Daydream thread continues.....

Davesnave

rhiwfield wrote: »

Davesnave, if you give the alterations the green light, when would you start?

Well, its Christmas Eve here.:D

If we go ahead, it means getting new PP, but we'll be more than 20m2 less than the design which already has PP, so hopefully no worries there. I haven't looked into the logistics fully, but it might be possible to do one end at a time, although the new exterior bits could be put up simultaneously.

It's not a case of when we want to start, but when the better builders can fit us in. Next year, hopefully, but not heading into winter, unless we do two stages.

Once we realised it was probably going to be wood pellets, and the storage implications, we decided not to demolish the garage, but instead, keep 2/3 and join it to the house with a new pitched roof. The architect probably won't like that, much! :rotfl:

Looks like you have some great weather for Christmas, albeit a bit parky.

lostinrates

Dave, can you not just keep the whole garage? Cheaper and useful space?

Davesnave

lostinrates wrote: »

Dave, can you not just keep the whole garage? Cheaper and useful space?

We'll see. It won't necessarily be cheaper because we'll still need to fill in the front bit regardless, and a longer building = longer, more expensive roof, but I take your point about storage. I reckoned on having enough space in there for a week's supply of logs too.

I am now working on a Plan C. This is the one where we say, "OK, we can't get this even approximately how we want it, so let's do this and see if we can live with it."

lostinrates

Oh, I know that plan dave!


Boiler update.....

I would not be able to recommend my company davesnave. . It's very sad. ATM I am not able to recommend the machine either. It was on all last night only attached to the four new rads in the heavily insulated section of overhauled house and one hot tap.

The hot water is tepid....and that's being over generous, the rads have the edge of cold taken off them.....Luke warm would be overstating it.

The installers have spent a lot of time here trying to get it right, I cannot complain about that, but in a way that makes it worse. I am already wondering what we do about the portion of payment already extended to them if it proves to be a white elephant. It's just too much for small claims...too much for us to kiss good bye to. And how much time do we give them to prove it works before we call trading standards? It's all very frustrating and quite terrifying.

I had hoped to type this morning...hurrah, it works, we have a toasty kitchen! But no. .

Davesnave

lostinrates wrote: »

I had hoped to type this morning...hurrah, it works, we have a toasty kitchen! But no. .

Oh dear.....sorry to hear that.

You have to hang onto the fact that the machinery does work, but it may take a third party to sort out what's wrong. British installers are at the learning stage.

I'm afraid I've heard similar tales about GSHPs as well.

lostinrates

Davesnave wrote: »

Oh dear.....sorry to hear that.

You have to hang onto the fact that the machinery does work, but it may take a third party to sort out what's wrong. British installers are at the learning stage.

I'm afraid I've heard similar tales about GSHPs as well.

Since that I have been told its a plumbing issue, and simple adjustment to valve.

Hmmm. Won't find out until tomorrow.

Itismehonest

Davesnave wrote: »

Fighting with the plans, we think we've finally arrived at something which might come within budget.

Basically, we have to:
Destroy conservatory/cr*p room & replace elsewhere as buffer zone/ rear entrance.
Destroy utility room & relocate.
Make a reception room.
Make 3 bedrooms larger.
Relocate en-suite.
Make cloakroom.
Move bathroom.
Move other cloakroom.
Make a new new front entrance.
Get rid of the flat roof at front.
Rebuild chimney stack.
Refit kitchen.
Put in new heating system.
Knock down half of garage and connect the rest at roof level.

Crikey, that sounds awful! :eek:

Or we could just move...:rotfl:

Seriously, wouldn't it be cheaper to pull it all down & start again, Dave? Trying to work around existing buildings is always harder than starting from scratch

Itismehonest

lostinrates wrote: »

Rozee......

To a greater or lesser degree.....this is it, this is the lifestyle. Get animals, and you are tied to your home by a tether the length of the hours of sunlight, how long a trough can last without re freezing, and who needs feeding when.

