?) and deal with issues. (Compare to Tandridge, who eventually get around to responding with the stock 'we don't have funds for that'. Despite my paying more council tax for the dubious privilege.)

Shit cycling provision, though. There's nothing in Croydon that can't be solved by adding more traffic. Other than the traffic.

Amazed at the amount of mattress and divan that appear at the end om my road....as well as the occassional sofa

Jaded

  • The Codfather
  • Formerly known as Jaded
Re: Need access to neighbour's land to maintain gable wall.
« Reply #94 on: 22 May, 2015, 12:11:19 am »
Ah, the joys of expansive suburbia, where the occasional sofa trumps the occasional table.
It is simpler than it looks.

Aunt Maud

  • Le Flâneur.
Re: Need access to neighbour's land to maintain gable wall.
« Reply #95 on: 22 May, 2015, 04:45:23 am »
Limewash fills all sorts of Mister Meaners...........erhm, anyway.

It will fill hairline cracks, like the chap said. The reason your getting them is because the lime putty ( the white stuff in the bucket, remember, from your online crash course in building with lime) is full of water when its mixed and when it dries it loses volume and the render shrinks a bit.

The lime render won't have dried fully yet, but it'll be well on its way after a couple of weeks and will start to carbonate, go hard and become durable. It should have done most of its shrinking by now as it's been on porous brickwork in the sun and wind. All bricks except engineering bricks are porous, especially London Stocks which is what your house is probably built from, so don't worry about "Oooh, my bricks are all porous  :o ". If you want to check that out, put a dry brick in a bucket of water and it'll bubble away nicely.

To make sure the cracks aren't getting worse, take a photo of them now and another on Monday and compare them.

Lime is a marvellous thing and by lime washing the wall you'll be filling the cracks with binder ( lime, think glue for sticking particles of sand together for making mortar products) and creating a multi layer, moisture permeable, weatherproof coating on the render. It'll last for about 4 years or so and need re-doing to keep it looking lovely and white. It's easy peasy to do and cheap as chips. You can get all sorts of colours to put in it as well, our lime wash on the internal kitchen wall has cobalt in it and is a fetching shade of blue and our external brick panels are yellow ochre.

A bucket of lime 20-25kg costs about £8 and to make lime wash mix 50/50 with clean water with a whisk ( one of those things that you put in the chuck of a drill for mixing plaster with ). Two buckets of lime make 100 litres or so of good lime wash and should be enough to re-do a semi with two coats. You can get all sorts of other stuff like casein or raw milk to put in lime wash to make it stick to timber and modern gypsum plaster, but it's not necessary for washing lime render.

Compare that to the cost of a fancy pants modern exterior paint. To make it dazzle white  8) 8)  mix Dolly Blue in with it, if you can find some in grandma's under sink cupboard.

Re: Need access to neighbour's land to maintain gable wall.
« Reply #96 on: 22 May, 2015, 06:56:59 am »
Thanks Aunt Maud, that's all very useful to know. Limewash does sound like very good value compared to modern paint.

Perhaps unusually, when the old render came off, our house had the yellow London Stocks on the front elevations and red bricks everywhere else, which I've not seen before (and my job involves looking at a lot of houses, and a lot of bricks...)

The next thing, I suspect, will be painting the modern rear extension, which we left alone for obvious reason, but which I suspect will now look very grubby next to the rest of the freshly limewashed house. I'm guessing we probably can't limewash it...(it's currently rendered and painted).


Aunt Maud

  • Le Flâneur.
Re: Need access to neighbour's land to maintain gable wall.
« Reply #97 on: 22 May, 2015, 07:13:41 am »
I'm guessing we probably can't limewash it...(it's currently rendered and painted).

You could lime wash modern cement render with casein mixed in the lime wash, but you'd have to get all the paint off first and I'm not sure how durable it would be. The casein, being a milk protein could possibly attract mould growth when applied to an exterior wall (I'm guessing here)  whereas lime wash is a strong alkali and nothing will grow in it, but it won't stick to cement render on its own.

Once the casein layer is on and dry you could probably just lime wash it, which should work nicely.

You can get all this stuff from;   http://www.mikewye.co.uk

Aunt Maud

  • Le Flâneur.
Re: Need access to neighbour's land to maintain gable wall.
« Reply #98 on: 09 June, 2015, 06:58:08 am »
Have they finished ?

Re: Need access to neighbour's land to maintain gable wall.
« Reply #99 on: 09 June, 2015, 09:19:34 am »
Would lime wash adhere to fibreglass? Does it come off if you brush against it?
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