Simple living in the country - back to basics

badmemory

I have mine in the bathroom.  I think I have mentioned before about my DS's 30 min showers.  In a small bathroom it really meant having the extractor fan on 24/7 which caused a draft my back really did not like, so I bought one on impulse, Aldi in store special.  Definitely one of my better buys.  We have started at 90% on occasion.  We try to get it down to around 40% which can take almost 2 hours on a really bad day, but it is a very small bathroom  basically 6x6x7ish.  The blurb on them should say how big an area they are suitable for.  Mine barely makes an impression if I use it downstairs as I have a through room.  I wonder if that is your problem.

When this needs replacing (it is over 5yrs old & is used every single day) I will get one that has a switch off when it gets down to a certain %, save me a fortune, the number of times I go upstairs & find it has got the bathroom down below 30%.  But without it, the radiator is dripping wet, the toilet seat I have to wipe dry before I sit.  Oh the joys of a DS with mental health issues.  They don't warn you how much they are going to boost your electric bill.  Having a rant at him will only make him worse, so basically I laugh.  41 going on 7.

Cheery_Daff

(Oops, wrote this last night and then never pressed post - I think I was going to come back and add to it!)

Thanks all 😊

Beanie, do report back on your findings!

Badmemory, that does sound like a tricky situation with your son. Ours is this one:

https://www.argos.co.uk/product/8499493?clickPR=plp:2:8

We bought it last year to help dry the plaster after the builders had been, and it's been ace. It's a 10 litre one, supposedly deals with rooms up to 31 m2 (twice the size of the room it was in earlier), and apparently you can set it to shut off at a certain percentage, although I've never done that. It does have an automatic cut out when the water thing gets full, although I expect they all do these days.

It's just this end of the house that gets damp, the other end is fine. There's a well in the cellar, under the dining room, which I suspect contributes to the issue 😂 And a bit of the house is kind of below ground level - the ground is dug away right next to the house, but  it can't help. And there's an outbuilding about a foot away, so little ventilation down one side of the study, and trees on the other side. Anyway, a dehumidifier is definitely useful for us (and for drying the washing in the winter!)

KC, nope, I won't be drilling - I'm going for the 'strong glue and hope for the best' option 🙄 And yes, I may well end up drilling later 😂 Tiles are these - I'd rather not mess about with drilling it i can avoid it...

(Back to today now!)

Thermal fabric for the blinds has arrived, hooray! Not sure how 'thermal' it is, it does seem quite densely woven though. At any rate, none of the windows have anything covering them at the minute, so whatever I use will be better than nothing!

Electricity use was higher than previous days with the dehumidifier on for several hours and both of us home all day, but still only 8.4kwh so not too bad (we averaged 5.6 a day in September I think). 

Leftover pasta for lunch, and I'm eating my way through some posh truffle-based sauces Mr Cheery got for his birthday. I have to confess they're a bit tasteless - maybe they're just too sophisticated for me?! 🙄😂😂

Cheery_Daff

Oops, there was meant to be a picture of the tiles! 

joedenise

We've got ceramic tiles and DH couldn't actually drill them so just used the strong sticky stuff.  This was for a divider bar between rooms rather than gripper rods but similar design.  They haven't come adrift in the 3 or 4 years they've been down.

Karmacat

I completely forgot how good the glues are these days!  Excellent news, and a lot less bother.  

Cheery_Daff

Yes, there are some brilliant glues! Pur kitchen ceiling plasterboard is entirely held up its the screwfix version of no more nails 😂

The grippers, however, will be going down with some kind of sticky foam stuff. It works instantly, and has only needs a very thin layer. Mr Cheery once stuck a bit of wood to a really big piece of stone and it just picked it up no problem. Hoping that will be enough!

Anyway, much excitement as the underlay has just arrived! Very impressive - I ordered it dead on 24 hours ago. Looks extremely cosy! So now, once we have nipped out to collect our little parcel tonight, I'm all set to get going 😁😁

EssexHebridean

That's great service on the underlay Cheery - and leaves you right on target to do things on the timeline you'd planned doesn't it!  I'm pretty sure a lot of professional carpet fitters just use the glue for the gripper rods these days - and I suspect a it gives the same amount of adherence all the way along it might even make the connection stronger...although that's a bit of guesswork! 

scandimore

I'm strangely excited to hear how this self fit carpet malarkey turns out. I'm sure you'll get it done and be lovely and cosy in your study very soon x

beanielou

Hope the capet fitting goes well 

The dehumidifyier seems to sit between 45 -54.
We have one that covers our two main rooms(the door between the two is always open)  & drains into the sink.

The ones before were not quite so good for us as they would cut off when the water collector was full. 

Cheery_Daff

Thanks all! 

EH, I wish I'd paid more attention when the geezers fitted the bedroom carpet last year! 

Scandimore, ha, it's funny how invested we get in other people's adventures on here, isn't it?? 😂

Thanks Beanie, that's interesting. We had ours on again yesterday, I didn't look at the start as Mr Cheery plugged it in, but it was 62 when we turned it off. Clearly we just live in a rather soggy house 🙄😂 It'd be interesting to try it at the dry end of the house for comparison! I do remember when we had the (very comprehensive) survey done on the house, they did say humidity levels were nearly at 100% in the dining room 🙄😂 Always been far colder and damper in there and the study than everywhere else, although we've never had it turn into mould, thank goodness. The study does sometimes have slightly wet walls, but I'm int here a lot and spot it quickly 🙄 

Anyway, lots to do today, and getting out of bed would be a good start!! Finished the hat last night (although it will STILL need some adjustments, aarrgghh!) And collected parcel, so we have everything we need for today. 

First job (once the chickens are out and I'm dressed and breakfasted) is emptying the study. I've shifted the dining room table, so everything is just getting piled (neatly, ish) in there, so I can get the room pretty much empty. Still not decided on the bookcase - I really don't want to dismantle as it was a right nuisance, but now I'm doing proper underlay etc, it would be good to get to the edge... I think I'll empty it, and then we might be able to shift it one side of the room to the other, even if we can't get it out of the room. Not ideal, but we'll see.

Still need to figure out if the actual carpet will fit right to every corner - on a rough measurement it should, but there's nowhere except the room itself to lay it completely flat, and I can't do that til empty...

Right, want it empty by lunchtime so I can get grippers and underlay down this afternoon!

Will report back 😁