temporary improvement!

[tycarregydwr]

When we moved in the previous owners had left a skip overflowing with rubbish. Lying on top were all the 'screens', whatever you call them - secondary glazing fit inside the single-glazed alum windows from the 60s. We fished these out before the skip was collected. It's so bloody typical of these strange, strange people. Yes, ok, obviously the things are hideous and clearly they were planning to replace the windows, as are we. But in the meantime, why not use what you've got?
We finally got the screens back in place today, and the wind is no longer moving the curtains about and the road noise is hugely diminished. So yay! for temporary improvements to the quality of life in our to-be-wonderful house, at least we won't freeze tonight

(It wasn't just the windows - the previous owners, who are the ones who built the new extensions, made inummerable bizarre and incredibly wasteful decisions - I'm sure I'll bitch more about them in the future. Oh, one that leaps to mind - installing the most expensive new kitchen possible, but not spending £200 to fix the gutter that is pouring water down the side of the house?!)

 

[JohnB]

My first reaction when I saw a skip in the driveway when I moved in was annoyance, but having been through it and picked out some useful stuff, and then filled it up with stuff I didn't want, all at the previous owner's expense, I was quite happy .

 

[Feltwell]

Are they the type of secondary glazing that you have to take down in order to open the window?

If they are I suspect they went in the skip as it was easier to do that than to put them back up after the summer.

My parents found the last owners had left a freezer in the garage when they bought their current house. It had broken down several years previously, and yes it was still full of (what had once been) food. Surprisingly the local authority agreed to take it away, so long as it was sealed shut and double wrapped in polythene.

 

[tycarregydwr]

No that's the daftest thing, they are the double-pane ones where you can slide them up and down to access the main window so honestly I'm not sure why you'd bother taking them down in the summer. A neighbour up the road came to ask if he could have the cement mixer they'd chucked in the skip too, and said 'they were really wasteful people'... other things in the skip included a fully-functional, still in the box PS2 game console and god knows what else - we pulled out everything we could get to easily but some of the windows had broken so there were lots of glass shards....

 

[Johnboy]

Two weeks ago my opposite neighbour had a skip to clear his garage (he has his house up for sale). You would not believe what he threw away! An almost new petrol mower, a petrol strimmer, two (?) garden blowers, childrens bike, about forty tins of assorted paint fence-life etc and among other things a Henry!!! I asked him nicely if I could rescue Henry to which he replied, 'Have what you like, it's all rubbish'.
Henry is currently at work being overhauled as he didn't want to switch on. I am sure with a bit of tlc and ebay's help I can get him back from the brink.
Incidentally the skip was one of those self-emptying types. Don't know how they work but It must happen in the night... :lol:

 

[tycarregydwr]

Incidentally the skip was one of those self-emptying types. Don't know how they work but It must happen in the night... :lol:

 

[Moo]

We were amazed at the speed with which stuff disappeared from the pavement outside our house in Norwich, and here in SE22. All it needed was a notice saying "Help yourself".

 

[AMc]

The problem I've found is that it's actually quite hard work to get rid of things with some worth but not much. A boxed Playstation2 is worth about £20 but will take a bit of time to dispose of. For example I replaced the glove "shelf" in my partner's MINI for a box with a door. The "shelf" is perfectly serviceable and would cost about £100 from BMW or £50 from a breaker. After allowing it to clog the office for a few years I stuck it on ebay where it achieved the princely sum of the 99p opening bid, following a lengthy conversation with the only bidder - I was lucky I'd guestimated the postage and found myself with a 30p additional profit, if you discount my time to take the pictures and go to the post office.

I have a garage load of "almost useful" stuff which is too good to throw away and not immediately useful. I used to Freecycle/Freegle things too but find you spend a lot of time and energy trying to move stuff on and being messed about by non collection or people who think you should deliver your old rubbish half way across the county in a 1 hour window for their convenience.

