jrpfinch

I'm in Camberwell and have also had issues over the past week. Coincidence perhaps, but perhaps not.

It generated hurricane force winds, but (in insurance at least) it would be classed as an extra tropical cyclone (ETC). A serious winter ETC generally appears every 2-3 years starting in the Bay Of Biscay. They usually pass over Central Europe rather than the UK. The last big one was Xynthia in 2010. They are sparsely reported in the UK media, as they are generally not interested in continental European news!

A well-regarded structural engineer told me chemical injection based damp proofing is a con. Find the source of the damp. In my case it was condensation. Fixed either by dry-lining or restoring the interior back to original lime plaster. Both v expensive but that's the price you pay for period properties.

I have used Mason And Green and can recommend them. I have never been able to figure them out though. As far as I can see there is no physical office on Red Post Hill. Last time I ordered one I ended up with someone from Dulwich Cars who had never heard of M&G. I wonder if they're just another trading name for Dulwich Cars.

I suppose the logical conclusion is that rates will rise when: There is some instability which disrupts the global labour pool. and/or Foreigners decide UK debt is a bad investment (either because it can't meet repayments or because they worry about sterling devaluation)

> 1. High interest rates in the 70s and 80s were > linked to very high rates if inflation (13% on > average in the 70s hitting a peak of 25% one > year!). Interest rates were high in part in an > attempt to tackle this. Everything changed in > 1990s when the central bank (both in the UK and > many around the world) were explicitly give > inflation targets and then later granted > independence. This independence freed them from > political manipulations of the interest rate and > the money supply to try and influence the foreign > exchange rate. Since that independence was > granted and clear goal sets?managing price > inflation and stimulating economic growth-- the > interest rate landscape in this country has > shifted dramatically. Suggesting we look to the > 80s as a model of what interest rates might be in > future misses the very fundamental changes that > have occurred. This is the line peddled by politicians. My interpretation: The opening up of Eastern Europe and China post-1990 meant there was suddenly a seemingly-infinite pool of cheap labour. This meant central banks could keep interest rates low without stoking inflation. The downside is that instead of wage inflation, we ended up a credit boom and asset price inflation (not just properties, but commodities and equities too). Another less obvious downside to low inflation is that the real value of your debt erodes more slowly. Everyone moans about how high interest rates were in the 1970s-80s, but forgets that the value of mortgages in relation to wages fell very very quickly.

Louisa Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > John variety comes in all shapes and sizes. > Unfortunately, the demographic homework obviously > wasn't done on this occasion. A pub offering what > the Draft House offers would do amazingly well in > upmarket Richmond-upon-Thames or Chiswick for > example, but it doesn't appeal to the inner city > younger crowds with less disposable income. Stormbird in Camberwell is always full. I'd say Draft House didn't succeed because ED is too suburban; not the other way around.

I gather the Half Moon pub is closed for about a year. I believe it's listed so the clean-up/drying operation is not straightforward.

Update to my situation (this may not help you beanie, but may others) Part of our work involved hacking off the old plaster to (the damp) brick and starting again. A couple of Victorian house maintenance books recommended using lime plaster, as this is breathable so less condensation gets trapped in the wall. However, all the builders/plasterers I spoke to said I should seal the wall using a cement-based plaster. The builder I eventually used hacked off the plaster and reapplied a cement-based plaster onto the still-damp wall. Four months on it's still not dry, although it does appear to be drying slowly with the help of a dehumidifier. There are salt stains all over the plaster. I now recognise that when builders can't do something (or can't be bothered), rather than admitting it they proceed to recommend something they can do, even if it's not appropriate. There don't appear to be many builders who can be bothered to lime plaster. With hindsight, I would have carried on searching for a builder who could lime plaster, insisted they hack off the plaster, wait for the brick to dry, repoint using lime mortar and finally plaster using lime plaster. If you find a local builder/plasterer who can do this, please let me know! I'm looking for someone like these guys in Shropshire: http://www.heritage-house.org/

If it's not at earth level, it will be a leak or condensation or poor external brickwork. So bricklayer, plumber or opening the window should do it. May need a plasterer as well to redo the ceiling. Perhaps a fan if it's not practicable to open windows regularly.

This is also true for insurance. People pick the cheapest insurer on an aggregator and then wonder why the service is so terrible. You can have cheap. You can have quality. Difficult (but not impossible) to have both.

The problem with regulating estate agency is that you'd have less competition. The cost of moving house would be more in line with other countries (say the USA where buyer and seller in some states pay 5% commission each).

Mick Mac has it. In the old days, you'd meet teams like Grasshoppers in the semifinal. Having to compete against the one champion from every single country is much easier than competing against the four top teams of the strongest countries.

