Climbing the Mortgage Mountain step by step

Me_v_The_Mortgage_Mountain

Hi All

It's chaos here, the fitters are doing the flooring, lots of banging and sanding, got 3 days of this! Lounge/diner, kitchen and both bathrooms all being attacked!  I'm excited to see the results though.

We had a lovely weekend, more relaxed than we had thought, think it has done us both good as we have been so busy and feeling unwell too, we needed some RnR.  Had friends round for pizza on Saturday night, bar stocked and firepit lit, it was lovely.  Sunday was a lazy day, visited parents, dropped some bits off for the kids, made DD her favourite pasta back and ended the day in the hot tub (still a small leak but water level seems to be holding well).  We have already decided that we are only using for a month, our electricity usage has gone from £2-£3 per day to over £6 so we will enjoy it while we can and then pack it away again.

Oh and we still haven't tackled the fence panels!

MvTMM

Me_v_The_Mortgage_Mountain

Hi All

More banging and crashing today as the flooring marathon continues.

Had a nasty shock yesterday when the fitters started pulling up the flooring in our shower room, we seem to have had a long term leak, possibly from the pipe work for the power shower, water going down in the boxing behind the tiles and on to the floor.  The bottom of the vinyl was black, the hardboard was absolutely drenched, the floor boards are soft and the joists wet and springy :sh.  I've phoned our Insurers and started a claim, need to pin down a plumber (I thought they would do that?).  Apparently they need to refer it to the Underwriters though as I hadn't realised that I had to tell them when DD turned 18, what that's got to do with a leak I don't know, she doesn't even use that bathroom!!  So a waiting game now to see if they will use that as an excuse not to pay the claim.

Have a good day

MvTMM

Me_v_The_Mortgage_Mountain

Hi All

The plumber came out last night and we have a plan, he should be back tomorrow.

After all of the 'trades' had left last night DH and I decided to finally tackle the new fence panels, managed to put up 8 along onside of our large front garden/drive, might try to do the other side tonight.

Floorers are back again this morning, should be finished today, we are really pleased with what they have done, all the rooms look bigger and much more modern, a lot of money, but money well spent I think.  We are going to do all of the woodwork before we move the furniture etc back in.

I was a bit spendy last night, ordered a dry/wet mop system and the wipes and also trawled Am@zon and set up subscriptions for regular cleaning products, looked for best value and then sync'ed deliveries to get the further discount, so should save money in the long run.

Have a great day

MvTMM

debtfreewannabe321

Just catching up. Sorry you've not been well. Hope you're all better now.
What a pain about the leak..at least you've found it now I guess. Hope you get it sorted soon.
We decorated this house from top to bottom but the biggest change was when we had new flooring laid it just finished everything off beautifully and made it all look so much bigger and better (we went lighter colours than what the previous owners had had).

Me_v_The_Mortgage_Mountain

Hi All

@debtfreewannabe321, the flooring is all finished (barring the shower room obviously) and has made a huge difference, we are so pleased with it.  We will repaint all of the woodwork before moving everything back in, at present the spare room, conservatory and garage are all piled high, I'm having a really good sort out and only putting back in things we will actually use, I'm even going through the piles and albums of photos.

We did the shopping last night, kept to a minimum, then had several errands to run.  Took a chicken out of the freezer for tonight's dinner, that can cook whilst we start the painting, it's due to rain tonight and be nice tomorrow, so fence tomorrow and then rain again Saturday so back inside to finish painting!  Is it any wonder I'm exhausted?  I'm really hoping that on Sunday, when the sun is due to shine all day, we can just collapse in the garden and soak up the rays.

Have a great day

MvTMM

Me_v_The_Mortgage_Mountain

Hi all

We managed to finish painting the woodwork last night, it was a long slog but so worth it, the fresh white paintwork looks lovely with the new floor.  I put a cook in the bag chicken in the oven when we started, turned it off once cooked but left in the oven so it stayed warm.  It was so nice to have a meal ready when we got to the end of the painting, even if it was very late to be eating, we had the warm chicken with lemon and herb cous cous and a salad.  Quick showers and crashed

I spoke with the insurance company last night, good news the claim has been approved with no further actions regarding the number of adults in the house etc, so that's a relief.  I had said to DH that at least we have savings and this sort of thing is exactly what we save for, so one way or another it would have got sorted.

