This and That!!

The weather was very windy last weekend and when I dew back the curtains on Sunday morning I noticed a piece of guttering amongst the shrubs.
My heart sank because I envisaged having to get scaffolding erected and the £££ signs were dancing in front of my eyes!
Once we went outside to have a look, we were able to breathe a sigh of relief as it was not from our house. It came from our neighbour's house. They run a B&B; Embee went round to break the bad news and when I came home from shopping the following day this is what I saw. Luckily he is a builder so will be able to fix it himself!
I have just been along the street to the bank and I see my neighbour is up there fixing it. I bet he's finding it cold but at least it isn't raining!

TO DO OR NOT TO DO
I have a little dilemma which is whether or not to replace our heating boiler. I've had the engineer here this morning doing the annual service. He didn't find anything wrong and he can still get parts for this model. So far so good. However, if it begins to leak water that's when it cannot be mended. Now given that this boiler is about 27 years old it could decide to expire at any time.

This is where the fun would begin as there are lots of new regulations regarding heating boilers, so it would not, necessarily, be a straight swap. Apparently I could get like for like, as they are available, but I would have to prove why I couldn't meet the new regulations and get a special certificate for selling the house. Seems OK but these boilers are not as efficient as the more modern ones (which incidentally are only made to last 15 years).

For an upgrade, it would cost a fortune to replace the boiler in the same position as it is now, as it is unlikely that the flue is properly lined and it would be impossible to vent it to the outside. It would involve scaffolding and extra pumps, at this point it got a bit too technical for me!!

The third option would be to re-site the boiler to the cellar where it could go against an outside wall for venting, and install a radiator in the breakfast room where the boiler currently sits in the old fire place. This would probably be the best option as it would keep the cellar warmer and overall help keep the house warmer. I think this would also be quite costly.

Of course as the guy said "if you are considering moving in the next five years do nothing and hope it keeps going then it's not your problem".
We have no plans to move at the moment but there will be a point when we have to downsize so that has to come into the equation. The other thing I'm thinking is.... if we have this work done I might not be able to afford to travel.... and how would I feel about that as I still have a long bucket list!!

So Embee and I have to discuss the options and make a decision. Best not to do these things in a hurry so he can read this and ponder it while he's at work!!!

I'm sure none of this is of any interest to anyone but us....but should you have an opinion I would love to hear it.

Archives:
2008: Excellent Award
2007: First ever Fun Mon-View from my front porch door

Brrrr it's cold!!

What is one of the worst things that could happen on one of the coldest winter days...

a heating boiler that decides not to work....which is what I found when I got up this morning.

Embee had gone to work and wouldn't even have noticed. I called the chap who services the boiler and left a message on his answerphone and waited for him to call back. I advised my mother to put on extra clothes and she had an electric convector heater in her sitting room so I knew she was OK.

I wondered whether to light a fire in the main sitting room, but decided against it as the chimney has not been swept for many years and I might well have ended up with worse than a cold house. I was imaging the chimney either catching alight or clouds of soot and smoke billowing back into the room-not something I was willing to risk-hypothermia seemed the better option!

Although we have done a lot of insulating this old Victorian house is quite difficult (and expensive) to heat. The kitchen faces north, never gets any sun and feels cold even in the middle of summer, so this will give you an idea of how it felt today with temperatures hovering around freezing.

I even put the oven on and baked a lemon cake just to warm up the kitchen. It was surprising what a difference it made, just the have the aroma of baking wafting through the house.

At lunchtime I had the all important call from the boilerman he suggested I re-set the boiler which, I confess, I hadn't tried to do as I didn't want to make the situation worse. As it happens, this was all that was necessary; the boiler immediately sprang to life and within an hour the house was warm again. So far (touch wood) it seems OK but it's an old boiler and I'm sure it's in the latter stages of its life. So that was my little drama for today!

In case you are wondering what the peculiar picture is...

...this morning I took some photos of spider's webs with ice on them and fiddled around to see what I could create.
The one above was hanging from the body of my car to the wing mirror.

Archives:
2008: Witty Wednesday-32
2007: Macaroni Cheese