Help, calm me. House buying and selling stress

Should have know things where going to well at last. My furniture arrived . I told them where I wanted my furniture putting I even had a plan drawn out. Was it put there a big fat no. In fact they put half my boxes in the garage not were I said to go. Furniture put anywhere. They didn't put my bed together nor my table. Some of the boxes are damaged luckily the contents were ok. Black marks from their shoes on my 2 day old carpet. The carpet fitter who fitted it was at my daughter's fitting her carpet when I phoned he came round and had some stuff and got rid of them. The plastic bag my mattress was in was ripped and a 9" long black dirty mark is on the side of it. My daughter and son in law when back tonight and moved the furniture and put together the table and bed only to find that the central bar that goes down the middle of the bed is missing. Can't use it without. I spoke to Pickfords earlier and as you can guess was very upset. My daughter took photos and has sent them along with an e-mail stating all that went on. I even talked to Pickfords yesterday to mark sure that they covered the floor and wore plastic over shoes because of the carpets. I was assured that they would. 2 narrow mats does not cover much and they didn't wear
the over shoes hence the black marks.
The man came this afternoon from Ikea to measure for my new kitchen the first thing he did as he stepped on the hall mat was to put on plastic over shoes. I just burst into tears he was lovely and even offered to make me a cup of tea. I pulled myself together and explained what had happen.
The whole delivery was a nightmare and the worse thing is the mattress and missing part. That is the bed I shared with my late husband. I don't want a new one .

You are an inspiration craftyone, I hope I get on with jobs with the same enthusiasm as you when I find my new home. What do you have inbetween your patio stone work, have they filled in the gaps? I hope you have dry weather for your soil shifting

I've learnt a lot about the window tax, window glass thickness tax, and sills and drip trays tonight. So very disappointing to find that our converted annexe windows have 'plywood' on the exterior, no wonder they've gone rotten. The specialist is still upstairs and my dog is outside in the car waiting to go for a walk but it's getting DARK. I hate winter!

Oh please ether, please bring mosaics some good news that she can share with us. I cannot be the only one one with my heart in my mouth

Whiff great progress, you must be very tired

I was so determined to get that rotary sorted today, girlpower ladies. I bought a cheap post hole auger from amazon and it was perfect for making that deep hole, plus bits of hands and knees stuff. I made the scaffolding with 4 long metal poles whacked in at angles with a lump hammer, that plus bungees and string. It was like something from a comic but the prospect today was scary, get it wrong and I would have had to lift a crane worth of concrete. Spirit level and gorilla tape and a knife and suddenly the plastic ground post was suspended over empty space, that post holding a tall wooden pole in it, to facilitate the spirit level. I was nervous but one and 2/3 bags of post crete went in via a bucket and a bag over half a hole of water and now the rotary is standing in it, tall, proud and straight. It took less than 5 minutes to set rock hard, would not have been time to straighten anything. Phew, mops brow

I am not going to U3A, I have decided not this year, I would resent not being able to work on my outside space. If I don`t do the work, then it will be barren for another year or more. Patio is finished and I too made brownies for the builders. They have a very tough back breaking job.

Base for gravel around the open rotary tomorrow, half is over the patio, I reckon 2.4 x 1.8 or so, I have laid the rubber edging on top of the soil, ready. There is much earth to shift

Had a few texts tonight from an unknown number ... it's my 'neighbour' number, one short of my last digit.

Apparently it's a new fashion, but it gave me the creeps when he/she asked for my name. I lied!

Sitting outside like a lemon waiting for the sash specialist, he's just phoned to say he's thirty minutes away.

I'm so nervous waiting for the window specialist! I've just made brownies so I can offer him a cup of tea and a cake, he lives about 45 minutes from here.

I have another viewing tomorrow, I was shopping in Morrisons when I got the call. I'm not hoovering again as I've been really careful in case someone else came this week, and I so hate dragging Henry around. I met an old friend of my husband's in Morrisons and we both discussed our mutual hatred of Henry - we are both regretting the purchase! His poor wife has now been poorly for four years and they cannot discover the cause, he is now her carer. He nearly cried when he told me, apparently she has lost five stone. I gave him my number and said to ring if he ever needed help.

The viewer I showed around on Tuesday has phoned the EA to say he is thinking about putting in an offer - all of a sudden I feel hopeful again. I know it won't last long, I'm enjoying it for the moment! Off to try the brownies!

