Watty's Awakening

Watty1

In financial news, right at the end of my last diary and at the start of this I was wondering about reclaiming tax paid on rental income that PPH claimed as half his but I had paid all the tax on.  After much dithering and debate on this thread, I thought I came to the decision to just leave it.

However, my lovely accountant had thought it over also, and it seems he wrote to the Inland Revenue on my behalf to reclaim what he could.  Well some 20 months later they have replied and declined to refund because I did not write the letter myself so accountant has written a letter for me to send  with all the details, I simply had to print it off, sign and post.  Which I have done.

I have no expectation of a refund.  I really thought I  had decided not to pursue it  but accountant said I left the ball in his court so he thought he would "give it a go".    

Lets hope they dont take another 20 months to reply whatever the outcome.

Cherryfudge

Just spotted my typo! I meant 'stay put', of course, but you worked that out.

Is the open plan such that you could put less-permanent divisions across, like folding doors or curtains? Or did the estate agent mention anything about adding heating? We have a wood burning stove which heats superbly but it's a small house with separate rooms (the heat warms the stairwell as well as the room it's in, and to a lesser extent, other rooms). Do you use one of those little woodburner fans on top of the stove to drive the heat further? Something like this. 

Fortune_Smiles

Hi Watty.  I've just started a new diary after a year off but have been following all your adventures during that time.  You have done amazingly well!  And I'm not surprised you now love the house after all the work and effort you have put into it.

I can't remember whether you said you'd had a plumber round to look at the heating.  If not, I think it would be worth getting some quotes for having additional radiators put in or, at least, having the small one replaced with something larger and more effective.  It may not be too costly and they can usually do the work in a day or so.

A friend has had infrared radiators installed (she's electric only) and has been very impressed by them.  A couple of those to take the edge off on cold nights might be an option?

We have a log burner too but Mr F loves it - I think it taps into some primal, evolutionary, survival need of his 😂  He's nagging to light it from September onwards 😂

Keep going keeping going - you're  doing great!

Fortune x

KajiKita

I thought one of the other fundamentals, as well as the house being cold in winter, was that you can’t ‘ride out’ easily and pleasantly from where you are? Or has that changed since finding the wood?

Kk

daisy_1571

I was also going to suggest partitioning off the stairs.  A curtain rail attached to ceiling in an L shape (like a shower curtain round a bath) would cut down on the heat going upstairs.   

Is it worth rebuilding any of the walls to make it less open plan?  You can get sliding partitions that fold up against the wall (like large hotel rooms have that can be sub partitioned off) which could be more versatile?   Or glass, to allow light to still penetrate through.   Like this cheap option 

https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/skytta-svartisdal-sliding-door-combination-black-white-paper-effect-s29581140/#content

A plug in oil filled radiator could help too, they give off a good heat and can be wheeled around wherever you need them.

Watty1

KajiKita said:

I thought one of the other fundamentals, as well as the house being cold in winter, was that you can’t ‘ride out’ easily and pleasantly from where you are? Or has that changed since finding the wood?

Kk

no, this remains a problem - but - there is something else in the mix now - which I will share if it becomes "a thing"  and if it does it might bring financial freedom for me.

Humdinger1

@Watty1 you've got me on tenterhooks now, and I bet I'm not the only one! It's your diary and you do as you see fit, but please could you consider giving a wafer-thin mint of a hint as to what 'the thing' might be? Feel free to tell me to mind my own Gdamn business but your posse of adoring admirers are, I'm sure,  enthralled. Standing by in hope of hints love Humdinger xx 

Suffolk_lass

We have a woodburning stove - they come with different kilowatt values, so looking to see if yours is suitable for the space it is in, would be my first step. You could put a metal grate in the bottom of a woodburning stove and make it a multifuel - lots of slow-burning fuels that burn to dust are hotter output than wood too - we used to use "homefire" pressed dust, octagonal briquettes of smokeless fuel, but I am sure there are more modern, better options now. 
We don't have gas here, so I have been looking at waste-wood burning systems as an alternative to the oil boiler we use (when we do) for winter heat, plus hot water. MCZ group (Italy) have UK distributers for decorative biomass options. Our electricity consumption is astronomical in winter when the (electric) aga is on - it does heat most of the house though, just by leaving the doors open, and is oversized for the size of house (4 oven either on or off, with no adjustments)

skint_spice

I love the sound of the garden furniture, all so colourful!

Watty1

Suffolk_lass said:

We have a woodburning stove - they come with different kilowatt values, so looking to see if yours is suitable for the space it is in, would be my first step. You could put a metal grate in the bottom of a woodburning stove and make it a multifuel - lots of slow-burning fuels that burn to dust are hotter output than wood too - we used to use "homefire" pressed dust, octagonal briquettes of smokeless fuel, but I am sure there are more modern, better options now. 
We don't have gas here, so I have been looking at waste-wood burning systems as an alternative to the oil boiler we use (when we do) for winter heat, plus hot water. MCZ group (Italy) have UK distributers for decorative biomass options. Our electricity consumption is astronomical in winter when the (electric) aga is on - it does heat most of the house though, just by leaving the doors open, and is oversized for the size of house (4 oven either on or off, with no adjustments)

That is really helpful.   I think the stove is the right size, it is a multi-fuel - but - the real problem is it throws out a lot of heat and the VNM gets too hot so moans about how hot he is and I'm always cold whatever - plus the building is an odd shape so the sitting area (old building) is really too hot, the dining area (old) ok and the kitchen area (new) always seems cold. 

The curtains and doors idea were a good suggestion, but probably unworkable.  The house is an odd shape, sort of a T and was originally an old grain barn so brick built.  The original part is very poorly insulated and none of  the (new when PPH and I moved in) windows actually fit.  The windows were the first big disagreement on the rebuilding we did as I wanted modern double glazed and he insisted on wood, double glazed but the simply don't fit very well, they warped.   The rooms with the three windows I did replace are so much better.

All of this is solvable if this were to be my permanent home, but, it is not.  I'm sticking with estate agent advice who said leave the windows as is, to renovate the front door so it looks better.   Front door also very draughty but can't have a curtain because, being an old barn and a odd conversion, the door actually does not have a proper top frame on the inside but is just a cm below the ceiling. Again, could be solved but not worth it given plans. (potential plans)

However @Suffolk_lass got me thinking about what I actually burn.  There is a lot of free wood about the place that will be burnt this winter - but - as well - I should research what else to burn as there are might be better options than the homefire ovals we bought previously.