What does Bulgarian property maintenance look like? PLUS mini Bansko review!
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- Опубликовано: 27 фев 2023
- Today we’re taking a quick look at what property maintenance looks like over in Bulgaria! We had the pleasure of visiting the beautiful town of Bansko. Here’s a guided tour of a relatively new-build apartment.
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#Bulgaria #DIY #Realestate 
Хобби
Went to Bulgaria over 10 years ago, miss it dearly. Beautiful, friendly people, amazing weather and delicious beers including Burgasco, a local lager on the black sea.
Ate like a King every night for less than a tenner, smoked and drank our fill and lazed on the sunloungers on the beach at night in the warm air, while the frogs plopped along the warm pavements.
Great place, encourage anyone to go.
I'd love to visit in the summer - stunning country. 👍
I agree, it is a fantastic country. The sun flowers are the size of a large dinner plate.
The properties, like any country, range from the old soviet Union days, to redeveloped by Bulgarians who had worked in Germany. So high-end Grohe showers. They are gifted people.
I'm excited to see you here in Bulgaria. Hope you have a good time!
Breakers from left to right:
Main;
Lighting - living room;
Lighting - bath and bedroom;
Washing machine, dishwasher, kitchen hood;
Bedoom;
Oven, fridge, living room;
Living room;
Water heater, bathroom
Thank you so much! I live in such a beautiful country. We'll be back! 👍😍
I've followed this channel for UK DIY skills as I live in the UK, but I was born and grew up in Bulgaria, so this is extra interesting for me.
Oh wow! It's a beautiful country and lovely people too. Language is challenging. 😂👍
@@GosforthHandyman Almost as tricky as full blown Geordie after a good night out on the toon 😉
If you're still here (in Bulgaria) and need anything - just ping me ;)
The electrical unit says basically - from the left to right : main switch, light living room, lights bedroom and bathroom. Then you have an unit for short circuit prevention (it senses 30ma current and kills the circuit so if you put your fork in the outlet - it won't kill you). Next one is probably for washer, dishwasher and something I don't understand. Next one is mystery. Then you have "oven, fridge, outlets living room". Another for living room outlets. Another short-circuit prevention unit and the last one is bathroom water heater.
Thank you! Beautiful country. Back home now but we'll be back! 👍😍
Well, Andy - my invitation is extended for the next time then. I'll be happy if I can be in any assistance - to show you around, whatever.
** Quite a long post warning, sorry :)
About some of the things you've discovered in the property and the peculiarities of the buildings here. Most buildings now are constructed with reinforced concrete structure - foundations with cellars, floors, columns (also anti-earthquake ones). Walls are usually brick. Outside walls with bigger 25cm bricks, inside are usually 10cm. Most modern houses are insulated from outside with 10cm or more foam panels - XPS like, but lighter density. Then you have mesh and then - the rendering. Last few years there are more and more houses insulated with rock wool, covered with aluminium decorative panels. There are no double walls like in UK.
Inside 99% of the time the walls are rendered with two layers of gypsum plastering - one ticker, rough - around 3cm, covering electrical conduits and outlets. And then you have your finish rendering.
When there are tiles on the floor, usually the tiles are used to create the skirting too. Not all the time, but usually. Tiling in the bathroom you showed was probably done by DIY-er, even the video showed the unevenness of the tiling. The decorative tiles are something that is commonly used here, but mostly there are special tiles combined with the main series, instead of cutting the floor ones to use on the wall. First time saw this in your video :)
Doors 99% are MDF. MDF 3mm panels with cardboard honeycomb structure inside. Jambs are MDF too. This style of door/jamb you saw is common here. The ones that you have door stop on the jamb and not on the door is also available, but usually lower quality. There is no problem with changing the locks/handles tho, they are available as spare parts.
Mosquito/bugs nets are commonly installed, yes. Our mosquitos sometimes can lift you and drag you to the woods for easy consuming :))
What else there was... Bathroom utilities are usually done this way, yes. Boxed column with a panel door. Electrical meters are usually at the first floor in a common box where they are easily accessible and readable. In this box you have also the main-main switch for the unit/house. \
If you're interested in something else, please let me know :)
My eldest son is at Medical School (Uni) in Plovdiv, after 1 year of renting he bought a small 1 bed new build apartment similar to your rental. Generally they are sold as a part finished shell, concrete floors, rough render coat on walls, electrical outlets installed but lighting just cable, 1st fix hot & cold pipes and no kitchen/bathroom. It did have doors, architraves and door furniture similar to your vid. There’s a couple local large diy stores with plenty of choice/options to fit out and decorate the flat to a standard of our choosing! He bought some furniture, electric boiler and aircon locally but yes we went to IKEA to buy a kitchen and other items! I’m kinda in the trade so he and I were able to do everything ourselves apart from the aircon units which were fitted for free. His kitchen is fitted more like you’d do/expect! 3 years on he’s happy living there, some other apartments which were sold at the time are still shells or unoccupied and a later phase of build is still not completed.