We are going to finish the fence tonight and then start putting back all of the furniture, going to stick felt pads to the legs of everything to prevent scratching the new floor.  The rest of the chicken will go into a curry or possibly pasta dish tonight. Still planning to have a complete chill day on Sunday, I think we definitely need it.

DD actually has next Saturday off so I said to DH we need to do something nice with her as it will only be a couple more weeks before she goes back to Uni

Have a great Friday and lovely weekend.

MvTMM

debtfreewannabe321

Great news on the insurance company! 

Me_v_The_Mortgage_Mountain

Hi All

We had a slightly more restful weekend, even managed to read my book in the sun yesterday, but still feeling shattered.

The fence has been finished, had several people comment as we were doing it.  It looks much smarter and DH has put new lights on each post that really light up the drive.  The house is almost back to normal, we are taking the chance of decluttering and only putting back what we actually want or need, I am terrible at holding on to things, 'just in case'.  

The plumber is coming out tomorrow re the shower room.  We have also picked up a really nice, free, wash basin for the bathroom as the one there is cracked so will get him to do that for us as well.

I made a Chinese curry with the remains of the chicken on Friday night, Saturday night we were out with friends so ate at theirs (Cheese night) and yesterday I did some salmon fillets with garlic and herb goats cheese on top, mixed veg and cous cous, DD and I then went to the cinema to see 'It Ends With Us'.

Very minimal spends this weekend, cinema tickets were only £4 each and we had a couple of drinks beforehand.

Have a great Monday

MvTMM

Aimingforthegoodlife

Hi MvTMM, 

You have been so so busy and the food all sounds great. I bet it will look like a completely new home once it is all finished, always think it is lovely to put money into your home. We have someone coming to paint our kitchen cabinets in October, the actual kitchen is still in great condition and I am happy with the layout, but have never liked the look of it and feel the dark wood effect just doesn't suit the room! We have 19 cabinets- some are very tall- and it will cost £2500, but a new kitchen would cost so much more! Hoping it will freshen everything up.

Enjoy the hot tub!

Me_v_The_Mortgage_Mountain

Hi All

Sorry it's been a week since I posted but it's been pretty full on again!

@Aimingforthegoodlife, everyone who has seen the flooring so far has really liked it and commented on how it makes the place seem bigger, it is so much easier to keep clean too   I'll be interested to hear how the painting of your kitchen units goes as it is something we have been contemplating, either painting or wrapping and were quoted a similar figure to you.  The actual kitchen units are really solid but I have always had wooden kitchens and really want something different.  In the meantime, changing the flooring and all of the handles has lifted the look and feel of the room until we can afford to do something more drastic.

Last weekend I had a girly shopping day with DD as she actually had Saturday off, we did all the Homeware shops inc H0mesense, Dune1m and B+M and finished off with A$da.  I found a lovely shelving unit for the lounge in H0mesense, sloped style, dark wood with drawer at the bottom, only £110, managed to get it in the car so it had to come home with me!!  This meant I could get rid of 2 small, older bookshelves, freeing up some space and also encouraging me to have a long overdue purge on by books and I got £25 for the bookshelves on Faceb00k DD managed to get new towels, rug and a lamp for Uni as well as a few other bits n bobs.

DH and I celebrated 6 years together on Sunday so, once DD got home from work wee had an Indian takeaway and a few drinks to celebrate

The Insurance people came out yesterday, we have a dehumidifier type thing in the shower room for the next 7-10 days in an attempt to save the floor boards, apparently they will even reimburse us for the electricity used.  They have recommended ripping out the shower unit, boxing etc and also mentioned redecorating the hallway as the wallpaper has started to give way from the wall.  Hopefully we will have a nice new shower room before Christmas

Have a great day everyone

MvTMM