MadManMike

Yeah that's correct I think. Our mortgage advisor has done all the sums for us so it's made me a bit lazy... She offered us three different products, but a 2 year fixed is the safest option at the moment. Only about 90 years left until we finish paying for it

I'd be lying if I said I fully understood how it works, but our LTV is now 70%, which I gather is good... I guess if the value was the same, the monthly repayments would be higher because the rates have increased, so the jump in value has kept the repayments a bit lower - that's a guess though, someone more educated feel free to correct me!

I feel for anyone trying to get on the property ladder now, we did it in April 2021 and 100% wouldn't be able to now. We're renewing our mortgage this month / next and Barclays have changed their valuation from £269k (April 2021) to £335k (now). That's a 25% increase in house price, coupled with the increased mortgage rates - no chance we'd have enough deposit to buy this place. Rents at our old place went from about £925 to somewhere around £1200-1300 now, so we'd not be able to put anything away in our savings either. It looks like we're doing another 2 year fixed and the monthly payments are going up by £80, which isn't as bad as I expected (And much better than if we'd renewed in November or December) We got really lucky and bought at just the right time, surely the market will crash soon with far fewer first time buyers?

It's about to be returned, unused, as for some reason the hot water just started working properly again... I still suspect the microswitch is faulty, but all the time it's working I'll leave it as it is. Hah, no but I do have a mild concussion after twatting my head fixing the downstairs toilet earlier. Home ownership!

The manufacturer claims the microswitch and others parts aren't service items - only the motor is. How true that is, I don't know. Anyway, new ZA5 arrives today, pretty quick to swap over so fingers crossed it solves the problem...

Done some more Googles... seems like the microswitch may have failed in that actuator, since it's separate from the motor - the motor fires up and opens the valve, but the microswitch may not be working, hence the boiler doesn't fire up (Intermittently). Looks like I'm buying another ZA5 actuator and replacing the whole unit (Keeping the motor from the current one, since it's brand new...) Motor was £22, new actuator is £50, so if it fixes it that's still a decent saving over a plumber. Fingers crossed.

Any idea what it'll cost to get the chimney removed? Good news that it can be 'patched up' rather than fully replaced. I had the same thing with local roofers, that's why I went with a random Facebook handyman - I guess with all the bad weather lately, the roofers are flat out.

Weird, I didn't see a reply on here, sorry! The valve itself is fine, not sticking at all - since replacing the motor in the actuator, you can see it moving. For a while it seemed to work OK, but the last couple of days it's gone cold again. I've noticed that when the HW comes on, either through the timer or by manually turning it on, the boiler doesn't always fire up - Googling that brings up all sorts of weird, unrelated results, so I guess it's time to call a plumber.

Well I'm sure you've all been on the edge of your seats waiting for this update: A good 14 hours of rain (Sorry Mark!) and our ceilings have stayed dry (Sorry Mark!). It seems my cheap-guy-off-Facebook gamble paid off (Sorry Mark!). Unfortunately though, the cat needs a trip to the vets and my hot water is playing up again. Also just got our quarterly electric bill, up from something like £130 to £500. With Sheryl off on maternity and now earning basically zero, that means I'm covering everything - broken roof, broken heating, broken cat and massively increased bills and food costs. The next five months are going to be credit card heavy and a real struggle.

Well, the blokes have gone and I owe them £350. Is the roof fixed? Who knows. Apparently they moved some tiles, cleaned the moss away because it was growing and creating gaps and they sorted the existing flashing by re-sealing it. Two leaks at the front and one at the back. We'll find out when it rains again...

Ooof. Major headache man I'm really hoping my guys don't turn out like this, I definitely have trust issues with tradesmen, for this reason. Sounds like a 0% credit card and new roof is the way to go, probably easier than continually paying out close to a grand to have it patched up - that's the route I'd take anyway.

They've come to look again this morning and it's changed to £300-350 now, since they can see more (It was dark last night). I think it is the flashing, it looks like a right mess up there. There's also three tiles that have moved and a drainpipe that could do with moving a bit. They've said the felt may need replacing but they don't know that until they start lifting tiles. I reckon it'll end up close to a grand, as it's all the original mid-90's stuff that probably is due to be replaced. What's the craic with your guys? Are they coming back to sort it?

I've been quoted £200 to replace a load of flashing, which is what I suspected the issue was. Bloke seems sound and at £200 I'm willing to risk it... Worst case, I'll be up there in a few days replacing it myself.

Oh man, the worst time to read this. I have a guy from FB coming to look at my roof as I read this... I have a strong feeling he will be the same kinda guy. Good luck getting yours sorted!

