Oh &%$&£%!!!!

[Annpan]

More Dry rot

and now it's raining... inside.... DAMN IT!

can't be bothered typing it all again check out myblog entry

[red]

ack - I feel for you - really expeect to find some ehre any tme now.. there is that much damp and rot...

I have vowed not to remove any more wall paper until we fix the disasterous things we have found behind the paper we have already removed!

[ina]

Poor you!

Get that greenhouse up and live in that while getting the house fixed!

[Thomzo]

Oh Ann - I do sympathise.

I once had a bathroom where you could see straight up to the sky when sat in the bath. When it was raining you got a free shower. It would have been great if it hadn't been February.

It will get fixed and you will have a normal home eventually.

Keep up the hard work.

Zoe

[Annpan]

Cheers Zoe... nice to see you back on planet 'ish... we've missed you

[marshlander]

I have vowed not to remove any more wall paper until we fix the disasterous things we have found behind the paper we have already removed!

You have my sympathy, Annpan & red

Old houses often hide unpleasant surprises!

When we removed the wallpaper (thick vinyl stuff covered in leary flowers) our plaster fell off! In the sitting room we found the previous owners had stapled polythene to to walls, then over boarded. Stuffed old sacks up the chimney and covered the top with duck tape 'to stop the draughts'! Spent thousands removing/repairing so called improvements!

And NOW we have a moat! I don't know if the earthquake has disturbed it but something has reactivated an old spring under the house. It's welling up outside the front door and we've having to keep a pump going 24/7 or it floods the front garden several inches deep. Previous owner says it's been dry for at least 20 years which was when they capped the old well (Which is now under an extension to the house) and had a borehole sunk 120' to the aquafer. There's supposed to be a drain leading to the dyke from the well but we've obviously not dug down enough yet to find it. Or maybe it's collapsed! And there's so much else to do without the bother of this - and if we need a new drain - oh heck...

[justskint]

Oh heck!

I do hope you bought your house at a very good price!

Brings back memories of a house I purchased after divorce, 13amp sockets under floor as juncion boxes, wiring a total nightmare.. Loft conversion did not meet building regs, former owner a drunk, with slurred view of life.

[Thurston Garden]

Your house sounds like my Land Rover! I bet you are thinking that there can't be much more left to fix - we have replaced almost everything!

Although you probably don't think it now, you will get there and the unexpected costs and delays and sheer inconvenience of living in a cold building site for months on end will all end and you will have a great house and the knowledge that everything has been done right.

Not long after it's all finished, you will be so busy enjoying living in it, that it will take looking at photos to remind you exactly what you put up with!

[Annpan]

Thanks TG... you are so right.

BTW I went out last night to see if I could see where the problem is in the roof - and there seemed to be foam (like washing-up soap foam) coming from the area ... We now have 4 inches of snow on it, so it'll be a while before I can get in to sort it, or find out what the heck is going on.

[marshlander]

At last, no more moat!

Dug a huge hole, found collapsed drain pipe, reinstated with pipe from dontdumpthat, rodded rest of drain and... ta da! gallons and gallons of muddy water pouring into the dyke - sounds like the proverbial horse peeing! lol It's still pouring out fast, even after 24 hours!

Now just the small matter of a huge muddy hole, piles of sticky mud and trashed front garden.

Any progress with your roof, annpan?

[Annpan]

*fingers in ears* la, la, la, la,la


We (being JohnM) are going to phone a builder today........


Y'see, we want to knock down the back of the house and rebuild it - it is 2 very dodgy extensions... hence our problems, the roofs were never properly attached to the main house.... anyways........

This was the 5 year plan but we have realised that the current work will cost £2000+ to get fixed (and it'll still be nasty, no plaster, no tiles in bathroom etc) soooooooooo........

We are bringing forward the 5 year plan and may well be taking a sledge hammer to the back of the house over the summer

[Thomzo]

Good luck and enjoy wielding that sledgehammer.

Zoe

[snapdragon]

At last, no more moat!
............

greart news - we have a well under the backyard wall - am pretty sure it now drains under the house


take care with the sledgehammer Annpan - always make sure the handle is properly attached next door neighbour borrowed ours and after using it for a couple of days he demolished something that wasn't on the plan as the shaft broke and the head flew off