THAT is why it's the tie it is. As children are the controlling factor in your life till they can drive and get jobs, if you are alive stock owning small holder...the small holder is a tie.

For holidays there is house/pet sitters for those that can afford, family for those who have them able or.....the forgoing of holidays.

ATM the longest I have left for has been three nights. Which is how long the birds can go without being cleaned out. I have paid for help with the others......and clients chip in and cover for me, my parent does the dogs and the cats and the birds......but if something doesn't go to plan all heel breaks loose....parent is not a natural animal person. I come back to over fed hyper house critters and often a 'happening' of some sort in the chicken shed.



Otherwise, everyone would be doing it and doing it well. This is one of Itsme's frank truths I guess.

And the hardest one, IMO. Especially with you having property commitments a drive away. It's ahuge part of the reason I have been trying to stay as an outpatient this year, because hospital is a big deal for me, with critters.


Eit...

Of course a dog is portable! You might need to consider a car change or a reevaluation of what is important to you. We get three dogs in our car and often three people. We have done three dogs and four people, but has to be the right sort of people..l (our big dog takes the whole of the boot to herself)

We didn't take a holiday together for over 20 years about 17 of those were due to having the animals & business.
If it was necessary for one of us to go away for some reason (visiting sick parents, sorting out things after their death) just the one had to go.
We looked on it like this .......If you have animals, particularly a wide range of breeds, it's a) not easy to find someone who really knows what they are doing & is happy handling all the different animals or b) it can be taking advantage of someone unless you can provide a similar service for them should they want to go away.
Most farmers are busy people with enough animals/land/work of their own so I wouldn't have dreamed of asking them so it came down to finding someone with a similar menagerie to us

ukmaggie45

Itismehonest wrote: »

Seriously, wouldn't it be cheaper to pull it all down & start again, Dave? Trying to work around existing buildings is always harder than starting from scratch

Have to say that occurred to me too IMH!

LiR, sorry you are having so much trouble with your heating system. Fingers crossed it's an easy fix that they've just overlooked if they've not installed one of these before. Our builder was very worried when we asked him to install Thermaskirt, but came round to it after we all went to a trade fair in Harrogate and saw a (admittedly small!) version in action. Of course, it's only a variation on pipes and radiators, so a different level of difficulty to what you're having installed.

Went to visit dear MiL yesterday, she isn't doing well. Unable to eat, getting very dehydrated too. This morning her carers called to say they'd been in touch with her GP again. OH's brother has gone over to the flat as OH has dentist this morning - should be home soon I think. We only just increased carers up to 7 mornings a week this Monday, I think really she needs a drip to rehydrate so worried she will end up back in hospital. I hadn't seen MiL since we came back from caravan Nov 5 so was very shocked to see how much she's deteriorated since then. GP has prescribed nutrition drinks, but they are gloopy and over sweet so MiL hasn't been taking them, plus she can't remember how long they've been open for - her short term memory seems to be non existant now. She's also waiting for a gastroscopy (anaemic plus pain on eating now, another reason she isn't eating) but it's been ages since they said she needed it. We are rather at our wits end to know what to do - it's not feasible for OH to go over every day, or even alternate days with his brother. Already he's absolutely exhausted by it all, so I'm worried that if this goes on he'll end up ill himself. Oh the other thing is OH has been over 2 mondays on the trot to deliver wee samples to surgery, and we found out yesterday that the second was contaminated as well as the first. Until they rule out UTI they won't send her to the Memory Clinic for testing. Aaarrrggghhh! :eek:

Sorry for the moan, but helps to get it off my chest a bit amongst friends.

Itismehonest

Moan away, maggie. I'm pretty sure there's quite a few of us who have been through similar experiences & know exactly how frustrating it is.

I'd probably be taking Mum into A & E to have her checked over after that fall she just had.
But then I've had next to no faith in the majority of our NHS for decades now.