First-time house renovation

suisidevw

lisal0u wrote: »

Hiya,

We did actually think about stair rods but they wernt that cheap and as they dont really serve a purpose we didnt bother in the end. Maybe one day when we have money again ha ha.

We did manage to get the rest of the flooring, i was so relieved. Stuart popped into the shop and they had 6 boards left (we needed 5) hooray! They were the last boards of that kind anywhere so we were very lucky!

Ill look forward to some lovely pics of the first official lighting of the fire
x

I found somewhere that'll do the complete stair rods for about £50 for 13 steps and cut to size, that's not much, and they sent us samples of everything they offer!

Great news about the boards, bet you were dead chuffed!

Pics later, raining outside so going to be cosy. On a late one at work as my wife had lunch out today so has to make up hours on 'flexi time'!

I love real trees, artificial don't make me feel Christmassy! :rolleyes:

TomsMom

Maggie Did the drains test go ahead? Any news? Gas leak - any news? Is the dehumidifier making any difference?

TD asked his Dr about using flight socks, he was told to try it as it couldn't hurt. Only problem is he hasn't got the strength to put them on and can't stand me touching his feet so it's back to the sofa with his feet up!

Our builders came back today, took out the window in the loft and sorted out where we all agree the rain came in. They've sealed all around the lead flashings between the flashings and the slate, have put more mastic around the windows to make doubly sure that with the sealing they had previously done they can now cope with any more freak weather. They also did an extra little job with some sealer around the side door which we didn't know until recently hadn't been sealed properly by the previous owner, only found that out because the new paintwork started to bubble a bit.

They've never come across this before as they're from inland and haven't had the experience of what weather conditions can be like here on the coast, especially as exposed as our house is.

They also brought us a Christmas present, shaky shakey - ooh it sounds like chocolates, YUM .

ukmaggie45

HI TM, I hope TD continues to make good progress. I think about you both every day - and send positve vibes to you both - ageing hippie that I am. :rolleyes:

TomsMom wrote: »

Maggie Did the drains test go ahead? Any news? Gas leak - any news? Is the dehumidifier making any difference?

TD asked his Dr about using flight socks, he was told to try it as it couldn't hurt. Only problem is he hasn't got the strength to put them on and can't stand me touching his feet so it's back to the sofa with his feet up!

Mostly the drains are great, one section nearest to the rodding access, has some roots just starting to get in. Not urgent to fix, prob will get done as part of the rest of work - scale of which still to be thought about and decided... :eek: We'll get a report and DVD, but with the Xmas post we were warned it might take longer than usual (think they said usual is 3-7 days, but not sure I remember that right).

BUT we need to get house dried out as much as poss, we can't get the gas boiler to turn on. Gas turned off again today as more gas smell and another visit from transco just as we were trying to finish talking to the drain guys. I told OH when we go back tomorrow to write down all the details he can find on the boiler (Gloworm) and I'll try find the manual online.

I'm thinking we might go for the powerflush, at 360 plus vat, we really need to get heat and try to dry the house out. So we can begin to assess in a sensible way what remedial works need to happen. After further survey(s) probably.

Gas leak is ongoing, no leaks in the house, but transco man found leak in pavement in front of house (Edit:more in front of neighbour in other half of house), has put it in to be looked at again in 24 hrs.

We did more gardening while waiting for the drains people. Robin is very curious when we are up the far end of the garden and follows us around. He comes really close, makes eye contact, it's really lovely to be that close to a bird.

Smiled at 2 squirrels spiralling round a tree, one chasing t'other.

Chopped loads more brambles and buddleia. Found wheelbarrow and thing to burn stuff in (looks like dustbin with flue in lid and holes in bottom) at far end of garden. Got to the very end of the garden on that (right) side... Still trying to battle through the brambles on the left side.

Met our next door neighbour for first time. The one who is the other half of the semi . She seems really nice, she wished us well and happiness in the house.

When I look at the front of the house I I keep thinking of The Bonzo Dog Do Dah Band and their song "my pink half of the drain-pipe". :rolleyes:

I'm hoping it'll be another dry day tomorrow so we can keep on hacking the brambles. Please someone gimme a machete for Christmas!


Maggie

TomsMom

Glad the drains seem to be fairly OK Maggie. Hope the gas is sorted soon. How lovely about the robin, we have Mr & Mrs Robin as frequent visitors to our garden. I put bits in the tray as they don't cling onto the seed holders but the naughty jackdaws pinch food off there and scare the littlies away. Seagulls make a good attempt too! Mr Robin was sat on the tray today and kept looking at the seed holder as if trying to fathom out a way of getting something out of it. Bless!!

Oh my! The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band - we're showing our age there girl :rotfl: . Can't bring that song to mind though.

I hope it's nice enough, and warm enough, for you to go back into the garden tomorrow.

TD is at the hospital again tomorrow for checks. He thinks he might be kept in overnight as on Tuesday his red and white blood cells were on the way down again and Dr thinks he might need a transfusion tomorrow. It will give me a chance to catch up on the housework though - how exciting is that :rolleyes:.

TomsMom

Hi peeps!

It's very quiet on this thread at the moment so I guess everyone is having a break and concentrating on Christmas.

Maggie - I hope everything went OK with the drains test and the gas leak is now sorted.

Latecomer - I hope you managed to get your Christmas tree.

I hope everyone else manages to achieve what they hoped they would before Christmas.

I just popped on to wish you all a very happy Christmas and to say a big thank you to those who have been on the journey with TomsDad and me this year and sent him/us your good wishes. Your support has meant such a lot, I didn't feel quite so alone and if I was having a bit of a wobbly day there was always someone there to pick me up. So thank you all. I hope Santa brings you whatever your heart desires and some surprises too.

And if you don't appear until the new year then I wish you all the happiest of new years too, may it bring you health and happiness and great progress with your renovations. You wont get rid of me, I'm going to try and sort out my photos and do some before and after pictures for my blog, then I'll be back to tell you to go and look at them so you'll all know that there is an end to it all .

jimbugalee

Hi all,

For some reason I stopped getting email updates from this thread grrrr

All going well here. Finishing a few bits in the bathroom before the building inspector comes round.

We've got lots of snow here ..... haven't taken my car out in days!

Interestingly this morning someone is trying to take over our gas supply without our permission grrrrr. I think it might be something to do with the previous owners who were a housing association so on the phone to them now.

Our wood burning stove is brilliant!! Reza has had it on every night and it's about 300 degrees in the lounge .... aaaah lovely

Hope everyone is looking forward to Xmas?

suisidevw

absolutely, can't wait! We are having our wall ties replaced over the next few days so Lowri drove into work while I waited for the builder and cycled and caught 2 trains then properly stacked it on the black ice, SO glad I was wearing a helmet but back hurts now

Have a great CHristmas y'all! Jim, where are you getting your wood supply from at present?

jimbugalee

Reza is in charge of getting the wood! We had 2 bags from a relative who had some in a barn - they were really good and burnt brilliantly.

We then got some more logs from a nursery but these are a bit damp. We tend to use coal now and glad we got multi fuel because it works really well.

suisidevw

Brilliant, yes, ours is multi fuel too. How does Reza make the fire, bit of kindling with coal over the top?

TomsMom

Oh, oh, oh, just gotta tell you this. TD has had a Christmas present :j. He's just come in to show me his hair is starting to grow back :j :j :j , very fine soft stubbly looking bits but it's coming through all over his head. How good is that, just in time for Christmas :T. I think he'd like his eyelashes back soon too, perhaps he'll get those for his birthday in February :rotfl: .