Mike And Su's New Home.

[poliphilo]

It's in Romford. Apart from a trip to Southend last year, I don't know Essex at all. That'll be changing now.

We went for lunch at The Orange Tree in Havering-atte-Bower. I'd recommend it.

Afterwards a trip to B&Q to buy paint and paint stripper and cleaning materials. The woman who sold Mike and Su the house from put her name to a document saying everything was in working order and they arrived to find half the lights were fused and the shower and downstairs toilet were broken and...argh!

See the trees beyond the house? That's where the local park is. They have an uninterrupted view into it from their front windows.

Comments

[davesmusictank.livejournal.com]

The only time i was in Essex is when i went over to Tilbury and Hornchucrch. That was at least ten years ago.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I believe it gets more interesting the deeper you go. I like the looks of Colchester. And then eventually there's Suffolk.

[davesmusictank.livejournal.com]

Ah Suffolk is a lovely county. Been there a few times, and specifically Aldeburgh and the Snapes.

[internet-sampo.livejournal.com]

It looks nice!

We've been hearing a lot about Romford lately, we've been rewatching Darkplace

"Set in Darkplace Hospital, "over the very gates of Hell," in Romford, Essex,[4] Garth Marenghi's Darkplace "

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garth_Marenghi%27s_Darkplace

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Ah, yes...

[lblanchard.livejournal.com]

Didn't they hire a home inspector to check on things before buying? That's pretty routine here. I would worry that if there are lights and bathroom fixtures out of order there might be issues with the roof, the heating, the hidden plumbing, etc.

Otherwise....it's lovely that their front view is a park. Romford doesn't look terribly far from where you all are.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

It's standard practice to get a survey done. In fact a legal requirement. I can't think why these problems weren't picked up.

It's an hour's drive from where we are. Only one has to cross the Thames at Dartford and that can be congested.

[qatsi.livejournal.com]

Depending on what type of survey you get, it can be very cursory indeed. It's not a legal requirement, but any lender will demand it (but only the valuation aspect, to confirm that they aren't really putting their money at risk, which at best would only reveal serious structural problems with a property).

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I suppose a structural survey wouldn't necessarily look at things like showers and toilets. Ah well, one lives and learns.

[artkouros.livejournal.com]

That's a lovely place. What is the roof made of? It seems to me that English homes are (or were, anyway) made to last - as opposed to ours.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

It's a very typical London house of its era. I'd guess it
was built in the 1890s- give or take a few years. The roof is tiled (I think) or it might be covered in slates.
The yellow brick is local. Up north- where I lived for most of my adult life- the brick is mostly red. Different clays, you see.

[artkouros.livejournal.com]

When I was tiny-ish we lived in Mineral Wells, Texas, and the earth there was red. My mom worked at the Can-Tex plant where they made millions of bricks and miles of pipe from the local red clay. The road into town was still paved with red bricks when I was young. There is still some regional variation in building materials - for instance we have no stone around Houston, but things are becoming homogeneous.
There are very few tile or slate roofs here - that sort of long lasting extravagance is rare.