Preparing for winter III

chirpychick

Frugal wrote: »

Noooooo!!! If they are knitted they will just unravel!!

I think the headbands are going to be popular this year so I am sure they will have them in all winter

LOL!! duh silly me! Found some on ebay for £1.25 inc postage

tugrin

Oh there I was doing my little dance on Saturday about maybe not needing expensive flue lining for a stove and I get a quote from the chimney sweep for £375 +vat for doing the smoke test !!- and of course I didnt factor in that they would need to look at next doors loft as well as mine (terrace). Blimey might as well get the liner at that price.
Once again I see the stove of my dreams disappearing into the mist.......

23rdspiral

Hi, I'm de-lurking! I just have to say a HUGE thank you to everyone on this thread, ESP CHIRPYCHICK for the list u posted the other day. We moved in the spring, and now have things like outside tap, unlagged pipes, unbacked rads, storage shed with loose door, windows with no curtains, no curtain poles over back or front doors ect... THANKYOU for helping me realize I've a lot more to do than I thought!:T

chirpychick wrote: »

ive got a huge list and im going to write it out here and cross off as i get it done if thats alright?

. Wash winter bedding
. Change the bedding to flannellette
. Wash the other bedding and store
. drain and lag outside tap
. lag airing cupboard pipe
. finish foil radiators
. set thermostat
. bleed radiators
. put all hats, scarves, gloves, coats accessible
. buy bras :rotfl:
. insulate guinea pigs and put in shed

. buy de icer
. check screen wash
. check fluid levels
. check tyre pressure
. wax car
. find windscreen protector (put and keep in car)
. shovel
. scraper
. torch + spare batteries
. water
. blanket
. phone charger
. cereal bars
. dog food (just incase we get stranded in the car with dogs!) :T
. newspaper
. telephone numbers (incase phone is dead and need pay phone!)

. stock up on soup, rice pudding, beans, porridge
. allocate 2 loaves of bread and milk emergency (and hide from hubby!)
. make a start on christmas food shop :eek:
. create my stash cupboard!

. buy salt - left it so late!
. prepare the sofa duvet
. buy bird food
. buy lozengers, cough medicine, ibuprofen, lemsip type, bsalm tissues, cold and flu capsules, vit c and zinc
. buy hot water bottles
. buy fingerless gloves
. buy thermos

think i shall be selling on ebay and charming the pants off carbooters tomorrow to buy these extra things. How did the cold creep up so fast??

is anyone else as behind as me?
!

So to answer your question.... Yes! I'm way more behind! Oh, and must unpack winter clothes and find winter coats...

abwsco wrote: »

We're using a HETAS installer so no need to pay council for building regs. Removing the old gas fire, making safe, creating chamber for stove and rendering it plus fitting the stove is £500 + vat. There are extra's though. Tiles price will depend on how many we need and what we go for, we need a new pot and cowl for the chimney, stove pipe and register plate. Luckily we don't need a chimney liner. Need a plumber though as central heating pipes are in the way. Oh, and the stove as well-lol We've gone for the Aarrow Acorn 5 multifuel and have paid just over £500 for that. We're also not in a smokeless zone. I know prices differ everywhere but we've had quotes ranging from £1100 to £2000 plus HETAS smoke test and fire on top. My sister who is also in Lancashire had quotes of up to £6000 when she got prices last year. I think some were taking the proverbial. She's no chimney though so has an internal flue that was really expensive. HTH

Our new house has 2 fireplaces... One open, one with a stove we were told keeps the house toasty, Well, on having it serviced, we found it was so cracked it could be deadly, with co2 or fall apart fire risk!

We had to save for a new stove and fitting, and had 3 quotes... Between £2600 and £3200... for Stovax Stockton 8, liner and building work to replace lintel that's also hanging on by it's mortar! Need a liner due to old chinmey, 1930, but also more efficient. So I've been out with local BTCV group coppicing when I can to glean what I cut to keep the wood for next year:T

Good luck everyone, I'm off to clean the floors before laying rugs down

Fruball

tugrin wrote: »

Oh there I was doing my little dance on Saturday about maybe not needing expensive flue lining for a stove and I get a quote from the chimney sweep for £375 +vat for doing the smoke test !!- and of course I didnt factor in that they would need to look at next doors loft as well as mine (terrace). Blimey might as well get the liner at that price.
Once again I see the stove of my dreams disappearing into the mist.......

Thats so disappointing - seems very over priced though. My sweep had to get up on the roof, remove the old chimney pot and replace with one suitable for an open fire, remove the old flue, give the chimney a real good sweep (had been blocked up for years and years) do the smoke test and it only cost me £250 inc VAT for all that work - can you shop around a bit and find somebody cheaper?

I hope you can get a better quote - don't give up on it - Its taken me 11 years to be able to do mine... had a back boiler in the old fireplace and couldn't afford to have it re-sited upstairs in order to open up the old fireplace and have it all sorted.

chirpychick

23esspiral glad you have come out from lurking!!
I can't really take all the credit, although its my personal list it was all from the previous preparing for Winter threads and particularly rainydays. Though i am very glad you found it helpful.
Have you looked to see if any of your local car boots are still going as i found loads yesterday and made real headway on my preps.
But particularly freecycle is great for things like curtains and curtain poles, blankets, etc.
good luck - stay de lurked would love to know how you are getting on!

ged1980

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

Didn't have a good night:( - been up for ages .....

Anyway, something came to me which may come in handy if you're trying to start off in the car when it's icey/snowy and it's sliding around all over the place.

I've shown people how to do it but am struggling a bit to put it into words so will keep it very basic, if it doesn't make sense, please say and I'll give it another bash:o (as it really does work):):

Start your car and do everything as normal except do not go anywhere near your accelerator - when you get to the bite in the cluth, release the handbrake/brake pedal, let out the clutch gently .... and the car will move:). Once moving and "stable", you can then move into the next gear/use your accelerator.

It's a very alien feeling and doesn't feel natural at all:o but the car moves just by releasing the clutch (and no acceleration) - it's great for trying to move off from a parking spot or if you're on an incline at a set of traffic lights etc.

I give myself a "crash test" in doing this every year as it's a long time since doing it the earlier year .... have a couple of practices just now while the weather's good (empty parking spaces in a supermarket car park etc).

HTH:)

Great tip


I learned this getting my psv licence as it is part of the test and can say works great in snow.

MarilynMonroe_2

Poundland do earmuffs, and if you hold on for a bit you can get some nice snowman ones ;D

it's a nice day here in the north east - blue skys, bit of sun and everything!

Edinburghlass_2

stormbreaker wrote: »

You spoke tooooo sooon;)

I did indeed, ten minutes after I posted it was pouring :rotfl:

suzybloo

Well I think I must add thermal vests to mine. This is the first day its been really 'wintery' and I am frozen! Have popped home at lunchtime to put a thicker jumper on!Its really windy, pouring rain and only 8 degrees. While I have been preparing quite well for the winter I think I have actually how awful winter really is :-(

pinkmami

sydneybean wrote: »

hi, just a quick one for those who are interested in yankee candles - B&Q sell them now - certainly in the bigger stores - mini warehouse and upwards - not sure what the pricing is like compared to the net but a good place to go and smell them all lol!

They are cheaper than the usual YC but TBH they don't burn as strong as the original YC. I bought a few & found they're not that smelly x