Our plumber, Andrew, is still clearing up the mess left by our old plumber. Every day he comes across another mess that he has to put right. This is a zone valve that circulates hot water from the boiler, so rather a crucial bit of kit. Ours was installed upside down (!) and as a result had leaked and broken.
A new zone valve, now fitted correctly.
There was also a copper pipe at the bottom of our Megaflow water tank that hadn’t been soldered (!) and as a result was leaking.
Just when we think we have almost finished spending money, we discover that our old boiler is on its way out…
We have noticed a leak at the bottom of the boiler in the last few days, Andrew has been testing the heating system and the pressure keeps dropping, a tell-tale sign that the heat exchanger could be failing. I called out a local boiler servicing company (our plumber doesn’t work on oil fired boilers, he’s a gas engineer) and they confirmed the bad news. It is still limping along but they highly recommend replacing it very soon as it won’t last. To be fair it was old when we bought the house 4 years ago but it has kept going with the help of an old family friend, a retired builder who helped us out with many heating and water related issues (mainly leaks, we had many of those!)
Jason from Feldon Joinery (who has saved the day with the staircase) shaving the oak attic dormer window so that it will close properly.
The window swelled up in the rain over the winter and never closed properly again!
The window sill does need sanding and oiling again, something that can wait until we have moved in (when we tackle all the windows again, cleaning, repairing and painting them).
The chrome waste water pipe for the bath.
The last bits and pieces to fit in the bathroom. The replacement chrome shower controls, finally the manufacturer sent us the correct parts!
Andrew swearing away as there is another leak coming from the bath overflow. Something else that wasn’t fitted properly by the previous plumber.
The chrome bath waste dripping…
Andrew has fixed the leak in the shower waste pipe underneath the shower tray.
One of the things we stressed about this bathroom was that there must not be any leaks onto the 3-400 year old floor, something that the old plumber clearly didn’t pay any attention to.
The chrome collar covering the skirting board where the bath waste goes through it.
A working bath! The bathroom is almost finished (just awaiting electrics – lights, extractor fan, heated mirror), but this has been a LONG time coming. It’s taken over 6 months to get this bathroom in!
A working toilet!
A working shower!
We have heating! All the radiators that are in (study and attic not yet fitted due to awaiting flooring) have been tested and bled and are all working. The house is toasty and warm for the first time in nearly a year!
Bleeding the radiators.
The posh brass thermostats on the cast iron radiators.
Colin and his trailer helped me collect an oak door from Warwick Reclamation. This is for the bottom of the old staircase in the sitting room, replacing the thin and bendy pine door.
This door is massive and extraordinarily heavy so Colin manoeuvres it through the house on doormats and cushions.
Oof that does look heavy.
All our other oak doors came from Coventry Demolition but they only have a standard width of 30 inches and we need 31.5 inches. Warwick Reclamation have 27 inch, 30 inch and 33 inch wide doors. This is the widest (and heaviest) door.