How things change!

I was fitting a tap into a work top that did not have the holes pre cut yesterday. The difficulty with that kind of job is marking the holes in exactly the right place. I was talking to a lock smith the other day (another story entirely) and he suggested using lip stick as a way of accurately locating or marking and door or fixing. So I gave it a try, and it is fantastic. I painted the base of the tap with lipstick and placed it carefully where I wanted it to go. I drilled the holes and it fitted first time! I was thinking while I was fitting the tap how things have changed since I first started plumbing 10 years ago. In our first house everything was done with copper. It took ages to prepare each joint and solder them together. When we moved to our second house I was able to use some plastic joints which just plugged straight on to the copper pipe. To fit this tap there was no copper in sight. I cut through the platic pipe in seconds, clipped the plastic connectors in, fastened the tap connectors in and ""hey presto" a working mixer tap in under an hour. No solder, no burns, no mess... well not much any way!

Flooding Basement (again)

We had last weekend off, and spent the weekend in a caravan on the Solway Firth (we booked the wrong weekend actually, it should have been this weekend, but thats another story, e.mail me to find out why). We had a great time, enjoyed the fireworks on the campsite and came back fairly relaxed. We arrived back late afternoon, the rest of them went in and I carried on unloading the car. I was just getting some bags in when Isaac appeared over the garden wall shouting

"Daddy the pump alarm is going off, come quick".

I thought he was winding me up but after he had given me his earnest look and insisted that I must come "QUCIK", I decided that he wasn't winding me up I ran into the house and downstairs. It was one of those moments. We have put loads of time and effort into our flooding basement. I remembered all that hard work, was I going to go down stairs and find it ruined. I just didn't know quite what to expect. Nothing appeared to be wrong, apart from the ear piercing sound of the high water alarm. First thing I checked was the fuse box to see if the power had gone. That appeared to be ok so I pulled the trapdoor up and opened the lid on the sump. The float switch on the pump hadn't operated and the sump was within millimeters of flooding the kitchen (again). I was both relived and gutted. I pulled the switch and the pump worked fine. We didn't sleep that well that night, Louise got up once to see if the sump was flooding. I spoke to the installation company, Robinsons Preservation Ltd, and they promised to sort it out. Which to their credit they did. There had been a problem with a number of pumps (the supplier had replaced 20 of them), they fitted it on Friday. In the mean time I taped a ball to the float switch to make it work in the interim. Good thing I did because it has done nothing but rain this week. Unfortunately I dropped the high water alarm into the pump so until the new one arrives from Maplin, we will just have to trust that the pump works.

Subsidence

I have had a couple of e-mails asking me about the subsidence on the house. I have been watching the cracks in the side of our house for some time now, convinced that they are getting worse. The other day I was outside examining a window that I am about to replace, and I noticed that the cracks on the inside corresponded to the cracks on the outside. I guess I should have put two and two together before now, but alas... I guessed that the house was sinking in the corner by the front door. The surveyor said that the damage was moderate and probably caused by a willow tree in our neighbours garden. Which is closest to that corner. The insurance company are having investigations done:

• digging holes in the ground
• testing the soil
• sending tree roots to a lab to identify them
• monitoring movement in the cracks

After they have completed all that and removed any offending trees or made any other rectifications they will re-plaster inside and redecorate. It should be finished by the end of the summer next year.

William Woodhouse, My House and Morecambe

One of the great things about living in Morecambe is that it is such an inspiring place to live. Not only can you enjoy the seaside and all the free entertainment it offers (like crabbing). Not only can you enjoy the fantastic views across the Bay towards the Lake District and Barrow in Furness. You get to enjoy the rich history of the town.

We live in a house that has had a few issues with flooding and damp. But one of the most interesting things about our house is that it was once lived in by an artist called William Woodhouse. To be honest, I had never heard of him until I looked round the house but apparently his work is quite sought after (unfortunately I have no originals, otherwise they would have been sold to fund the renovations).

Occasionally we have people who are great fan's of Woodhouse visit and ask to have a look round. It is mildly inconvenient, but the visitors get some joy of looking into the basement (now our kitchen) and imagining the artist at work. The other day we looked out of the window and saw a group of people stood outside looking at the house, one of the chaps who had previously visited was outside conducting a tour! I never realised I would end up living in a historical curiosity!

Current Projects

I've not done much blogging here for the last couple of weeks. Louise and I had a weeks holiday where I began to complete some projects and start some more!

When we installed the kitchen we could not find any suitable units to go around the cooker. We decided that we would make a copy of what Louise's Mum and Dad have over there cooker. It is a kind of mock fireplace. I started using end panels that I bought with the kitchen. In my foolishness I didn't realise that they were chipboard. It was obvious that using chipboard was going to look really bad. I ripped it down and started again in solid wood (pine) panels. I am really pleased with the results. All it needs now is varnishing up to make it match the rest of the kitchen.

