Good with heights!!

It never rains but what it pours! That might be an old saying and another one is everything comes in threes! So I was not a bit surprised when a couple of weeks back I noticed a patch of damp in one of the bedrooms near a chimney breast.
As it happened the builder was here doing some work on the porch and took a look in the loft (roof space) where he could detect some staining which suggested there might be some damage to the old chimney stack.
Of course without scaffolding he couldn't be sure and this costs an arm and a leg, but had to be done. I wasn't very happy when I heard them drilling into the side of the house to secure the scaffold (this had not happened the previous times when we had scaffold erected). However builder assured me it was standard practice, and it would be made good!- we shall see;  every time I have something done it results in another problem so forgive me for being a half empty person!

Once the scaffolding was in place the weather changed and became very cold and extremely windy-not the time to be perched on a roof re-pointing and securing chimney pots which were apparently very unstable and replacing a couple of broken tiles. I had thought all this had been done when we lost a lot of the tiles in gales back in the late 80's.

Today is bright and sunny (although still cold) and work is in progress....I can't get up there to check, and neither can Embee so I'll just trust the phone pictures the builder is taking to show me!

Oh and the third thing, yes there is something else, will be for another post sometime, I hope, in the not too distant future!

Wish I was this brave!

Beccy is getting impatient because she came to read today's post and she had to look at yesterday's banana bread. You now know who hates bananas! The amusing thing is she loved them as a baby.
What I'm sharing today is that at long last the piece of fascia board, that came off in a storm way back at the beginning of the year, is finally being replaced. I have been waiting for my neighbour, he's a carpenter, to do it all summer and finally the scaffold arrived yesterday evening. It really isn't a big a big job but as the house is around 65 feet high it can't safely be done from a ladder.
John was here at 8am and soon got down or should that be up to work! I took a couple of pictures. Embee is away and won't be back until this evening so I know he'll be wanting to see how things went.

John(my neighbour) was up there at sunset yesterday and he said the view was amazing, now if only I was brave enough to climb up the vertical ladders, alas I'm not well I don't think I am!!!

John had just told me he can see a joint in the guttering that is leaking but it's not within reach which is a nuisance so it will have to stay as it is for now. He's clearing a bit of moss in the areas he can reach so that will be a good job done.
We then have to keep our fingers crossed that we don't get any other problems this coming winter.

Archives:
2008: Not a lot to say
2007: Witty Wednesday-19

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