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Renovation Blog
1 August - Free rain
6 August - No room to move
It seems like every room in the house is now either full of rubbish, has half the floorboards up, or has rain leaking in. It's a bit
of a low point, especially when my son picks up a circular saw which has been left lying around, plugged in, and tries to have a play
with it... I have to keep reminding myself of the end goal, and that this is going to be an a wonderful home once all the work has
been done.
7 August - First fix nearly done?
The plumber assures me he'll be done by Friday, though I have to say I think it's highly unlikely! However, I'll be pleased when they
have gone so I can reclaim at least one or two rooms of my house. Some of the scaffolding has come down and the rest is due to do so
very soon. I have done all the pointing and most of the windows, and the rest I can do from the ground, thank goodness.
11 August - Bathroom time
Well the plumber hasn't finished although to be fair they are on to the final bits and pieces. I have had to mop up quite a bit of
the snagging work that I expected him to do, and certainly he has no concept of tidying up or cleaning, but I suppose you have to
take the rough with the smooth. In an effort to get a single room finished and have some kind of sanctuary I decide to install one
bathroom right away and get cracking.
18 August - Done!
Hurrah! Somewhere at last to get clean and one room finally completed. I take an hour's holiday... |
19 August - Leaks (or is it leeks?)
The plumber has installed 90% of the new pipework in plastic push-fit pipes and fittings. This makes life a whole lot easier when
you are feeding them around under floorboards, but so far I have had three fittings come apart and start leaks, ranging from the minor
to some fairly major drenchings. Much to my annoyance I thought one was in the bathroom I'd just finished and cursed at the prospect
of having to take up the tiles but as it happened it was coming down through a stud wall from the floor above.
20 August - Building the boilerhouse
Once I'd looked into the costs of rebuilding the boilerhouse (using reclaimed bricks, lime mortar etc. to satisfy the listing requirements)
it was going to cost a LOT of money, and I just don't have time to do it all myself before winter sets in. Therefore I decided to
construct a temporary wooden structure within the existing building which I could then replace with the proper rebuild in a couple of
years' time. I explained this to the council some months ago and they said it was fine. They then said they'd like a written explanation
of what I was going to do, but that it would still be fine and just for the record, which I sent off some months ago.
Unbelievably the council has now decided they are not happy with me putting up this temporary structure, which nobody can see and is
after all just allowing me to heat my house. I have already ordered all the timber and the boiler is on site, so I'm pretty frustrated
by this U-turn. We have a meeting to discuss it and eventually they decide I have to build the structure clad with expensive timber
and roofed with corrugated iron on a pitched roof "so it looks agricultural". This will add considerably to the cost and time it will take me to build it, not
to mention running around sourcing new materials.
29 August - I'm drained
I have drained down the central heating system about 20 times fixing leaks. The plumber said he would pressure test it but obviously
didn't bother. If you want a job doing properly, it seems you have to do it yourself...
I get cracking on the new boiler house, following the council's requirements. |
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At last, after some false starts, the