Can TF come to the rescue once again? I'm a plumbing noob, so go easy... We recently noticed that our hot water was gradually getting colder, to the point where we had no hot water at all. I had a look in our airing cupboard, where the tank and two Drayton actuators are fitted - one for heating, one for hot water. I had my partner turn both on one at a time and I figured out that the motor had burned out on the hot water actuator, so the valve wasn't opening - hence the water in the tank gradually cooling down, since no new hot water was getting in. As a temporary fix I took the actuator off and manually opened the valve and left it open. We ordered a replacement motor for the actuator. After fitting the new motor, the actuator works as it should - you can hear it and see it going through the motions when the hot water is turned on. For some reason the water is now only slightly warm, unless we press "hot water advance" to give it a boost. We've not changed the timers or anything, so it comes on as it did before the motor died. Before this issue, the water was always hot when we needed it. Any suggestions as to what may have happened since replacing the motor? It's definitely working as the water gets a little warm and then hot if we press the advance button. With the dead motor, it didn't heat up at all. For reference, the actuator is a Drayton ZA5, photo of the unit attached.

10,500ft of climbing on a single speed, damn - you'll be rivalling Airbus soon That jump shot is a great photo! Congrats on the win dude.

Funny you mention Wentwood, we've been meaning to do a walk there pretty much since we first moved here - I think we've gone everywhere but Wentwood now. Sheryl already knows I'll be scoping it out for trails, next time we decide to go for a walk I think I'll suggest there. When I last did Cwmcarn I did the red and the purple once, then I was totally exhausted, that was at the peak of my fitness so I doubt I'd be able to do that now. Does the red trail still have the jump section that you can loop back round and do again? That was a fun feature. The most local to me is in the screenshot I've attached. I've not been there, but apparently there's some half decent trails there, so they're probably the best option for some fitness building. I can ride to them, but it's along a sketchy 60 road so not ideal. If you go to Mojo, you may as well check out FoD - the start point is at Pedalabikeaway, which seems to be pretty close to Mojo.

Quadzilla, that's the one - last time I rode it I was on a bike that was too big for me, so that probably negatively impacted my experience, but I remember struggling quite a bit on that section. Would be interesting to go there and see how different it all is now. FoD I'm not actually that familiar with overall, I've stuck to the same old stuff when I've gone there. There's a few DH runs that you can get an uplift to, but I've never done them so I have no idea how easy it is to get back to the top without uplift. The blue trail I think is around 40 minutes to complete, possibly a bit longer. Launchpad is relatively quick to get back to the top, about 10 minutes of pushing I think (You can ride it, but it's incredibly steep!) I think it's pretty compact compared to BPW, I've done the ride-up option there a couple of times and found the climb to the top too much. I'd do it on an e-bike but I'd choose the uplift for the normal bike these days. Once it warms up I really need to get out and build some fitness back, I'd be useless at all these places now. First time ever making a new years resolution perhaps?

Cafall has the zig zag section, I can't remember what it's called, but yeah it's a slow climb (At least with me at the pedals haha). Twrch I had to get off a few times, climbing is my weak point especially when it's techy. FoD is probably my favourite place to ride, Verderers is only a blue trail so not technically demanding, but has great flowy parts - the dragons tail section is so much fun, you can easily go way too fast! There's also Launchpad, which is even easier to go way too fast on, it's basically a downhill pump track that's over in under a minute, it's great fun. The red trail there (name escapes me at the moment) I found a bit too rocky and just worn out last time I rode it, it's probably been re-done by now though.

Yeah I've done Cwmcarn a few times, not for 3 or so years though - I think there's more there now, it used to just be a red and a purple trail. Funny that you say the climbs are more welcoming, I found the red one pretty brutal! Certainly easier than Y Wal at Afan though, that climb is brutal Verderers at FoD is one of my favourites and pretty forgiving for someone in my current shape. Definitely up for a ride at some point, probably once things warm up a bit - I'm a fair weather rider and don't really have any winter kit to use even if I was feeling brave. I'll definitely need to do a bit of training, I haven't been on the bike for so long... other than a quick ride around my area, which is totally flat.

As strange as it sounds, there's actually less to ride where I am now - in Brizzle I had Ashton Court a short ride away, as well as many pump tracks. Where I am now, I have to stick the bike in the car and drive to trails and I've struggled with the motivation to do that... There's apparently something fairly nearby which I plan to check out once it warms up again. We bought a house in April 2021 in Undy, a small village between Chepstow and Newport.

Oh awesome, didn't realise it was that local - I'll have to check it out at some point. I say "at some point" because my bike is under quite a thick layer of dust at the moment... I've been very lazy since moving out here, even before the arrival of the wee boy.

That landscape photo looks amazing, where is that?

Doesn't seem like the best location to be a breaker, not exactly secure there

This one, to be precise: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bluetooth-Scanner-Diagnostic-Adapter-Android/dp/B07CP632CL/ref=sr_1_12?keywords=elm327&qid=1669219392&sr=8-12