TV builders all in it together?

[Jim S]

Could it be that the house programmes on TV are actually fixed/sponsored by the building trade. My new neighbours have ripped the entire inside of their Victorian terraced house back to the bricks and been working for over three months (well the builders have) replacing the plaster with tack-on plaster board. Most of the walls (according to the builders) were perfectly good, as were the windows and roof, both of which they replaced, because the tenant (or more likely his wife) thought it necessary.

[Tim Watts]

On Thursday 09 January 2014 13:12 Jim S wrote in uk.d-i-y:

Since when does a landlord spend that much money because the tenant's wife is a bit of a whiner? I wonder if it was at least getting close to being a good idea?

[Jim S]

What landlord? THEIR Victorian.........

[John Williamson]

Some confusion between tenant and occupier, I think.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I'd be most surprised if the original plaster on a Victorian house was perfectly good. And original windows and roof even when in perfect condition - again unlikely - can be vastly improved to modern insulation standards.

[Tim Watts]

On Thursday 09 January 2014 15:48 Jim S wrote in uk.d-i-y:

"because the tenant"?

[Tim Watts]

On Thursday 09 January 2014 16:43 Phil L wrote in uk.d-i-y:

It's what made me sound every sq ft of my walls witha 3/4" spanner as a tapper, marking the loose plaster. Then I hacked that off and PVA'd everything for the plasterer.

Net result - I maybe missed a couple of places - but the areas are small and of no consequence. All of my plaster is basically sound now.

[RJH]

Quite - although IME the walls and browning (or whatever the bit between plaster and brick actually is) can be perfectly sound. Just had a number of walls skimmed, and looks good to me.

The ceilings and any/all lath/plaster another story, of course.

[Jim S]

Silly me - replace with 'new owner' Blushes.

[Tim Watts]

On Thursday 09 January 2014 18:26 Jim S wrote in uk.d-i-y:

Hehe. Your story is now believable (thinks of Rigsby before!).

[Jim S]

It just occurred to me that several years ago a house in the street I now live in appeared in one of those series where the blonde girls (whose name I can't remember - but not the current one) 'did up' a house to put it on the market. I now see both the vendor and the buyer, who are married to each other and live in the house next door to the original. Might be a coincidence?

[Nightjar]

It may depend upon how old they are and how long they plan on living there. What may be acceptably good today, might not be in, say, 20 years' time. If you plan on living in a property past retirement, it can be a good idea to have all the expensive jobs done while you are still earning.

Colin Bignell