Mortgages , high interest , and crocodile tears.

[happy daze john in oz]

Des, one of the main reasons council were keen to sell off was the cost of maintaining some of them.
Houses such as were we lived, built at the end of the war and not built that well.
Some such as ours when we moved in about 1958 still had a coal fired oven.
No insulation so always cold, remember it well.

[Bill Morrison]

John S. #30. Your father was correct in his assumption that if you rented and things went wrong, it wasn't your problem.
At the present moment there are 500 houses that were built by the council in Aberdeen in the 1960's using a method called (RAAC) reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete. This has now been found to have a inherent fault causing buildings to collapse. Of the 500 houses, 364 are still council owned. That leaves 136 which were bought from the council.
The council will rehome it's tenants to other properties they own on a take whats offered basis. The people who bought their homes will have a fight with the insurance companies who are not too happy with the situation.
All 500 houses are to be demolished and rebuilt at great cost can't remember the figure.
Bill.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-68435223

[j.sabourn]

My brother still lives in the old council house he was brought up in paying rent , he is 16 years younger than me , but just uses it as a place to sleep more or less. The whole estate is fastly becoming a wilderness for English speaking voices. Cheers JS

[j.sabourn]

#32 Bill out here is a bit different one buys a piece of land and build to one’s requirements. I did so and left the wife in charge as to what she wanted at an agreed price. They were going to put on a tin roof , I said no, tiles to match the hue of the bricks the price was the same and came within the regulations as no big difference in inclination between the two. No wood in the roof area , all steel as against red ants , lived there for 20 + years , 200 metres off the Indian Ocean. Slight defects were the wife siting the light switches where they could have been. She was put in charge of the building whilst I was in foreign climes.JS

[j.sabourn]

#31 The same as the furnuture at the end of the war John was called Utility furniture for a number of years, wouldn’t be given houseroom to the present generation , but we were thankful to get it. My father made the kitchen table for the new council house in 1948 . 4 pieces of 4x4 for legs and 8 ply for the table top which the builders had left behind. I’m going to be assessed tomorrow on my memory for aged persons tomorrow , hope they ask such long ago questions and not about last week. Cheers JS.

[Des Taff Jenkins]

John S When we built our forever house up the Blue Mountain's, we plumped for a tiled roof, big mistake, as a tin roof, [One could pick the colour} shed the heat as soon as the sun went down, whereas a tile roof kept the heat in.
Here in Cooma they are mostly tin roofs, and those with new houses or tiled are changing to tin.

[happy daze john in oz]

Being able to build your own house has benefits but some times at a cost.
Here in Oz we have built three, the first was a variation on a regular one, worked but the builder was no much chop.
Second one was great but in the wrong place, top of a court like living in a fish bowl.
So bought another block some 400 meters up the road and built the same house Again with a couple of variations.
That will be 31 years agon on September 3rd.

But some of the new ones being built now are not good quality.
One builder of such told me they were only built to last about 30 years.

[Bill Morrison]

John S When we built our forever house up the Blue Mountain's, we plumped for a tiled roof, big mistake, as a tin roof, [One could pick the colour} shed the heat as soon as the sun went down, whereas a tile roof kept the heat in.
Here in Cooma they are mostly tin roofs, and those with new houses or tiled are changing to tin.

Hi Des. It used to be slates on roofs in the UK nearly all from Wales now it's tiles. Tin roofs I remember the pre-fabs that were built after war, when it was heavy rain the noise was deafening.
Bill.

[Des Taff Jenkins]

Hi Bill.
I could never understand why they stopped using slate, there is plenty still there, and didn't need to manufacture them, and with modern methods the slate would be easier to extract, probably more profit in tiles.
Des

[happy daze john in oz]

Heer in Oz no slate tiles.
Either cement tiles, terracotta ones or color bond which is a fancy name for metal.

Conservationists now want metal removed and only light colored cement ones used.
Claim light color reflects heat away from the roof.

True, all depends on where you live in Oz.

A number of our major banks have begun to cut interest rates on 3 year fixed term ones.
The central bank refuses to move claiming that inflation is still too high.

But the question is why do they use some of the items they do to measure it.
Items such as rent, only about 12% of population rent.
New house building, only about 18% are currently involved in building.
International travel, surely a discretionary item not there for all.

While fresh fruit and veg are used other supermarket items are not.
But petrol, grog and smokes are. These items increase their tax level twice a year based on inflation rate!!!!!!!