That was very interesting to watch. I started watching your videos because I got so fed up of everything being done with so little care that I decided I might as well build and fit my own kitchen - how much worse can it turn out
Welcome to Bulgaria! Hope you liked your stay. If you`re still in my country please give me a shout. Would love to meet you in person.
Thank you for having us in your beautiful country! We had an amazing time. Probably the best pizzas I've had in a long time! 👍😍
Bulgarian here
IKEA is very expensive in Bulgaria. You can get much cheaper kitchens from local companies. They probably thought they were fitting something expensive.
Internet wise, Bulgaria has some of the fastest and best internet in the world.
Wet rooms are standard in Bulgaria, you always have the option to hose down the entire space hence the drain in the centre.
Interesting! Stick with the local companies, you're not missing much with IKEA 😂 - can't stand the place. I was very impressed with the 4G internet speed - consistently 80Mbps so good to know! We sometimes have wet rooms over here but rare to have a separate shower cubicle in them. Bulgaria is beautiful! 😍
@@GosforthHandyman very kind! Yes we certainly miss it! You may enjoy visiting monasteries in Bulgaria. There are quite a few built high up in the mountains and the architecture is amazing!
Also, thank you for all your content! It has been invaluable as we have taken on the renovation of our 1930s home in the Derbyshire 🙏
The door hardware is pretty much European standard. All you need to watch out for is the distance between the handle and lock (not with this style of escutcheons of course) and the distance from the edge of the door to the handle. Various countries have national standards for that. Doors with rebates are also quite common in many European countries. They're a lot more forgiving to fit than plain doors because the gap between the door and frame is covered. The gaskets are most likely just rubber seals to keep the door from rattling and possibly stop draughts. As you suspected, the architrave is probably wrapped MDF. These frames come in six pieces if I remember correctly, one side of the architrave is already glued to the jamb, the other comes separately. The pieces are glued together with biscuits, then the jamb is set into the opening, wedged into place and fixed with expanding foam. Once the foam has set, the rest of the architrave is glued on. At least that's what I remember, it's been a while since I fitted a door like that. I don't think there were any screws or other fixings involved.
Interesting - great info! 👍
I’m from Bulgaria too, was watching your channel when renovated my Dublin apartment, helped me a lot to understand how things are done in this part of the world.
You can get a decent 500-1000 mb broadband in Bulgaria, but be ready to pay for it - AFAIR around €15 a month or so
Which is nothing comparing to £25 for 65mbps in the uk
@@krysieks In fairness, median salary in Bulgaria is also nothing compared to the one in UK
What a lovely video, Andy and so interesting. I noticed you said ‘bog’ standard at exactly the right moment and you are worse than I am where it comes to commenting on fixtures and fittings. My family sigh every time I try to fix or straighten something which I consider to be out of place 😂🌞
Cheers Ray! Lol, yeah I'd fixed quite a few things in the apartment before leaving. 😂😎
this is the kind of trip adviser review i would love to see .
what kind of person doesnt bring a ladder on holiday . shame you didnt stand up on a chair or something to see whats up there.
I know, in hindsight I wish I'd looked up there now. Those stools looked a bit flimsy though. 😂
5:24 - you will see this a lot whenever the floor is tiled;
6:13 - if there is insulation it will be on the exterior (EPS). Brand new buildings could be different though;
8:52 - a lot of people from the UK buy properties in Bulgaria especially around Veliko Tarnovo, mostly for retirement from what i've seen;
10:47 - if this was finished in 2006 then triple glasing was kind of a luxury back then if available at all;
16:59 - they probably thought that's a clever idea, adding some "design notes" to the place
18:00 - 100% they went with the cheapest plan. Connection speeds in Bulgaria are very good;
20:11 - you definitely need one in the summer;
22:20- those were probably leftover tiles. The amount of "DIY" we are willing to go through to save on materials will surprise you;
24:24 - that's fairly standard because the waste pipes run above the concrete slab and you have to raise the floor level
25:17 - the waste pipe will be above the concrete floor, you will see only the ceiling
Fantastic - thank you! 👍👍
Getting FEROCIOUS Celtic Tiger Ireland circa 2006 vibes... 🤣
Indeed
Yup think so!
