Home maintenance

[bantams]

100 year old houses in the UK are a lot better than the new ones

So true but doing a re wire or any major plumbing work in a 100 year old House in the UK is a right Pain in the ass

[SpencerH]

Hmmm... Rock gardens... Are there plants in rock gardens? (Other than those in arid places.)

I think the Japanese are into those.

There are japanese-style rock gardens but you dont have to be that esoteric.

[MikeH]

So true but doing a re wire or any major plumbing work in a 100 year old House in the UK is a right Pain in the ass

Just had mine rewired... can confirm this.

[Arrian]

I bought a house that was, at the time, 6 years old. That meant it was pretty new and thus didn't need expensive upgrades but was old enough to have shaken out any new house issues (for instance, foundation settling/cracking, which the 1st owner had repaired). This is good, because I'm nearly hopeless with tools (I've improved from totally hopeless). My method of dealing with repair work is to start calling contractors for bids on the work. It's nice to have a civil engineer for a father-in-law, though See if you can swing that!

I can't comment much on low-maintanence lawn care - I have a big lawn and a rider mower. It is what it is. I'm happy to let the forest encroach and reduce the lawn, but I've taken no active steps to reduce the lawn myself. I let the lawn grow as it will. I have a friend who waged war with crabgrass. I won't. It's grass. It's green. Whatever. I don't water it or fertilize it.

-Arrian

[The Mad Monk]

Weeds can get into rock gardens too.

They are only weeds if you regard them as such.

I prefer the term, "welcomed native flora".

[MikeH]

Wildflower meadow.

[The Mad Monk]

I can't comment much on low-maintanence lawn care - I have a big lawn and a rider mower. It is what it is. I'm happy to let the forest encroach and reduce the lawn, but I've taken no active steps to reduce the lawn myself. I let the lawn grow as it will. I have a friend who waged war with crabgrass. I won't. It's grass. It's green. Whatever. I don't water it or fertilize it.

-Arrian

This.

[Zoetstofzoetje]

I've lived in a whole bunch of houses in a bunch of countries. Generally speaking, new is better. Of course, 'newliness' problems are an issue. Like, in my current house, the floor tiles started to pop up, and the sauna house fell into a cliff during the rain - the builder forgot that the ground is dry and prone to landslides.

That's still miles ahead of my experiences with old UK houses. No proper isolation, noisy, wooden floors. Worst case was a house with a 13th century foundation, on the beach. Nice views, but when the tide came up all the woodlice would crawl up in order not to drown in the floorboards...

[Zoetstofzoetje]

By the way, why do the English carpet their bathrooms?? It's ridiculous. When I complained about this to my landlords, one poured concrete on top of the carpet, the other landlord just looked at me as if I was nuts.

[DanS]

Except here, there's little depreciation from a new house. Size and location drive the price, age is relatively irrelevant.

In the US, apartments depreciate, but houses do not.

[MikeH]

That's still miles ahead of my experiences with old UK houses. No proper isolation, noisy, wooden floors. Worst case was a house with a 13th century foundation, on the beach. Nice views, but when the tide came up all the woodlice would crawl up in order not to drown in the floorboards...

Yeah... there is a slight difference between 100 years and 800 years old...

[MikeH]

By the way, why do the English carpet their bathrooms?? It's ridiculous. When I complained about this to my landlords, one poured concrete on top of the carpet, the other landlord just looked at me as if I was nuts.

Huh? I don't recall seeing that anywhere.

[Garth Vader]

I can't comment much on low-maintanence lawn care - I have a big lawn and a rider mower. It is what it is. I'm happy to let the forest encroach and reduce the lawn, but I've taken no active steps to reduce the lawn myself. I let the lawn grow as it will. I have a friend who waged war with crabgrass. I won't. It's grass. It's green. Whatever. I don't water it or fertilize it.

-Arrian

Many things are like this. There is a core of maintanence that you will have to do, but that isn't that much. If you want things to look "perfect" or do a lot of upgrades your time investment will go up accordingly.

You don't specify your situation, but in many cases the extra work is not chosen by you, but it must be done by you.

[ColdWizard]

If you're going to do the lawn stuff yourself, remember to anticipate the maintenance and storage hassles of yard equipment.

[Zoetstofzoetje]

Huh? I don't recall seeing that anywhere.

out of five houses I lived in, in the NorthWest, four had it.