I'm currently considering converting the garage into a self contained holiday cottage, I can see a lot of "quite useful" stuff will end up in a skip. A lot of it was abandoned there by the previous owner. If I could do it again I would have hired a skip when we moved in, filled it with their junk and got my solicitor to charge them for not leaving the house as per the contract of sale.

When we lived in that London, you could get rid of anything in 24hours by leaving it at the curb it was brilliant!

 

[LadyArowana]

When we lived in that London, you could get rid of anything in 24hours by leaving it at the curb it was brilliant!

There is a small "neighbourhood recycling station" near us in London and the convention seems to be that people leave things that are in the "might be useful" category in one clean corner. Last Summer when I was dealing with some of the contents of our storage unit I left lots of assorted stuff there and it had always migrated elsewhere by the time I did the next trip. Seems an exceptionally sensible idea to me, I am sure the council will step in and stop it citing 'elf n safety soon.

 

[tycarregydwr]

When we lived in that London, you could get rid of anything in 24hours by leaving it at the curb it was brilliant!

There is a small "neighbourhood recycling station" near us in London and the convention seems to be that people leave things that are in the "might be useful" category in one clean corner. Last Summer when I was dealing with some of the contents of our storage unit I left lots of assorted stuff there and it had always migrated elsewhere by the time I did the next trip. Seems an exceptionally sensible idea to me, I am sure the council will step in and stop it citing 'elf n safety soon.

We moved out here from central Bristol, I miss our 'kerb-side recycling' - put anything on the garden wall and it's gone by the next day, even things like rusty saucepans and heavily used children's shoes...

 

[AMc]

Seems an exceptionally sensible idea to me, I am sure the council will step in and stop it citing 'elf n safety soon.

Indeed, I participated in a letter writing campaign to our MP when a local freecycler was prevented from taking a child's bike from a person about to throw it away at our local "recycling centre".
He/She was told once it touched the ground it was the site contractor's responsibility and they couldn't permit the item to leave the premises without ensuring it was "safe", as none of them were able to take responsibility for ensuring its "safety" then insisted it was put in the metals skip. They also prevented the person dropping it off from putting it back in their car in order to hand it over outside the gates.

Our local MP ,with his usual competence and efficiency obtained a statement from the contractor which said they were intending to allow volunteers to inspect items for safety, then make them available for sale at "car boot" prices. This scheme was due to be piloted in one of Norfolk's centres at an unspecified date providing enough competent volunteers could be recruited. The stupidity of this entire "policy" and "response" beggars belief, I'm willing to bet there has never been a single case of liability brought against the contractor for an item removed from a recycling centre nor would there be if they posted a sign that said any item is removed at your own risk. My guess is the "policy" is in place to prevent people from cherry picking valuable copper and lead waste and taking it to scrap yards themselves.

 

[plasticpigeon]

I think this can work. I lived in Northampton and the municipal tip had quite a large section set aside for the sale of scavenged items. The people selling items did not look official (I would say they looked like travellers, and were pretty crusty) and were constantly clambering around in the containers. I'm guessing that the council allowed some enterprising people to set up a small business there. I think it worked well. I bet they don't do that now though!!!

 

[chuckey]

At the Leyburn council tip, now run by some private company, they don't sell anything to the public "cos' we recycle it" -? -?? :roll: At the Eastleigh tip we bought a double bed frame+ head/foot boards £5, Working bread maker with instruction book £3, B&D battery drill - batteries good, charger needed to be fixed £3. At Longham tip there are some people there who run a shop selling stuff that I would never buy, don't think these people know the value of antiques/tools. . .
Frank

 

[PeterI]

At our local council "tip" in camden there is an shed set aside for stuff thats potentially useful so I can't see that there is any great legal reason for a council not provide an area.

 

[88v8]

Same at the Charlton tip near were I lived. Not sure whether it was Council staff doing the selling.
Fair enough to prevent people taking stuff wholesale, totally Jobsworth to prevent the removal of individual items.

Ivor