I finished off a couple of window sills and began to examine how I could stop the leaks in the roof (more on that another time!). Paul and Angela came at the weekend to look after Isaac and Alice for us. We took Elizabeth to Glasgow for the weekend. We had a really relaxing time chilling out and doing some shopping. We visited Bishobriggs Community Church on Sunday. It is very refreshing when you are involved in church all the time to go somewhere where you have no responsibility and you can just sit in the congregation and enjoy going!

Water through the ceiling

Ever since we started on the house rennovations we have had the washing machine a bathroom upstairs.  IT works fine until you forget to put the waste hose from the washing machine into the toilet.  This morning we had another torrent of soapy water in the hall.

Isaac stood watching it shouting "quick, quick its raining in the hall".  Louise and I ran round trying to sort it out.  Maybe I'll bring the utility room up the priority list... but then again perhaps the leaking roof has priority! 

Light Bulbs

Light bulbs. I had a great idea. It started with my project with Isaac which made me srart to think about the rest of the house. In the lower floor of our house we have 42 down lighters (spotlights set into the ceiling). The light is fantastic, it makes the rooms feel bright and airy however there is a downside. Each one consumes 50 Watts power. That is a combined total of 2.1kW. While I was searching for high intensity LED's for our project I found some built into bulbs that fit the fittings I have installed (GU10). "Great", I thought, "low power consumption bright lights". So I went about sourcing a fairly cheap supply. I found them at my local electrical supplies store (Discount Electrical Supplies), which is a very good shop, he always gets what you need and doesn't charge the earth for it. I bought 10 and took them home and excitedly fitted them. The result was less than inspiring. The light was blueish rather than yellowish and the brightness was poor. The good news is that the room used to use 500W of power now only uses 10W, only you can't see very well! I have put two of the originals back in, which has improved it no end. Now it consumes 108W, but that is still an improvement.

The best and worst bits

The worst bits... ...

Endless dust, especially when we pulled the ceilings down.

In the middle feeling it would never end.

Water pouring through the entrance hall ceiling because I had not trapped the overflow form the washing machine in the toilet!

The best bits

Being able to use the kitchen again.

Nicola and Nigel coming to collect the caravan.

Painting the playroom.

Putting the skirting boards and architraves on.

Photo memories…

Today I have been putting the finishing touches to the downstairs. There is still quite alot to do, the builders are coming back to fit the doors and we have all the woodwork to paint. But just putting skirting board on feels like a finishing touch. It is about 18 months since we discovered that after 3 days of rain the kitchen flooded. It was boxing day and the house was full of visitors! We had to completely gut the lower floor... ... Fit a new back door and replace the patio with a window... ... 7 eight ton skips later, we were cooking and eating in a caravan throughout last summer. The builders took up residence and then I started rewiring and fitting the kitchen... 18 Kitchen cupboards, 43 downlighters, 1 new oven, loads of sweat and not a few tearts later... All that is left to do is to fit a small amount of skirting, fit two window sills, paint the woodwork, touch up the rest of the paint... ... oh yes, I've not started the downstairs loo yet!

MFI lets us down

Louise and I decided that we weren’t going to have a sink from Howdens but to get a nice ceramic one and a half bowl one (just like Louise’s mums). We found one in the sale at MFI and ordered it on the 16 November. They gave us a delivery date of 15th December. On Monday this week we god a phone call from a young sounding lad in a call centre. He was ringing me to tell me that the best they would be able to do would be to deliver the sink on the 8th of January. The conversation went on a bit. He was unable to do anything to help and unable to let me talk to a supervisor. The only thing he could do for me was to give me a customer services number. I was quite good and didn't loose my rag, after all it wasn't his fault. I rang customer services. The conversation went on. It transpired that they are closed for the holidays soon and the 8th of January is their first delivery date after the holidays. So I explained that I actually have no sink. It's not that I am waiting for a replacement, but that we get our water from an outside tap. The conversation went on... I was put on hold a couple of times. After a while it became apparent she was trying to close the conversation. "So" I said, "all your company can do for me is deliver the sink on the 8th of January or give me my money back". I was politely asked to be put on hold again. She came back. Apparently I could go to Howdens, choose any sink I liked and MFI would pay for it. I couldn't help thinking that if I wanted a Howdens sink, I would have bought a Howdens sink in the first place. I accepted her offer with thanks, because at least at the end of the day she had tried to sort out the problem, after all it's not her fault that MFI run an unaccountable system where goods are sold when they are not in stock and where no one will accept responsibility for the mistake.

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