I’ve read elsewhere, that if you sit the dishwasher lower down (so not tight up to the worktop) and then fit your cabinet door (higher relative to the appliance door) that it changes the geometry of the hinge / door when you open the door.
Apparently, this eliminates the need to have to notch out the plinth so the door doesn’t catch it?
It's just a holiday rental appartment cheaply put together and maintained, as there are millions across Europe and the UK. Nothing really out of the ordinary here. On the contrary, I am pleasantly surprised. Yes, the finish of the Ikea kitchen won't blow anyone away but, for the price, will do the job for more than a decade and rather well. I can't wait you rent and review one of these old flats in central London, you know one of those with pre paid electricity meters outside the flat. That might be much more interesting to dissect from a DIY point of view ! 🤣
Concerning the shape of the toilet, in the US, there are two basic bowl shapes, round and oval. Our round bowl, which I despise, is very similar to the one in the apartment's bathroom. Our oval bowl is probably similar to those you use in the UK.
Yup, oval bowl ftw. 👍😂
If it's hot enough in summer to need mossy screens I would be looking for air con.
Yeah! A lot of the apartments have air con - not this one though. I think it's warm (warmer than the UK) but not crazy hot.
0:43 Already triggered by the mix of colour temperatures of the lighting :-). I was glad to pick up later on that you’re triggered too!!!
Yeah, does my head in. 😂
👍👍👍Thanks
3 hour queue for the Gondola!!! I'll give that a miss!
As things are in the world these days I’d be very weary of buying any property abroad . Especially when we’ve seen how they can restrict travel , at a moments notice . And some countries have a very dubious approach to property ownership , when they decide they want to do something else with the land you’re building is built on . Finally those apartments are unfinished for a reason , if they were viable then big developers would be over them like a rash . But I think you’ve already worked that out for yourself . Best wishes and kind regards as always 😀👍👍👍
Yup! Although I don't think Bulgaria locked down much. Very free and open society... but may change when they join the Euro. 😬
I'd have to change them lamps in the living room . My pet hate . Specially on outside lights . Nice flat though all the same .
Yeah, can't stand cool lights indoors unless I'm renovating the place. 👍😁
Regarding the consumer unit I bet the MCBs have exagerated ratings compared to the wires. The smallest ones are 16A and I bet those are for lighting circuits with 1.5mm^2 wires. There are multiple 25A MCBs, those I assume are for general socket circuits with 2.5mm^2 wires. In general you should not exceed 10A for 1.5mm^2 and 16A for 2.5mm^2 wires because are used radial circuits not ring circuits like in UK.
I like they used RCDs, even if they are mandatory according to regulations they are not used in many instalations due to their price.
Or perhaps, being that 1.5mm² can be rated as high as 22A with our fairly conservative tables, they're perfectly normal.
Definitely miles out from central European regs! The sockets and plugs are rated 16 amps and unfused so I'm pretty sure with a 25-amp MCB and a decent load you could start a nice fire. Some German electricians don't even trust these sockets to carry a sustained overload (a B/C 16 will carry 23 amps for up to an hour before tripping), 25*1.45=40, seems like a good way to melt some plastics! Short-circuit protection for small appliance leads is also more than dubious.
The whole thing is fairly close to having UK 13-amp plugs without fuses all over the place.
Interesting! 👍
In my understanding
1st do not know
Second switch is lights living room
3 rd lights bathroom and bedroom
Very last one is boiler
The middle ones are for different utensils - oven, fridge, ect
Can you fly direct from Newcastle Airport?
Yup! But I think only in the winter.
You can fly to Burgas in summer with Jet2 and to Sofia with BH Air in winter.
never did get there with my skis, 3 hrs for gondola times have changed lol. I though it was just me that couldn't be on holiday, my Mrs found me up a ladder welding a bar sign up in shorts in Turkey back when i was able to travel.
What were the flush and ball valves on the toilet?? 😂😂😂😂😂😂
Hope you had a good break you deserve it
Thank you! We'll worth a visit with skis... but not in Feb. 😂
I'd love to take skis but I couldn't even get on plane now lol
I prefer cool lights in kitchens/bathrooms.
Not a fan... other than perhaps garage! Good light for filming though. 👍
16:05 this is a "standard" kind of doors in central/eastern europe. it's extremely rare to see doors without "lip"
16:48 again, it's "stadnard" lock/handle combo in our part of the world, nothing bespoke about it.
Ah cool - good to know. 👍
When I saw the mix of warm/cool lights, I knew that would catch your attention even before you mentioned it. The apartment generally looks in good shape, though you rarely see top quality workmanship in a rental unit.
You can mix warm and cool, but only with an adult present. You just have to ensure the responsible adult who maintains it all understands why.
