CCTV system

[Cliff Topp]

Cliff Topp used his keyboard to write :

Thanks for all the (varying) information and opinions. The house isn't actually on the market yet so I was enquiring more as to what's the done thing and/or would it be considered tight to take something like a CCTV system, rather than the legalities of what's listed on forms and things because as yet, nothing is. The CCTV system is only two years old so it's modern enough and the videos and images from the cameras are superb, so given the replies here, I think we'll list is as going with us.

[alan_m]

When my mother purchased her house the previous owners removed everything including all the light fittings. They did (re)fit cables from the ceiling with a bulb holder. The wires that should have gone into a ceiling rose were expertly twisted together and insulated with Sellotape.

[NY]

I remember the hassle I had removing two very heavy "antiqued brass" candelabra light fittings in the living room of my old house and then replacing them with simple lengths of lighting cable and pendant light fittings. The hard part (doing it on my own) was taking the weight of the thing as soon as I'd unhooked the chain that anchored the candelabras to the ceiling, when they were only supported by the two wires, and especially as I undid the second wire ;-) I did think about also replacing the thyristor dimmer for those lights with a plain switch, but then I remembered what a bastard it had been to wire up ten years earlier because in addition to the mains feed, there were *two* T&E cables, one to each candelabra, rather than a single T&E which daisy-chained between fittings. And the builders had used

30A ring-main cable rather than 15A lighting cable so the wires and overall cables had a mind of their own and wouldn't fit neatly into the backing box when I originally replaced the switch with the dimmer. Sod that for a game of soldiers - they can have the dimmer - I'm not going through that again!

I had a bigger panic when we moved out of the house before the one where we are now. I'd installed a Hive heating controller which we wanted to take with me, so I had to re-fit the original timer/programmer (kept safely for just this event). I'd carefully labelled each wire in the cable (permanent live, neutral, CH on, HW on) with little paper labels sellotaped around each wire, but in pulling the cable out of the backing box I accidentally ripped off the labels. The live and neutral were obvious: either red and black or brown and blue (I forget which standard) but the berk who'd originally installed the wiring many years before had used the same colour wire for both CH and HW on. I had to try it one way, turn on just the hot water tap, and wait for ages to see if it ran warm. I could hear the boiler fire up, but that could have been for either CH or HW. When the water failed to run warm, I felt a radiator pipe and eventually it ran warm. So I'd got them the wrong way round. Other way, nothing happened. Shit! We had to move out the following day! Eventually the boiler fired up and the HW ran warm. And turning on the CH at the programmer and turning the thermostat up to max soon caused the radiators to warm. Job done - but I was panicking for a moment.

[John Rumm]

When buying our first place, we looked round one already vacated place where the previous owner had taken gas fires and their decorative gas taps as well. They had thoughtfully left a note in the fireplace warning not to turn the gas on!

[williamwright]

I'd expect no less from you Mark.

Bill

[Chris J Dixon]

[snip amazingly comprehensive document]

Thinking about all the bits of knowledge that I have about the house and its basic operation, it struck me that my partner, who is significantly younger, and therefore more likely to have to cope with it all sometime, would know little about it.

I have begun a "Home Manual" in which I give details, some with photos, showing stop taps and isolators, fused spurs (a surprising number, and not all in obvious positions), heating system, changing downlights, computer setups and backup processes, and so forth.

There is still work to be done, on sections like:

"Television etc Another tricky one. It took quite a lot of persuading to get everything to talk to each other, and I never really knew which incantation finally worked. "

I have also gathered together in a binder as many relevant instruction manuals as I can find about the house.

Chris

[Tricky Dicky]

I made a similar “Home Manual” when we moved out of our last house not that I expected the ignorant bastard that moved in appreciated it. We got a complaint the next day “where was the gas fire in the lounge?” Which in fact was an electric optimist stove there was not even a gas pipe there. We left him a complete kitchen even an American style fridge freezer which was too big for our new kitchen and even the height adjustable stools for the breakfast bar all he had to do was fill the cupboards!

Richard

[Tim Lamb]

My wife is the *keeper* of the domestic instruction manuals. She may not understand them but she knows where they are!

Perhaps an opportunity for the d-i-y Wiki to draft out suggestions/format for an updateable domestic tackle management scheme?

[Bob Eager]

I did similar when we last moved (28 years ago!).

I need to do more for my SO as well; although one son is tech savvy, he's an Apple fanboy (the rest of the stuff is not)!

I have done some things. On the side of the equipment rack is a 'black start' guide, showing the order in which things have to be booted, etc.

All important manuals should be in hardcopy in the filing cabinet, but electronic copies can be found in relevant parts of the house wiki as well.

[Theo]

Our last people passed on a folder of all those things. It's now several :-)

It would be useful to have a checklist of 'things to remember to tell the next people'. Especially the things that are obvious to you when you know them, but very hard to establish if you don't - eg where the drains or pipes run, which would require copious excavation to determine if the previous owner hadn't passed on the information.

(my top tip: being on site when the surveyor visited was a great way to find out about these things)

If there is any quick way to draw up diagrams of where things are (especially confined spaces like lofts, underfloor voids, etc where you can't get a good photo or measure things easily) that would be interesting too.

Theo

[Fredxx]

CCTV may not be high on the buyers list of features that affect value.

If you are considering taking it all with you, and happy to make good any damage so caused I wouldn't mention it on any sales blurb.

Furthermore the disclosure of what is left is usually given after an agreed price and some level of financial commitment in hiring solicitors and surveyors. This is where I would leave it off the disclosure list, and/or mention you're taking it with you. You might find it an offer of leaving it smooths over some other finding and subsequent offer if they're keen on you leaving it.

[SteveW]

However, even under perfect circumstances, that bandwidth is shared, while a decent switch can give a full gigabit to each device - although it does depend upon what they are all talking to and the slowest link in the chain.

[R D S]

Between solicitors and surveyors it's a miracle anything gets bought/sold.

[R D S]

It could arguably put some off.

[Robin]

Point of detail: *include* it on the list of fittings but show it as

*excluded* from the sale. That way it's documented as part of the contract. And if the buyer wants it, and you agree a price, you get the money as part and parcel of the sale.

[Cliff Topp]

Good idea Robin, cheers.

[Mark Carver]

Yes. Rather like Swimming Pools. They can reduce value of a house.

[Paul]

I prefer the naive user benchmarks, because who has time to set up an "RF lab" in their house :-)

"Anyways, After swapping hardware and stepping up to AX wifi 6 I'm seeing read/write speeds of about 90MB/s"

I much prefer benches like that, because then, if you happen to get a little more, there will be a smile on your face.

It's like if a car manufacturer promised 50 miles per gallon and you were seeing 17 miles per gallon. That's the Wifi industry for you :-) That's the kind of cars they make.

Paul

[ARW]

:-)

[ARW]

When my brother bought his house the shed was not included in the sale so it was assumed it was going to be taken away.

The sellers (who for some bizarre reason had not packed and asked for an extra day to move out) said the shed was £300 cash or they would chop it up into firewood where it stood.

Usual stuff, fight, police, sellers property thrown into the street apart from the shed that my brother still has.