Daydream thread... without the rose-tinted specs

lostinrates

Is it jut me who looks at the 'four year old logs' and thinks they'd be burning through at the rate of knots?

Davesnave

lostinrates wrote: »

Is it jut me who looks at the 'four year old logs' and thinks they'd be burning through at the rate of knots?

Nope. I have willows and I harvest a little of them yearly, but they are only OK as a secondary source of fuel.

There's no free lunch, especially now our ash trees' future is so uncertain.

lostinrates

Davesnave wrote: »

Nope. I have willows and I harvest a little of them yearly, but they are only OK as a secondary source of fuel.

There's no free lunch, especially now our ash trees' future is so uncertain.

I am gutted by our beech problem here. I had hoped beech was a future for us.

Any one much experience of sweet chestnut as a fuel? It can be coppiced cannot it? We planted three young special variety ones we were gifted out on a boundary and have left them to it ( no pampering) and they seem to be coping. Those are good fruit ers so we'd want to leave them and try some others for wood if we went that way I think.

Davesnave

Loads of info on burning different woods. This is one of the more informed guides, but there are many others:

http://www.thestoveyard.com/pwpcontrol.php?pwpID=7115

Better_Days

Davesnave wrote: »

Here you go then....



Now, how do I get down without the ladder? :eek:

That looks great Davesnave - what software did you use? I had a quick look on some of the window websites to see if they offered any 'before and after' but couldn't find anything.

The white window frames look fine, better than a wood effect I think and the sage green doors soften the overall look.

Logged on for Rummer and Rumlet news, but we are all still waiting in excitement.......

Mr BD is trying to cobble together a chicken run as next weekend BHWT are doing a rehome in our area and I would like to get 3 or 4.

Just counted up and we now have 6 dog beds for our 2 dogs. Two each in the living room, bedroom and my 'day room' so everyone is happy whichever room they are in. Not that they are spoit or anything.

lostinrates

Davesnave wrote: »

Loads of info on burning different woods. This is one of the more informed guides, but there are many others:

http://www.thestoveyard.com/pwpcontrol.php?pwpID=7115

Yes I've seen that one, thanks . And a few others.

What I'd love is to hear anyone's first hand experience though. For example.....chestnut not good wood than burns fast and throws out a lot of heat......well, fast isn't great, but throwing out heat isn't bad!


Year before last (or autumn before that:o I bought lots of cheap mountain ash and fruit trees and silver birch from bargain stores but the weeds over took them sadly, and I think none have made it. totally my fault.

Better_Days

Alexelisey wrote: »

Nothing to report here, except water is coming down/through our bedroom wall worse than ever before. We've asked the roofer to come back and have another look, but if it's coming through the bricks we might have to take the roof off and the wall down, and rebuild both, and the costs on that, DH reckons, will be somewhere in the region of 20-30k :eek::eek::eek: .Not a cheerful thought for 2014.

Noooo...... it can't be that bad surely????
Would it be worth getting someone else to come and have a look round too for a 'second opinion'. Certainly well worth it if it is going to cost that kind of money to rectify. Trouble with water is a little goes a long way and it gets everywhere and causes so much damage. Do hope there is a simpler and cheaper solution for you....and soon :(:(

lostinrates

Roofers are scary.

Our builder brought his roofer who did the whole 'north wing' of our house for much less than that. It sounds rather grand, north Wing, lol, and indeed is a lot of roof space.


We had tiles stripped, reclined with new breathable membrane, original tiles all put back on. Our builders did all the preparatory stripping to save money.
The timber was all mainly sound though. We had walls down but that was in a separate break down. I can only think of roof cost as 'roof cost'.

Our leaks there mainly centred around where different roof lines joined. Flashing issues, ona. Wall and around a chimney, But both were quickly resolved once identified, though the tiles had all gone back up by that point!


Roofers identify leaks amazingly well. A leak we and our builder thought was from a tile we could clearly see daylight though and the other end of the house the roofer said, nah, I'll move that because it should be move, but its not causing a problem at the monent but look, your problem is there, and pointed about eight feet away, no hint of daylight.l.l.but indeed a tiny track of water ........would have taken us weeks to find if we ever had up there in the dark.

Alexelisey

Better_Days wrote: »

Noooo...... it can't be that bad surely????
Would it be worth getting someone else to come and have a look round too for a 'second opinion'. Certainly well worth it if it is going to cost that kind of money to rectify. Trouble with water is a little goes a long way and it gets everywhere and causes so much damage. Do hope there is a simpler and cheaper solution for you....and soon :(:(

I think he meant if it all has to come down to first floor floor-level if you see what I mean. Roof off + loft wall and floor down + chimney down + (maybe) first floor external wall and chimney breast down. Replace with new bricks but not replace chimney breast. Replace first floor ceiling then loft wall. Re-roof. It wouldn't be a small job, and access will be a problem as next-door's extension is in the way.

Our room has 3 external walls and a chimney. We're an end-terrace and it's our odd bit (e.g. not joined to another property) that has a problem somewhere. The flashing has been done twice, along the entire length, the chimney has been capped, the parapet wall now has coping stones along the top. None of these have fixed the issue - or rather, ingress!

It may be that we could get away with chimney off and tile over that bit, then let it all dry out (if that's where the problem is) - possibly that's the next course of action.

COOLTRIKERCHICK

The thing is Alex.. it could be something small and over time it has just seeped, and maybe washed concrete/mortar away..


maybe something to do with down pipe leaking, splashing back ???


I honestly think that estimate is a bit OTT..


Can you post some pictures??


What you got to watch.. if you are thinking of selling in the near future.. it might not actually be worth doing the work, if houses in your area have got a max price that they sell for..


Its the same with the house we are in now... Before we heard the supermarket was going to be built, we couldn't afford to do the work... then when we did have the money.. we bought the ranch.. basically we haven't spent a penny on this place.. needs new roof, new windows, path outside lowering as it is above the damp coarse..etc.. approx. 15 - 20k worth, BUT if we did do the work, we would not get that type of money back if we sold it... so it is better to take a bit less and sell as a doer- upper.. if that makes sense...