World of more

After a summer of faffing we eventually commissioned Neville Francis to do the work on the roof that we got a quote for about five months ago. So we’ve two builders (I’ve not met them, but Islay speaks highly of them) who are conducting various roof improvements.  The major job was to replace the lead work on the dormers, and judging from the incredibly rotten wood shards littering the lawn, not a moment too soon.  They’ve extended their work to pretty much rebuilding the dormers.  As I write the lead work is done and the windows await the render. They’ve also done some nice neat leadwork above the porch, and coming up this week (weather permitting) they’ll be repairing slipped tiles, replacing the top courses on the chimney and adding some chimney pots. It’s surprising how much the house is improved simply by tidying up the dormer windows, and I’m convinced that the inside of the dormer is less damp than it was before.  It’s also satisfyi...

Where did the summer go?  Two places I think.  First up a lot of mowing and hacking as I got to grips with how to at least keep the place presentable. And second, with patchy attempts to get someone to provide us with a credible quote for a ground source heat pump.  We hadn’t planned to look into a heat pump as a new heat source for the house, and had budgeted and expected to simply replace the existing oil-fired boiler with another (much more efficient) one. But I got my head turned by a discussion with a plumber back in March and then spent a few days looking at various forums and websites.  The result of the research was deciding more serious investigation would be good.  In theory, what’s not to like: cheaper heating, eco-credentials, no more dependence on oil and the lure of a government tariff sometime next year. Yet, despite all the press you can uncover about such heat pumps, based on the people we spoke to it seems like cutting edge tech that hasn’t got the de...

Has progress slowed, or time sped up, it’s difficult to tell.  All I know is that I’ve not updated this list in a while, but I think we’ve been busy. The frogs laid their spawn, left a couple of dead females at the bottom of the pool and departed.  They might as well have evaporated for all that we saw of their diaspora.  The spawn has hatched and now the pond is full of little tadpoles basking atop water lily pads and nibbling the edges.  However, the continued dry weather is resulting in the pond slowly dropping and drying out.  Rain is needed fairly soon. The good weather has lead to more time in the garden.  Islay has been particularly busy, weeding a good array of flower beds and planting out over half the vegetable patch.  The greenhouse is full of seed trays.  It’s like the good life.  I’ve been mowing.  Until the ride-on mower just decided to stop this last Monday.  I refilled it with petrol and it wouldn’t restart.  It is now a useless lump, ...

A big writhing knot of froggy love. Spring has arrived.

Last night, whilst eating dinner, the security light outside the kitchen tripped on to cast a glare over the back garden.  Nibbling delicately from the bird feeder was a pair of muntjack deer, which explains why the seed in that feeder had dropped so quickly.  Islay is now worried for the vegetables she has (not yet) planted. Since the last update, we’ve had a couple more contractors round, and I’m starting to get my head around what we want. Our friendly local plumber Ian came around for a half hour look-see.  That turned into an hour and a half long discussion with me about options and the like.  He confirmed what we already knew - that the boiler and heat pump was very old - and added some more subjects for discussion.  We’re now hoping to get from him a quote for replacing the current oil boiler with a) a new oil boiler, albeit a much more efficient one, or b) an air source heat pump.  The latter sounds pretty interesting, with an approx £6k cost for the device, we...

The fridge. Kneel before its awe inspiring glory

We always knew Walnut Tree House would be cold and/or expensive to heat.  That much was clear from the EPC we got pre-purchase which suggested it might cost a mind-melting £4k a year in oil and electricity.  Having had to top up the oil tank a mere four weeks after 500 litres went in there, I can now believe it. Ula’s room aside the house is quite warm.  The Aga does a good, if expensive and almost certainly inefficient, job of heating the kitchen, and our room, sandwiched between under eaves storage, lounge and Ula’s room remains plenty warm enough. The main problem is that there is almost no insulation anywhere in the house.  Most of the walls are timber framed with a coat of render on the outside, plasterboard on the inside and only air, fraying electric cables and escaping heat in between.  Add to that a boiler that we believe is older than Islay and you can see why burning fivers to keep warm might be more cost effective than the current arrangements. But, we’ve p...