Last month was quieter generally because the wind was blowing easterly.

I've always wondered about the potential conflict of interest with CheckATrade and Rated People. If tradesmen fund the website, there's an incentive for the website to remove bad reviews.

FM Mangal gets a 5. So you can be cheap, tasty, independent, serve kebabs and still get a 5.

Underinsurance is not a good idea. Some policies use the concept of averaging, eg if you underinsure by 50% then any claim, even if it is under the sum insured, gets cut by 50%. The idea is that even though an item is not insured, it makes your house more likely to be burgled. Check the small print.

I imagine these award things are linked to how much revenue the paper gets from estate agents in that area. Or where the staff happen to own property.

(PS I can't recommend them yet because they have not finished their work, although seem good so far)

I am using a combination of Belmont Builders, Klaus Degener (carpenter) and Steve Eade (plasterer). I had a damp survey from an independent surveyor, but would not bother again. They ripped up the floorboards (which you can do yourself) and then went into lots of unnecessary detail about what type of damp/fungus was growing. I found the tradesmen much more helpful. If it's a small job, it's probably more cost effective to just bring in carpenters/plasterers/roofers/plumbers yourself. Building contractors charge a lot to project-manage the tradesmen. See also my post on this thread: http://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/forum/read.php?30,1068179

At the risk of sounding like a stuck record, don't bother with specialist damp-proofers. Find the source of the damp and fix that. The causes of damp are: i) Leaky pipework (get a plumber or roofer to fix leak) ii) Ground level too high outside (builder/bricklayer to lower ground level and/or add drain) iii) Inadequate ventilation/condensation (bricklayer to fit vents airbricks) You can check for ii) using a tape measure (should be 20cm-30cm clearance between inside floor and outside ground level). Get a plumber/roofer to check for i), on a rainy day if necessary. iii) is easy to identify: are your airbricks blocked/is your chimney vented? Do you have airbricks at all? You will save a lot of money this way. Once you get rid of the cause, the damp will go away. DPCs do not "fail", even Victorian slate ones. Chemical DPCs are a waste of money. If you have any of i)-iii) above, a chemical DPC will not help and a brick/slate DPC will not help. I know this because my house has both and still has damp. The so-called 30-year damp guarantee passed over to us from the previous owners was worthless, and in any case, would you want somebody who had fitted a failed DPC to your house to do further work? Once you have fixed the cause, if you have wood damage, get a carpenter. If you have plaster damage, get a plasterer. I am having damp-related work done to my house and have concluded that I will avoid damp specialists in future, independent or otherwise, and especially if they are affiliated to the PCA. A specialist "damp industry" does not appear to exist in other old-world countries, certainly not to the extent it does here. It seems a uniquely English phenomenon and is thanks to the great PR and legal efforts of the PCA and its predecessor (the BWPDA).

I am having damp-related work done to my house and have concluded that I will avoid damp specialists in future, independent or otherwise, and especially if they are affiliated to the PCA. The causes of damp are: i) Leaky pipework (get a plumber or roofer to fix leak) ii) Ground level too high outside (builder/bricklayer to lower ground level and/or add drain) iii) Inadequate ventilation/condensation (bricklayer to fit vents airbricks) You can check for ii) using a tape measure (should be 20cm-30cm clearance between inside floor and outside ground level). Get a plumber/roofer to check for i), on a rainy day if necessary. iii) is easy to identify: are your airbricks blocked/is your chimney vented? Do you have airbricks at all? You will save a lot of money this way. Once you get rid of the cause, the damp will go away. DPCs do not "fail", even Victorian slate ones. Chemical DPCs are a waste of money. If you have any of i)-iii) above, a chemical DPC will not help and a brick/slate DPC will not help. I know this because my house has both and still has damp. The so-called 30-year damp guarantee passed over to us from the previous owners was worthless, and in any case, would you want somebody who had fitted a failed DPC to your house to do further work? Once you have fixed the cause, if you have wood damage, get a carpenter. If you have plaster damage, get a plasterer. A specialist "damp industry" does not appear to exist in other old-world countries, certainly not to the extent it does here. It seems a uniquely English phenomenon and is thanks to the great PR and legal efforts of the PCA and its predecessor (the BWPDA).

Sorry I should say I found Rhodes Watkins helpful and also Ben Mackereth, although the work hasn't been done yet.

I'm getting damp work done. It's highly unlikely you need a new dpc even if the house is v old. You just need to get rid of the damp source and ensure good ventilation.

It's interesting. Thank you for highlighting it. The East Dulwich age distribution looks like the Brunswick Park, Camberwell distribution shifted up 5 years. Did I read somewhere that all large cities have more young women than men? Single males are more likely to move away/not move in if they're not successful.