Simple living in the country - back to basics

Cheery_Daff

Oh, and we had the quote for fixing/replacing the render. £900, which I think we'll go for, even if he can't do it any time soon. He's literally about 2 miles away so might be able to fit us in between other jobs. This is removing and replacing the render, replacing the fascia boards (just the few that are wooden, most are plastic anyway), and fixing a little bracket that's come off on the other side of the house. 

Will stop water coming into the music room and damaging any more of the plaster etc, so all good. Also means we'll be able to replace the window - but those will be waiting til well into next spring now. 

Right - work!

[Deleted User]

badmemory said:

You know to take Martin's advice & take your car to an MOT place only - not to a repairing garage?

No, I didn't know this! Thank you! 

Cheery_Daff

Delighted to report that Henry is now fully functional, after I bashed both the bag and the filter against the side of an outbuilding for a good 10 minutes 😂 Both were completely clogged, so no wonder he'd given up. Now, however, it's actually quite difficult to push him across the floor because the suction is so strong 😂 Felt like quite an abs workout! 😂

Dehumidifier has been on in the bedroom most of the afternoon - it felt really clammy in there last night 🙄 Reading on the top has gone from 90% to 62%, and it feels much more comfortable just walking in there 🙄 I was going to turn it off, but just read in several places that comfortable/appropriate level should be around 30-50% so I might leave it on for a bit longer (will plug the energy monitor in - I think I worked out from the advertised wattage it was about 11p an hour under old prices, but I've not had the monitor on it yet).

Right, tea, and then I'll assess options for further activities... 🤔

KajiKita

My beloved and talented hublington (he’s a chippy by trade) swore black and blue that he will never, ever fit another carpet ever, in his life, ever, after fitting a second hand lounge carpet here! 😂

I didn’t dare say anything at the time (it was all getting a bit fraught here … 😉) but I think he put the gripper rods too close to the wall, so there wasn’t enough space for the carpet to go over the rods and down into a recess for the carpet to then ‘pull back’ / ‘catch’ on the grips of the rods (iyswim). Every time I have seen a professional do it or lifted a carpet that a professional has fitted, the gripper rods have been further away from the wall than hubby set them. May be a useful observation, may not? 🤷‍♀️😊

KK

KajiKita

Oh and you can hire carpet kickers, or you can round here 😊

KK

KajiKita

And well recovered on Henry 😊👏

Kk

Cheery_Daff

That does indeed sound like a useful observation, thank you! I shall investigate thoroughly. And I also might end up swearing a lot and vowing never to fit another one 😂

I did check out hiring options, but the cheapest I could find was £28 for 24 hours, and I've just bought one for £20. 

So. Gripper rods and tape ready for collecting from one town tomorrow, and knee kicker ready for collecting on Friday from the other town 🙄😂 Underlay hopefully delivered Friday or Saturday, but I suppose it may be Monday, which will throw all my plans out of whack - I will have removed everything from the room over the weekend so if it doesn't arrive I won't even have my desk or anything 🙄 Might end up taking Tuesday off work to fit it 😂

Old carpet/rugs are back in the attic. 

Going to sit with a film and see if I can finish Mr Cheery's hat - then my current sewing task will be finished and I can focus on the blinds!

Cheery_Daff

Well, hat is NOT finished, but the new brim is made and covered, and tacked on, and seems to be a pretty perfect fit. Thank goodness. 

However, I've been hand sewing for the last 2 hours and I'm tired now, so it'll have to wait til tomorrow or the eekend to get finished. Shouldn't take that long though now it's all made and tacked into place. 

Dehumidifier seems to be running at approximately 5p an hour, which is better than it seemed from its wattage. Not complaining about that. Still seems to be reading 61% though. Said 62% earlier - I emptied the water our, plugged it back in, and it said 75% 🙄 I assume it's not perfectly accurate! But it's certainly making things feel drier so the actual reading doesn't matter I suppose. 

OK. Tomorrow. Working at home - meetings at 11, 12, and 2 🙄 In the evening, collection from Screwfix, and hat sewing., then, if there's more time, the tedious process of removing things from the study... 🙄

beanielou

Our dehumidifier at the foodbank is on 24/7.
Will check the % tomorrow.

Karmacat

Wow, Cheery, what a huge amount of progress over so many areas!  That's a lot of hard work, I'm very impressed.  Can I just check something, though - you mentioned there are tiles in the room where you want to lay the carpet, are you drilling through them to affix the gripper rods, or have I got the locations wrong?  (I was going to write, have I got the wrong end of the stick 😁).