Finally some real progress

In the past two weeks the house has been full of people and noise. First the electricians came and pulled up so many floorboards on the first floor that I could see right through the ceiling in some places. Rather useful as it gave me a chance to check out the condition of the joists which, I'm pleased to report, look sound. Once they'd done their bit the new wiring disappeared from view, but the sockets and light fittings are all new. 

Then the plumbers arrived and started ripping out the old boiler and water tanks. In no time they had fitted a new A-rated condensing boiler in the loft space. Because it's a combi-boiler we no longer need any water tanks and the loft suddenly looks quite spacious. Best of all, the old airing cupboard in the second bedroom is empty as well (see before and after pics), which will give us so much more space. 

The pipes and wires for the new boiler run down the corner of the second bedroom and, once boxed in, will be hardly noticeable.

The wall in the kitchen where the old boiler used to be is a mess at the moment, with two big holes and loads of plaster missing, but once that's all fixed it will give us space for another wall unit. More importantly, it gets rid of the condensation that used to stream off the walls.

One of the plumbers' last jobs was to replace the radiator in the living room. Not only is the new radiator now big enough to heat this lovely large space, but it has been repositioned under the window (Photos: first old, then new radiator). For reasons that neither I nor anyone else who saw it could comprehend, the old radiator was stuck behind the door. Perhaps they just ran out of copper pipe - who knows.

There were a few incidents I could have done without - such as when one of the old solder joints popped off just as the plumber was filling up the radiators, leaving a rather large puddle under the floorboards by the front door. Once that was fixed, I went around nervously checking all the pipes as he refilled the system, waiting for another old connection to give way under the pressure. Luckily they all held and the house is wonderfully warm now. Of course I'll have to switch it off when we get the windows replaced, but that's for another day.

An unpleasant surprise

This house just keeps coming up with surprises. The electricians found this one when they pulled up some floorboards. It’s a rather wet wall - on the inside of the second bedroom.

I had noticed that the overflow pipe for the water tank in the loft was dripping on to the wall above the front porch. You can see a line of moss, so it’s been like that for quite some time. I figured, as we were replacing the tank anyway, the problem would then disappear.

What I hadn’t counted on was that some water had also run down on the inside of the wall, and when it hit a connection between the outer and inner walls - like a joist - it ran along it and soaked the inner wall as well.

To find out how bad the problem was, I pulled off the wallpaper in the corner of the room and found some ominous damp patches. And there’s another one in the corner of the main bedroom, plus a rather damp area above the front door directly beneath the dripping overflow.

I cut off the source of the problem by turning off the mains water supply and draining the tank. But it’s going to take time to dry out the walls, especially now that the heating is off and the weather is cold and damp. Maybe I should hire a dehumidifier. Luckily the plaster isn’t crumbling, so I think it will be OK once it’s dry. I’ll put on an anti-mould treatment before redecorating, then cover it with lining paper. 

I’m almost afraid to take down any more wallpaper. What will I find next?   

The workers arrive

Today work on the house began in earnest. Up until now, everything has been preparation - lifting the carpets and other floor coverings to give the electricians access to the bare floors and dismantling unwanted cupboards so the plumber could get at the pipes and tanks.

But this morning, on the dot at 8.30 (and I am so NOT a morning person), the electricians pulled up in front of the house ready to be let in. Within 15 minutes they had done a quick reccy and were already hauling their tools through the door. In no time I could hear holes being hacked into walls and floorboards being prised up. By the end of the day they'll have finished rewiring the upstairs, including an extra socket in the main bedroom. Tomorrow they'll do most of the downstairs.

Tomorrow we'll also be joined by my trusty plumber, who will be starting on the heating system. Luckily the electricians and plumber have worked together before and get on well, so I can generally let them organise who does what and when.

That leaves me free to carry on hacking skirting boards and dado rails off the walls. I bought a new "wrecking bar" on Friday and am having great fun learning how to use it. It definitely lives up to its name.

Reality bites

I probably ought to call this one "Reality bites 1" because I'm sure there will be more instances in the future when I need to adapt my plans to changing circumstances.

In essence, my plan to replace the kitchen has just gone out the window - quite literally. I had hoped that a bit of TLC would be enough to get the windows up to scratch, but on closer inspection I've realised that I will have to replace them all, including the front door.

It seems the house started life with fairly nice wooden, single-glazed windows. Then, when the craze for double glazing arrived in the late 70s and 80s, these were replaced with aluminium windows, but they were set into the old wooden frames. Unfortunately aluminium is a great heat conductor, so the frames are as cold as the outdoors and a magnet for condensation. Not only don't they keep the cold out, but they create a damp problem while reducing air circulation. As this photo of the kitchen window shows, water is just streaming down the window and dripping off the frame. Not surprisingly, there are signs of mould all around and some of the wooden frames have been affected. It's a testament to the quality of those old frames that the wood isn't in worse condition - modern equivalents would probably have crumbled by now.

There's nothing for it but to replace the lot with modern uPVC windows. That will set me back over £3000. I've got 3 quotes from reputable fitters, now I just need to schedule the work. That's taken a big chunk out of my kitchen budget, so no new units, just a clean-up and paint.

One stroke of good fortune is that the old wooden sills appear to be hardwood and can stay in place. I need to sand and seal them, of course, but I think they'll be a real feature. This one, on the bay window in the living room, has also been covered with an odd faux-wood effect paint that I'll have to strip off. What were they thinking! Luckily the others have been left natural or varnished.

As for the front door, sadly I shall be fulfilling the old cliche of a new owner putting their stamp on a place by immediately replacing the door. Mind you, when the door is as ugly as this one, that is forgiveable.

A right dust up

Yuck! This has got to be the worst job yet. I've been taking up the horrible dark blue carpet on the stairs and it's really getting up my nose. The problem isn't the carpet itself - that comes up easily enough. It's the underlay beneath it, which has a rubber underside which has perished. The result is a few large lumps of rubber and a lot of very fine black dust. Quite a lot has stuck to the wood and I have to scrape it off, creating yet another dust storm. One lesson I've learned from this is that it is worth investing in good underlay.

I must be quite a sight, with my hair stuck under an old hat and a dust mask over my nose and mouth to stop from choking on the stuff. But it's going to be worth it. As you can see, the wood underneath is basically sound. At some time in the past the edges seem to have been painted white and there was probably a carpet runner up the middle.

The next stage is to take off the carpet grippers using a couple of blunt chisels and a mallet - noisy but effective. I'm glad I've got good gloves on to protect me from all those nails. Then it's down to the tip with the whole lot. I find that hurling it all into the containers is very therapeutic.

Eventually I will strip off the paint, clean the treads and sand them down to bring up a clean wood surface. Then I'll put on several layers of clear, hard varnish and it's ready to walk on again. You can see from the skirting boards along the sides just how nice it could look once it's finished. Why anyone would want to hide such lovely old wood under a horrid carpet is beyond me.