Tales from The Shire

Fortune_Smiles

Cheery_Daff said:

Ooh, loving your get up and get on progress Fortune, well done! Very impressed. Battening down the hatches here today too, brrrr.

PurpleFairy26 said:

I’m loving the get up and get on mantra too. Thanks for sharing. 

Stay safe. 

Thanks guys - I'm trying to be pro-active rather than letting life's challenges get me down.  It does seem to be working 

Fortune x

Fortune_Smiles

One down...

I think I've found the boiler leak!  The heavy rain woke me at 6 this morning so I decided to get up and have a good look around the boiler before it came on.  I know now, from my research, that a drop of half a bar or so in pressure over 24 hours equates to quite a small leak.  Drops of water onto hot pipes can evaporate leaving little trace, however, I'd previously found a small radiator leak by spotting the limescale left behind.  So, I took the covers off the boiler, flashed a torch around and found some corrosion and limescale around one of the pipes into the heat exchanger.  We had this replaced last year so, it would make sense if the new fitting had failed.  Sure, enough, after watching patiently a small bead of water appeared around the connection.  Feel I have obtained bolier level 'Expert' and should be given a certificate of some kind.  Which begs the questions... why did the original work fail? and why didn't an experienced and qualified plumber spot the problem?  I have booked a new boiler company to come  out and make the repair.  What to do about the invoice from the previous boiler company though?  They're asking for £72.00!

Motivated by the solving of one niggle, I have moved on to the others.  Many of our windows are now leaking  and I fear they will need replacing.  So I've contacted a local window company to come out and give me some advice and an idea of costs.  We will repair what we can and replace what we have to.  Although I suspect we'll have to do the replacements gradually due to the cost.  Particularly as we have some unusually shaped windows.

I've also contacted our builder.  Some of the mortar has come out of the eaves at our gable end and I suspect water is blowing in there.  We have some decorative air bricks that end too and I suspect water is blowing in through those too.  I'll also ask his advice about the road flooding and how to stop it pooling around the house.  And... get him to check for loose ridge tiles while he's here.

The boiler and builder costs will be met from the emergency fund.  As will the cost of the oil order I've just made.  The price has dropped recently so I want to take advantage of that and want to keep the tank level up in case more bad weather comes.  I hate to see the emergency fund diminishing but that's what it's there for after all.  Thank goodness we have one.

Thank goodness we just have a few leaks too and not full on flooding.  Shrewsbury is having a really tough time.  I've counted my blessings and made a donation to the Shropshire Flood Appeal.

This weekend has been spent collecting and reviewing  information about our pension funds.  It won't be long before I'll be able to draw mine and Mr F and I have agreed to review his work situation at that point.  I've updated spreadsheets and modelled several outcomes and, if the interest gods smile upon us in a year's time, Mr F could possible retire then.  We'll still need to generate some income but, if Mr F does some consultancy work, this should cover what we need.  We'll still have a mortgage to pay and on-going house repairs (yes, windows, I'm looking at you) but it is doable and would mean far more free time and less stress for Mr F.  I'm going to keep all the information current and monitor how things go.  All along I've been thinking that we have to clear the mortgage before Mr F can retire but it seems we can change our lifestyle and still service a mortage.  Happy days 

Hoping that the flood waters subside soon and all are warm and dry.

Fortune x

PurpleFairy26

I love a good spreadsheet and financial modelling. Definitely shows the art of the possible. Plus it’s great news if Mr F can do consultancy as you can always flex up if you need a little more for something. Hopefully you’ve found the leak at last and it can be resolved once and for all. 

Fortune_Smiles

PurpleFairy26 said:

I love a good spreadsheet and financial modelling. Definitely shows the art of the possible. Plus it’s great news if Mr F can do consultancy as you can always flex up if you need a little more for something. Hopefully you’ve found the leak at last and it can be resolved once and for all. 

I do hope so Purp - it's been weighing on my mind... perhaps more than it should.  I think I'm going to increase our emergency fund target as the boiler is bound to give up the ghost at some point.  It is 14 years old after all.

Fortune x

in_need_of_direction

Could you contact a plumbing trade body and seek advice on what to do re the invoice?

greent

Pain about the boiler/ invoice - hopefully it will be finally resolved now!

Exciting possibilities re Mr F's possible reduced work/ retirement, though.....

Fortune_Smiles

in_need_of_direction said:

Could you contact a plumbing trade body and seek advice on what to do re the invoice?

greent said:

Pain about the boiler/ invoice - hopefully it will be finally resolved now!

Exciting possibilities re Mr F's possible reduced work/ retirement, though.....

Thanks guys.  I've decided to swallow the cost of the first invoice.  The guy attended, did do some work and I can't prove there was any negligence on his part.  However, I won't be having him in the house again.  I don't have to admit anyone I feel uncomfortable with so I won't 

Fortune x

Fortune_Smiles

I have progressed some niggles today:

• the new boiler man came.  He was due on Friday but there was a mix up his end    Anyhoo, he's the company director, arrived on time, was personable and gave me lots of good advice.  He's tightened up the leaking connection and checked everything that could possibly be causing the pressure to drop.  If that doesn't resolve the problem we'll disconnect the boiler from the radiators upstairs to narrow down the location of any leak and he'll bring his thermal imaging camera round to track it down.  The good news is that the pipework is likely to be in the walls and not under the floorboards as I feared.  He also put some silicone around our cloakroom sink while he was here which, although a small repair, has been on our to do list for a long time.  He didn't charge me any extra for that so I gave him a bottle of wine for his trouble courtesy of Mr F's Av1o$ points.  Plus he's cheaper than the previous company 
• window man came today too.  As we thought, our windows are in rubbish condition and some faults in their design means that repairing them might not stop them leaking.  So... we will replace the ones that are in the worst condition and repair the others.  It's going to hurt.  We have a lot of windows and they have to be oak due to the conservation restrictions on the house.  We'll wait for the quote to come in and then decide next steps.  Window man doesn't usually do repairs but will also replace the blown glass we have in two of the windows, repair beading and remodel the threshold of our back door as part of the package.

I didn't get a promised call back from the garage about the leaking tyre on my car though so that niggle will have to wait until tomorrow.

My 'get up and get on' approach is still working for me and I'm ticking things off my to do list.  I have even finished writing another story!  That makes two I've finished this year.  I'm a really slow writer so this is great progress for me.  My goal is to publish a collection so I'm on track so far.

Payday arrived so I've shuffled money around and budgeted for the next couple of months.  We've had a couple more bookings for the Annex which will help with all these additional costs.  It feels as though we are leaking money as well as water right now but I must remember that I'm still making OPs, putting money into savings and adding to the tittervating pot.  The savings will be taking a hit soon but at least we have them.

Todays lunch was Cauliflower Paneer & Pea Curry, one of my favourites, and supper is going to be a blue cheese, apple and walnut salad as I have salad leaves to use up.  Also, I'm back on the diet.  I haven't put any weight back on but I haven't made any effort to lose the last half a stone either 

Isn't it wonderful to see the sun and a little bit of blue sky for a change.  Long may it continue.

Fortune x

beanielou

Good news on the leak & the windows

PurpleFairy26

Although the windows will be costly, at least some are repairable and they should reduce your heating costs a little too after. Ours certainly did after we had ours done. 

March is only 3 days old and it feels like all I’ve done is payout money here too. It’s all budgeted for but doesn’t feel any better when it leaves the account 🙃

The curry looks lovely.