The Garden Fence - help and support in tough times

greenbee

Camelot - I knew it needed work, just not how much so soon. The carpets and kitchen were both disgusting so had to be ripped out.
First was new boiler, new rads downstairs and new hot water tank. I moved the boiler to the garage and the airing cupboard from the bathroom to the landing.
Then opened up between kitchen and dining room and did a temporary Ik*a fit out of the utility room to provide storage and allow the kitchen sink to be ripped out.
Next was replacing 17 windows....
Then fixing the roof
Then a new oil tank
Downstairs cloakroom (except the floor ... All downstairs floors will be done together to get the levels right, so currently have reclaimed vinyl and carpet patched together)
External paintwork including new garage doors and removal of lots of trellis (mouse ladders) and vine eyes (for plant-based mouse ladders)
Removal of all loft insulation (mostly dead mouse and mouse poo), all dodgy boarding (joins between joists) and reinsulation to 320mm
New bathroom - removal of old airing cupboard allowed for giant bath, big walk in rain shower. There is storage under the (insulated) bath and the basin. And the floor (heated) has been insulated. It's the warmest room in the house!

I have painted a lot of downstairs just to cover up the grubby paintwork and make it less depressing to live in - but the paint is almost all donated :-) I've been using random neutrals for undercoats and just doing the top coat in a consistent colour (which I plan to use for most of the house).

I need to have a proper look at the new estimate and decide what I can afford to do next... I'm hoping it's the other bathroom and main bedroom in one go, but it might not be.

mardatha

I'm exhausted reading that, off to have tea and a chelsea bun now!

fiftyeighter_2

Completely unrelated to these posts. My dog has licked my I pad and I have had a comment saying thankyou reporting this post etc. So I apologise to all. Don't know how to retract it and can't see any post that " the dog reported"

Nargleblast

That will go down in history as a great excuse, alongside "The dog ate my homework"

camelot1001

Oh greenbee, you reminded me that I also had a new heating system and a log burner put in - the gas fire was past its best and couldn't see a new one that I liked.

I feel your pain, when the wallpaper was stripped from the stairs the plaster came off too! I do need to do the kitchen at some point but will have to save some pennies.

It would be interesting to see what the house is valued at now, probably not much more than I paid 2 years ago but the money I have spent is worth it to me. I'm kind of glad that I bought a flat in The Hague for DS2 to live in (he is paying me back) or I would have gone completely mad in here, it's good to have some sort of budget.

I am continuing my 'on a roll' mood and made some more phone calls that were needed and booked an eye test.

Love the dog's input on the thread!

Softstuff

silvasava wrote: »

Burtha & Mardatha sending positive vibes to both of you for your appointments.
Softstuff & Greenbee - makes me realise how lucky I am to have a DH with plumbing, electrical and bricklaying skills. He's saved us and our sons thousands over the years, bless him. Next year I'm hoping to revamp the kitchen. DS2 has accounts with a number of cabinet suppliers (he's a professional tiler) but even at trade prices its gonna cost There goes the kids inheritance lol!

In Australia it's illegal to do any plumbing or electrical work, or I'd do the simple things myself. As for pathlaying, plastering, tiling, decoration or kitchen fitting, I'm your woman. If it requires more heft than I have alone, my hubby is my apprentice or if I need to see how it'sdone before I try it, my best friends hubby is a trady. When my Dad passed away, he had taught me everything he knew and he was very handy. The funny thing with the trade prices, it was cheaper for me to have my friends hubby buy the doors ans skirting and jnstall them than it was to just buy the doors myself!

Greenbee, we didn't see a few things coming, but a lot we knew about. A house we could afford was a house needing work, besides we knew we wanted it done well.

silvasava

Softstuff - well done you. There are so many programmes on TV now that show people looking round houses to upsize/downsize/ holiday and they can't see beyond the decoration to the 'bones' of the property. I always think it doesn't matter how nice/awful the decoration is you're probably going to change it anyway and magnolia emulsion makes it liveable in the meantime if its that bad.
We've had our share of horrors - this house had polystyrene ceiling tiles and polystyrene under the wallpaper too - on top of old lime plaster that came away on the back. Plaster & lath ceilings Dodgy plumbing and Dodgy electrics (got shocks off the wall when I leaned on it talking on the phone!) But its all been worth it as we knew it would be our forever home.
You and Greenbee will get there it just takes time (and money!)

Softstuff

Well, I've been doing a wee bit of gardening recently too. And it's experimental learning so far. Frankly it's a fair bit more like a David Attenborough show than an episode of Gardener's World. My MIL, an experienced local gardener, is quite surprised at the variety of bugs we've had so far and it's not like I've planted much. At this rate, if I do actually manage to baby anything to harvest, it'll be the most labour intensive operation ever. And likely the dearest.

We have had whitefly, caterpillars, spider mites, thrips, slugs, 26 spotted ladybirds (not a good thing), lawn beetle and curl grubs (honestly, don't google that, they are a horror film made real). I've been practicing organic pest control with organic sprays and manually removing morning noon and night.

I am learning what seems to grow without too much bother though. And it isn't Kale, though I'm not sure Mardatha would enjoy the mucilagenous leaves of Basella any better.... :eek: Still, I am confident that I will manage to grow some of our food long term. And I'll not have to join a gym.

burtha

Hi all, have escaped from hospital early, so needed to come home , feel like I have been run over , should pos of stayed in as they were offering morphine ,but i came home ...treatment was horrid , have weeping screw holes in head / skull,head hurts , so hope treatment has worked , ongoing mri, to check , if not I have about 5 years before it all starts going wrong . .. so fingers crossed . Feeling sorry for myself , tired,but pain not good and sleep hurts ...hospital was wonderful , clean ,tidy,good staff, was private though and 2 1/2 hours away from home , hence the need to be home ..
Right winge over , normal service( fingers crossed) tomorrow , ...and on a plus side I don't need make up for haloween ..

shanks77

Oh Burtha sounds horrendous but let's hope good things come from it and the pain is worth it in the long run. Whinge as much as you like dear you deserve to. Sometimes coming home is better and you feel more normal quicker I feel but the pain relief sounds like a bonus. Get better soon xx