@@michaeltaylor4824 That mismatch is hard for those of us with OCD to cope with. Andy also notices misaligned cabinet doors.....
Ha cheers Bob! Yeah, warm + cool is a no go. Plays havoc with the white balance on my camera. 😂
@@GosforthHandyman Get thyself down to St. Vincent on the Quayside Andy; tell them I sent you. Check out the blue columns.....
12:48 ooff, that should of been a corner rack instead so the handle does not hit
Yup! 👍👍
Bulgaria being part of the EU since January 2007, presumably for any new builds they`d have to conform to EU standards, no? Thanks for the video, hope you enjoyed the skiing there.
Yes and no. I think building regs are still quite localised, except for basics like structural requirements. Electrical regs are all based on the same harmonisation documents but usually contain so many local additions they're barely recognisable anymore.
Yup, don't think there's much building regs standardisation across the EU, could be wrong though!
Was there a similar time last year. Basically found all the same things you did. Excellent value as far as ski location goes.
Huge number of part built buildings. Workmanship and regulation adherence is all a bit suspect. First lift is always busy, unless you get there super early or take a taxi up.
There were crazy gondola queues even from 7.30am this year. We scored for a fast pass but it was still a 20 min wait... and eventually all hell broke loose due to queue jumpers. Shame!
Just FYI glass doesn't insulate, the stuff between the glass does, so it's really pointless to minimize the insulation, and maximize the infrared radiation from the inside, because as you know heat transfers from hot to cold not the other way around.
Did you notice the water heater's on the piss? Or is that an optical illusion? Running the drain from the pressure relief valve into a bucket instead of a proper drain is a stroke of genius!
Sometimes they're installed sideways hanging from the ceiling! Not sure how that works 🤔. pluspropertybg.com/property/one-bedroom-apartment-in-bansko/
@@GosforthHandyman Don't think it matters as long as the mounting brackets are designed for it. The heater is under mains pressure so gravity doesn't matter. I'm not a plumber though.
the MCB on the right says Banya (which translates to "bathroom"). So it made me thinking that it's actually RCBO maybe?
Just a C25 MCB, apparently for the water heater.
👍
🧱👍🏽
👍😎
Bog standard toilet
😂
"bog standard" see what you did there! dark wood furniture everywhere is horrendous!
Lol I know! 😂
So is there a place where you can in fact relax and not look at how something was built ? 😅
As I have planned 3 kitchens with a local professional planner and drawn the electrical and plumbing plans for one myself I can never understand why one can buy an IKEA kitchen. IKEA is way to expensive at the end AND has gigantic problems: with IKEA you a) can never be sure to get all parts you need with one delivery, because b) you sign like 250 single purchase contracts (each individual part) and c) have to fit it yourself
One man's meat is another man's poison ... personally, I'd think I'd died and gone to heaven if I had an Ikea kitchen like that. ☺
They look fine, just a bit non-standard to fit. 👍
It's an IKEA thing....they don't make their end panels big enough!
I think they put in a reveal for decorative reasons.
Weird - cheers! 👍
Cost of electricity in Bulgaria is next to nothing.
Do Bulgarians not pay the world market rate for gas? Most electricity is gas generated, they most certainly do not pay next to nothing
@@dgmclar most of electricity generation in Bulgaria comes from coal (which is cheap) and about 35% from nuclear (which is also cheap). Most Eastern European countries have cheap electricity.
Interestingly (and please fact check this!) Bulgaria got a lot of her gas from Russia but this either has ended or is due to end for obvious reasons. Instead Bulgaria will import gas from Turkey... who I believe get their gas from Russia. 🤪
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_in_Bulgaria
@@GosforthHandyman yeah I read exactly the same thing. Although I think electricity generation from gas doesn't constitute to a huge amount and won't drastically affect the resulting price (because obviously the new gas price will be higher comparing to when they had it directly from Russia)
@@GosforthHandyman Electricity from gas is about 6% of the total mix. And that's mainly in the big cities with central heating. The rest is coal, nuclear, hydro and renewables.
Who goes on a ski holiday and films minor defects in their apartment. What do you do for fun?
Doesn't everyone do that?? 😂🤔
@Gosforth Handyman I suppose even when on holiday you can never truly switch off.👍🏻
it would appears that ski holidays in Bulgaria & filming minor details in homes & apartments is exactly what Andy does for fun. (Along with, perhaps, one or two other things.)
The entire place doesn't even come close to Motel 6 standards in US. That's bottom of the barrel. In 5 years it's going to need a redo.
Yup, it's nice at the moment but don't think it will last too well if it's used regularly. Having said that, 6 months of the year it's likely to be empty. 👍