re: Hyndburn Homes, shoddy renovation
 

It some properties piping is very hard to hide Neil, it would be very hard in my flat as both the floor and ceilings are solid and it wouldn't be viable to rip the plasterboard of even if they could, the only thing is if it has to be cased in it should be easy on the eye and not stick out like a carbuncle

re: Hyndburn Homes, shoddy renovation
 

I am on the first floor, so the boxing in at the ceiling level was unecessary - there is a loft above me. The ceiling boxing in is obtrusive in bathroom, kitchen, and hall. There would have been more of it if I hadn't been allowed to decide where the radiators were sited.

We have hollow stud walls, so trunking and floor level piping could have been avoided too.

re: Hyndburn Homes, shoddy renovation
 

Quite agree Margaret, but would HH go that extra mile, well I think we both know the answer to that:rolleyes:

re: Hyndburn Homes, shoddy renovation
 

Can't speak for Hyndburn Homes and their standards but I own an ex-council house on the Milnshaw estate which I rent to a relative. Last year United Utilities condemned the warm air boiler when they were replacing gas pipes in the area and I had to have a new full central heating system

The work was done by Derekgas and his company in less than a week. Most of the piping was done in trunking, partly for the reasons jaysay gives and partly to get the job done done quickly. The trunking is very unobtrusive and has been well done and probably created less mess than trying to go through walls and floors.

All in all I was very happy with the job - and they cleaned up after themselves!!

re: Hyndburn Homes, shoddy renovation
 

I agree with you it is, I still hate it though :D

Re: hyndburn homes,shoddy renovation
 

The warm air boiler system which was utilised in lots of homes belonging to HH and HBC before them, was to say the least hard to control and expensive to run, they change to radiators in our flats about 6 years ago and its been far better, especially with me being asthmatic

Re: hyndburn homes,shoddy renovation
 

Agree with you Jay, but my relative who had lived in council properties for umpteen years was used to it and wouldn't let me change it. She had to bow to the inevitable when it was condemned and now she thinks her radiators are the best thing since sliced bread!

Re: hyndburn homes,shoddy renovation
 

Why was it condemned?

Re: hyndburn homes,shoddy renovation
 

Well Neil the house I bought was sold off by HBC in the early eighties and the person who bought it did not have the boiler serviced after that - there was a sticker inside the boiler cuboard with a service date in the 80s but no other records. When I bought the house in 1994 I got HBC to have a look at the boiler and they said it was just about OK but unrepairable if it went wrong.

When UU were replacing the gas pipes in the area last summer they had to disconnect the houses and looking at the boiler they would not reconnect the supply to my house. I was quite pleased as I had been wanting to put in the new heating for some time but my relative was adamant and as she has a heart condition I didn't want anything to upset her.

I have to say that Derekgas and his company were very thoughtful and caring in the way they worked round my relative with the least disturbance they could. And she was very pleased with the result.

Re: hyndburn homes,shoddy renovation
 

To be fair to HBC, before the housing was taken over by HH, I was actually testing a special filter used on these blow heaters at the request of the works department management, and they actually seemed to work to an extent, then they replaced them with radiators which was ideal

Re: hyndburn homes,shoddy renovation
 

I would have thought for asthma suffers the warm air system with a filter would be quite good. At least you would be circulating air and filtering out dust, pollen etc. My hayfever is always better when I am in work, all our air handling units are filtered.

Re: hyndburn homes,shoddy renovation
 

These systems had very a very bad air filtration system Neil, but when that new filter was fitted it was so much better. But as I said before they could actually look at the result at my flat Less Banner who instigated the test left the council when the direct works department was shut in 2002 (I think) then the systems were changed to rad heating about 7 years ago, which was better still really

re: Hyndburn Homes, shoddy renovation
 

The refurbishment of the flat below me has begun.

They are in the demolition stage and my pictures are bouncing around on the 'cardboard' walls.

I see no good reason to have a radio blaring out pop music while they work - it just increases the decibels and annoyance.

After the first two hours of hammering and banging, a young man knocked to warn me that there would be really bad noise for the next hour whilst they removed tiling.

At least he seemed to have genuine concern for me.

re: Hyndburn Homes, shoddy renovation
 

So has has pumped up the volume on his radio to "mask" the noise?

Re: Hyndburn Homes, shoddy renovation
 

If you had to demolish kitchens and knock tiles off walls all day you would understand the need for the radio