Franbern, just seen your post re your health. I hope all goes well with your treatment and house sale. Missed you at the last meet and hope to see you soon. Xx

Hi Whiff, glad you are connected again. I think we've done very well to keep up with technology, it's moved so fast. In 1981 I worked for Honeywell who were selling the first 'word processor' - huge old thing like the original tvs, black screen with bright green text. I still had to use a golf ball typewriter in the office though! Forty years later and my phone is everything - computer and camera, it's fantastic.

I'm glad you are able to do everything before autumn comes, hope furniture is put into position for you carefully today.

A new kitchen too. I haven't kept up to date with kitchen fashions and was surprised my survey described my kitchen as dated.

Do take time to rest, won't you, it's been a whirlwind for you. Every happiness wished for you there, enjoy unpacking.

My daughter had a laugh at my expense yesterday I am not very good with technology and thought if I didn't have an email address I couldn't access the internet. I know a lot of you are very good with it. Cancelled talktalk got great deal with BT £23.99 month for landline and broadband.

Sorry about your dog Mosaicwarts I hope he will soon be better. I don't have any pets but my son and daughter in law have 3 Jack Russell and my brother and sister in law have a Jack Russell. A friend of mine has 3 cats well technically 4 but the one left home 5 months ago and is living near by at an old building. She takes it food everyday and it does come and have it whilst she is there. It just doesn't want to live with her. Dogs seem to need people a lot more than cats.

My carpets look great. The garage roof was boarded ,lined and torch felted yesterday and the roofer says it will last 25+ he has given me a 10 warranty on it . Cleaned the bungalow to within an inch of its life. Going to be another long day. My furniture etc is arriving 9-10 then my kitchen is being measured by a man from Ikea at 2-3.

Craftyone you put me to shame I couldn't do half the things you tackle. I don't mean I am useless but construction is something I just couldn't do. Put together my 1st Ikea item. It was only a pedal bin for the bathroom but I did it.

Hope you all have a good day with everything going on in your lives.

Thanks Ellianne, it was a £48.50 bill and kennel cough, and he's not feeling himself at all. The vet kindly came out to the car and took his temperature, felt his stomach, and pressed on his throat .. he gave a very identifiable cough. As he's not eating he's had his arthritis drug as an injection, plus an anti biotic injection. Five days of anti biotics in tablet form. Poor dog, he was just so distressed when he had the vaccine in the past I shied away from doing it to him again, but I'm going to have to put him through it for the few horrible minutes as he's suffering so now. What a fool. The anti biotics are for a week, then I have to wait another three weeks to get him vaccinated as the vaccine is live.

Oh gawd craftyone, no wonder my whirlygig is wonky! I just hammered the metal bit into the ground, I put a flat piece of wood on top and bashed it as hard as I could with the club hammer!

Feeling a bit pressurised this afternoon Someone that came to see the house and made comments about the HUGE renovation costs (he also mentioned he knew the house was previously marketed at £500K) is now asking to see 'written quotes' so he can 'calculate' his potential offer.

On reflection, I shot myself in the foot having a full building survey done. The surveyor didn't get any estimates from anyone, he just 'guessstimated' the renovation costs at £175K, without any references to companies at all or breakdown. He also included things I hadn't even know about - like an electrical fire alarm system linking the house to the fire station.

I don't think I've been thinking straight, how an earth have I allowed this survey, based on figures plucked out of the air, to dominate the sale of my house? His estimate may have been calculated using the most expensive companies in the area.

The EA said that all buyers now do their homework, and if I could get written quotes, it would be very helpful. I have been trying.

I have taken action this afternoon as I have to make the effort, I phoned the roofer's wife and asked for the roof quote in writing, and hopefully I'll get a rough guesstimate for the windows tomorrow.

I do think I need a holiday, I've got stuck in a strange bubble and could do with a break from it.

Have a good evening everyone

Ellianne, I also had a rectratable line, 2 lines in a cassette, it was excellent. There is no-where to fit one here, I cannot screw anything into the render, rather I don`t want to mark the render, k rend which is more fragile

I am mentally ready to get this post into the ground, post-crete is in the car boot and I have added waste pipe to the other end of the rotary tube, 41cm length in total. I need to dig a hole 20cm diameter and 40-45 cm deep. I cannot do anything until the patio mortar has completely gone off and they still have to lay 20 slabs tonight. I have 2 spririt levels ready to tape to a 50mm stake that is in the tube, so I get a vertical post, otherwise I will always have a sloping rotary. It seems easy enough, the difficult bit is to make a scaffold to support the post in place as this concrete dries in 10-15 minutes. A practice run will take place first, then I will pour, add water and cross everything

I'm so sorry to hear about your cat mw especially as the vet added to his suffering. I hope your dog is ok. Ours has the puffer up the nose, but they do say it doesn't cover all the strains. Let us know how you get on.
Good luck with the window surveyor too.
Craftyone I always used to have rotary washing lines except when we lived abroad. This time round I'm tempted to try one of those retractable ones if I can find the right placet to fix it.
Today I potted out some plants to add a bit of colour and bought a parasol as the weather has improved. Still a bit of summer left to enjoy.

