living in relative luxury
I was watching a TV programme the other night. It was one of those property restoration type series, and this one featured a couple older than us who had bought a relic of a lodge house and were doing it up. They basically bought a house with virtually no roof and that had remained un lived in for around 50 years. They lived in a caravan next door to the building whilst the renovation was happening and they kept pigs and chickens in the garden. Well......I have lived in realative luxury for the past 8 months compared to those mad buggers! It was so cold In February their water froze, and so did the bottled gas. The pigs had turned the front garden into a pig style of mud and poo and they were walking along boards to keep out of the filth. They decided to move into the property and were basically sleeping on a mattress in a just plastered room, with still damp walls.
I know our friends think we are bonkers. The builders admitted last week, that when they first met us the first time they came here between Christmas and New Year just gone to try to patch up the leaking roof , they drove home in their builders truck having a right laugh at us. Apparently Stevie was in the hallway, stripping wallpaper. The wind was howling and rainwater pouring through the roof, the electrics were flickering and there he was stripping wallpaper. They thought we were quite mad. The townies who didn't have a clue!.
This week we have both been off work. Its been really Nice to spend a full week together.
Our 3rd log burner was fitted a fortnight ago, so we have moved yet again into the drawing room, so that we have some sofas to sit on and a fire to keep us warm. We have also moved bedrooms again. and are now in the master bedroom at the far end. Not yet totally completed, but nearly done.
The new central heating system is virtually completed. all the new pipework is in and all new radiators throughout. The brand new huge Grant boiler sits in the boot room and it awaiting the flue to be fitted and the new oil lines to be installed. Today we had a company out to empty the big oil tank at one end of the building and pump it into the oil tank at the other end of the building. This involved a very long hose, a generator and a 3rd holding tank. The oil was then pumped out of the redundant tank into the holding tank and then pumped back into the working tank. The builders stood looking on, whilst having a tea break and a fag until I nonchalantly said. "do you think its a good idea to stand there having a fag break with 900 litres of kerosene heating oil 2 feet away?
The builders have been and delivered 2 tons of gravel and sand and cement and tomorrow the mammoth job of re lining the french drain ( gully) at the back of the house begins. The entire channel along the back of the house between the exterior wall and the road will be partly filled with concrete. DPC and bitumen to create a new channel for excess rainwater to flow along the back of the house rather than penetrating through under the flagstone kitchen floor as it currently is. we have noticed that when it rains heavily the flagstones change colour around their edges due to excess moisture. Also my newly plastered wall in the kitchen on the road side, is sporting black mildew, and we appear to have a lovely crop of fungi growing in the gun room.....all due to a dodgy gully running along the entire length of the house .
Stevie spent all day yesterday digging the gully out. Bearing in mind its waist deep but only 10 inches wide its a very awkward area to work in.. At one stage he became concerned that he had got himself wedged in the gully and would have to wait for the next tractor or horse rider to come along the lane to raise the alarm! He did manage to extract himself eventually however whilst soaking in the bath last night he did discover his knees were red raw from scraping them along the gully all day long.
Its drizzeled non stop all week. The last day the sun shone properly was Saturday.
This afternnon we took a load of rubbish to the tip. Then on the way back we went to the lovely butchers at Pennygillum who sells the most amazing meats. I bought a bag of spuds at the country store and Mary the farmers wife gave me some runner beans fresh form her garden. So tonights tea is all local produce..yummy.
I will get Stevie to post some new photos up soon.
xxx
Jo
I know our friends think we are bonkers. The builders admitted last week, that when they first met us the first time they came here between Christmas and New Year just gone to try to patch up the leaking roof , they drove home in their builders truck having a right laugh at us. Apparently Stevie was in the hallway, stripping wallpaper. The wind was howling and rainwater pouring through the roof, the electrics were flickering and there he was stripping wallpaper. They thought we were quite mad. The townies who didn't have a clue!.
This week we have both been off work. Its been really Nice to spend a full week together.
Our 3rd log burner was fitted a fortnight ago, so we have moved yet again into the drawing room, so that we have some sofas to sit on and a fire to keep us warm. We have also moved bedrooms again. and are now in the master bedroom at the far end. Not yet totally completed, but nearly done.
The new central heating system is virtually completed. all the new pipework is in and all new radiators throughout. The brand new huge Grant boiler sits in the boot room and it awaiting the flue to be fitted and the new oil lines to be installed. Today we had a company out to empty the big oil tank at one end of the building and pump it into the oil tank at the other end of the building. This involved a very long hose, a generator and a 3rd holding tank. The oil was then pumped out of the redundant tank into the holding tank and then pumped back into the working tank. The builders stood looking on, whilst having a tea break and a fag until I nonchalantly said. "do you think its a good idea to stand there having a fag break with 900 litres of kerosene heating oil 2 feet away?
The builders have been and delivered 2 tons of gravel and sand and cement and tomorrow the mammoth job of re lining the french drain ( gully) at the back of the house begins. The entire channel along the back of the house between the exterior wall and the road will be partly filled with concrete. DPC and bitumen to create a new channel for excess rainwater to flow along the back of the house rather than penetrating through under the flagstone kitchen floor as it currently is. we have noticed that when it rains heavily the flagstones change colour around their edges due to excess moisture. Also my newly plastered wall in the kitchen on the road side, is sporting black mildew, and we appear to have a lovely crop of fungi growing in the gun room.....all due to a dodgy gully running along the entire length of the house .
Stevie spent all day yesterday digging the gully out. Bearing in mind its waist deep but only 10 inches wide its a very awkward area to work in.. At one stage he became concerned that he had got himself wedged in the gully and would have to wait for the next tractor or horse rider to come along the lane to raise the alarm! He did manage to extract himself eventually however whilst soaking in the bath last night he did discover his knees were red raw from scraping them along the gully all day long.
Its drizzeled non stop all week. The last day the sun shone properly was Saturday.
This afternnon we took a load of rubbish to the tip. Then on the way back we went to the lovely butchers at Pennygillum who sells the most amazing meats. I bought a bag of spuds at the country store and Mary the farmers wife gave me some runner beans fresh form her garden. So tonights tea is all local produce..yummy.
I will get Stevie to post some new photos up soon.
xxx
Jo
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