I've just spoken to the sash window specialist, amazingly he is coming to do the survey tomorrow night. Shall we take bets on the cost? I feel shaky thinking about it!

Ellianne, I'm sorry you had a territory fight, it's one of the things I dread, there aren't any cats around here now. When we moved here in 1999 a few feral cats visited from the local farm terrorising my three cats, and tragically we lost our London cat Timsy to Feline Aids after he was viciously attacked by one of them, we got back from a day out to find him hiding under my daughter's bed, he seemed to have bitten through his tongue. He really was the best cat, it was such a sad day when I had to take him to be euthanised . His euthanasia was performed incompetently which added to my distress, I was so angry he suffered at the hands of an inexperienced vet. Argh. Such a shock, the kids were heartbroken, it was their first 'death' and we buried him together. I managed to trap and neuter the ginger tom who was the main offender, and he was rehomed. People should always have toms neutered, he'd pee'd all over our house, the smell is dreadful. We haven't been visited by any strays for years now, and my 14 year old female cat has had a very peaceful life.

I'll be keeping her in for at least a month when I move, hopefully I can scare cats away from my 'new' garden whilst she's in. I keep her in at night for my peace of mind, we lost a cat on the road, quiet as it is.

I'm glad you aren't upset about the potential new bungalow craftyone, and wise advice about the fields behind which could be crowded with more buildings. Locally they have built many new estates and in the recent flash floods the sewers could not cope, and the roads were flooded with sewage filled water.

I am also wary of the hunt on open fields. I am surrounded by fields owned by the Duke of Northumberland and used by his Percy hunt, it makes my blood run cold when I hear the hounds. I hate Boxing Day, my station used to be where the 'meet' was held.

Enjoy putting your rotary line in, I've had a bag of cement in my car for months now, supposed to have cemented in the peg to hold the oil tank strap. Better do it!

My dog was in kennels last week and I think he's got kennel cough, vets at 3.30, have to leave him outside in the car. Poor boy, I had him vaccinated in the past but having read up on it, it's like the flu, there are so many strains nowadays.

Have a good day everyone, I hope something nice happens for you

oh my goodness, some of you are getting more stress. All I want is for calm to settle on each and every one of you. It does settle but it is calm after the storm

I am ok about the open grass space now mosaics, even if it turns into a bungalow it will be ok with me, I don`t see that much out of the front windows anyway, the shutters are in place but a bungalow won`t be bad. My views are out of the back, both rooms with french doors. I deliberately bought without a view of an open field dehind because open fields near houses are all in danger of providing mass housing. At least already within a housing area means no nasty changes plus a ready made community and a bungalow would just mean a new older neighbour. I am quite blase about stuff tbh, getting older, I don`t fuss about things much, no point

Patio is almost finished and then I will set to and get my rotary line cemented in, will do it myself, there is so much satisfaction in getting jobs done

Oh dear Ellianne! Our cat is going to the cattery for the move and subsequent holiday. I didn’t envisage it all being at the same time!
We should exchange on Friday, which may help to calm our agitated vendor. It is a business and I wonder if he needs the money?

Well it had to happen, didn't it? It's nearly 3 am and I've spent the past half an hour outside trying to entice the cats back in after awful wailing noises. They've obviously taken on the local ginger Tom because I saw him scuttling off when I opened the back door. Our fearless brothers are obviously going to get themselves a reputation for not standing any nonsense on their patch. I just hope the neighbours are all deaf otherwise I'm going to get terrible complaints in the morning. Embarrassing.

Mosaicwarts when I stick to my guns over things my daughter says I doing my bolshie middle class woman thing. I have learn the hard way over this buying and selling business that if you don't have control people think they have a right to walk all over you. Hope you have a lot more viewing soon but with a bit more warning.

Franbern unfortunately the surveys that were done on my house took over 2 hours. They even used binoculars to look at the roof and took photos. Hope all went well at the hospital.

Nannytopsy hope it's all plain sailing for you now. Have you exchanged contracts yet?

My carpets were fitted today and they look lovely. Roofers came and swept off the stones and put their board and felt in my garage ready to do the work in the morning. The electrician came and will do the work on Tuesday. My daughter took me today to get my free bus pass and I picked up a load of time tables both for buses and the local trains. Going to spend tomorrow giving the bungalow a good clean ready for my furniture etc to arrive Thursday morning.

After tomorrow I won't have any internet for a few days as I have had it with talktalk . All I wanted to do was change my address . Last week after spending 25 mins explaining what I wanted to do I got cut off . I rang back and had to explain all over again. I found out on Sunday they had been in touch with BT and told them they were taking over landline which they are not. Today spent 30 mins on to them and still got no where. Tomorrow I am cancelling it with them and getting in touch with BT to take it out with them. Talktalk's customer service is just as awful as Aldi's.

Exactly the same here Nannytopsy. I had an email one week from the assessor at Pickfords to confirm those dates were fine then when we phoned 10 days later on exchange of contracts their head office said they couldn't do anything for a month. It was a nightmare phoning round all the companies at the last minute. We were very disappointed.

That's appalling Nannytopsy, so sorry. Would the new removals company be able to store your belongings for a week, so you can go into a hotel?

Thought we were all ready to complete next Wednesday when the removals men let us down. Last week they were fine, today they deny it and say they can’t do anything for A MONTH! Now have another remover but can’t go until 4th September - we go on holiday on 6th!! ?

Somehow I missed your post Franbern - I hope your pre-op assessment went well, and you are now relaxing at home
I've decided I feel sorry for surveyors having to search every nook and cranny for a potential problem in case they are 'sued'. I hope he produces the report quickly and all is well. Unlike my survey, ha ha, still makes me feel shaky when I see it in the envelope.

I am so glad I don't smoke anymore, I was very worried in the 90's when I had my squint done again. Not recommended to anyone who has a lazy eye, if I'd known the pain afterwards I would have just worn an eye patch when I was teaching!

Have a nice evening, skechers have finally dried, off to the beach with my dawg.

What a shame craftyone, where has the whisper come from? Is it possible to look at planning permission on the council website to see if it's true? If it is true, and a bungalow is built there, will they look directly over at you? I'm sorry, I know you were so pleased to find this builder and he has now dropped in your estimations.

I thought I'd give you a giggle after my 'I can relax now as I've asked for 48 hours notice of viewings' statement - I was at the beach with my dog when the EA rang and she asked if I could show someone round! Argh! Washing up in the sink, possible poo in the cat litter tray, unmade bed ... I asked for an hour and managed to whip around. Not my normal standards, but an hour's notice? Please! No agents free, I felt I couldn't refuse to do it.

Very nice couple came, asked fifty questions which I gave too honest answers to I fear, then said he'd have more questions and could he have my email address - Whiff you'd be proud of me, I stuttered a bit but said I am sorry but it will have to be through the EA.

When he left he asked me if I am open to offers and again I was brave, and said the house had been priced to reflect the renovation works.

I doubt I'll ever hear from them again, but they were such nice enthusiastic people it has given me hope

Try to remain positive Franbern. The surveyor has to do a thorough job so there are no comebacks, especially if it is for mortgage purposes. I know we only lived "round the corner" to you and ours was also a 1930s type house with a few issues. People expect to have to do repairs in such properties and there was no question of our buyers trying to knock money off.
Deep breaths when they take your blood pressure, just tell them you've been under a bit of stress this morning.

we are with you Franbern, in spirit and across the ether, through the survey and again through the hospital. Never alone

The surveyor has now been here for two hours and still not finished. Must say he is very thorough even testing such things as stop cock under sink, (which I know does not work for upstairs water).
This is all very stressful, I can feel myself being tense the whole time he is here. Not good, as I have my pre-op assessments this afternoon, and my bp usually goes sky high in any case at hospitals.
He did tell me that his report will be out by the end of this week, so will probably hear from purchasers soon after, presumably trying to re-negotiate the price of the house. I really only have about four grand wriggle room, if they want more than that, then it will fall through -AGAIN. If it does, it will be last time, I will stay here until I die!!!
This house was built in the 1930's, so obviously there could be some faults, although, as I like everything working properly and well, I know that it is in reasonably good nick.
Will just have to wait to see.