wow… council tax reduction

The local council have just given me a £400 exemption on this years council tax because we didn’t live here for three months when we got flooded.

I just wrote one letter and they did the rest.. nice one LB of Sutton.

There’s a bit of a breeze…

That is basically all it took to bring Britain to a halt.  Not a typhoon, not a hurricane or even a tornado, it was a strong breeze.  Then all hell was let loose, as were loose walls, tiles, scaffolding and trees.  Perhaps if we did have  these more often then the weak walls and trees etc would all be blown over sooner and not all at once.

Saying that it was better than having to sit up all night emptying a bucket after bucket of water from yet another leak I found last night.  I don’t have some odd illness that compels me to make leaks around the house, certainly not to miss a whole nights sleep and start getting those slightly weird feelings and poor judgement it brings on.

The guy who did our boiler was in the area and came round to fix it as it was sort of to do with him – it shouldn’t have been but that is how these bloody flats are designed.  I can’t go into detail, I’m bored already.

The leaking tap was also fixed this morning – this time it was the fitting that was broken – just one of those things.

I shall now try to remain awake for the rest of this sent.,.;lc;la.cccccccccccccccccccsaaaaaaaaaaaaaaacccccccccccc,,,,,,,,,,,,cmm mc

wha.. wah.. w..w..w..w..w.. what time….  what time is it?

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

i deal with so many peoples names

That is what the property agent said when I called her again today! 

Then went on to say that she knows me, she knows the problem, she knows what is going on. Does she hell.  I have been waiting for her to call back since Monday.  I have now sent a letter by email to tell Centro just how useless they are.

The builder says the water on the waste pipe is a weeping leak and the plumber says it is the de-humidifiers drawing water out.  The fact is that this water was there when we opened up the pipe to start with, so it has nothing to do with anything we have done.

I go on holiday soon and wanted this sorted out before we leave.  Is it going to happen?  I doubt it.

would you adam and believe it – another leak!

Yes, last night I found water coming from the ceiling in the kitchen – no idea how long it had been coming through and I only found out because I was in a mood and looking for some keys.

This is now starting to feel like a cross between groundhog day and hell.  Will we ever move in? At the moment I feel like selling the damn place and packing it all in.

This after the weekend started so positively.  We went out on Saturday looking to make the most of the time to do some more work on other areas of the flat we hadn’t time for.  We changed the toilet and tiled the floor.  I stripped the wallpaper too.  We went out looking for a wardrobe and spotted one as we went to B&Q, in a house removals shop, just by the roadside, £145 for a solid pine, triple wardrobe and a set of drawers (3+2) £45 – whole lot for £180 – nice!

So now I have spoken to the builder, who cannot believe it.  Just called my solicitor to see what we can do re: compensation, so where decent to stay – hotel is killing us. Called the managing agents about the flat above and they still haven’t come back to me.  Luigi, the nice guy that owns it, is on hols in Italy – without him I have no hope and Bob Hope of getting this leak sorted.

another week in holiday inn (atleast)

The builder came today with his damp meter and said that the ceiling is still too wet to work, and so needs to dry out more.

I’m not sure I can stick this much longer – feel like I am going mad with the lack of sleep and ability to do anything you would normally expect in your own home.  I can’t face going in the flat at all right now with the giant de-humidifiers making such a noise.

If the work isn’t started soon it won’t be finished before we go on holiday which is just going to wreck it – I’ll just be worrying that someone is stealling my stuff and won’t be able to see what is being done to the bathroom.

The alternative is do the work that is needed to bring it back to where it would have been before the leak and then get the finishing work done when we return.  Coming back to a home without a bathroom after a 17 hour flight isn’t something I would look forward to though.

Lounge flooring gets sanded

After two coats,
originally uploaded by ragtagman.

Well after much worry, because I had no idea what I was doing the floor looks pretty good, considering.

There are some rough bits, there are some gouges from the sander, although not bad.

The main floor sander was easy to use but the edge sander is a back braker.

After sanding all over a couple of times – one rough and one more gentle, I filled all the main gaps with mix and fill (glue and sawdust) and then let that dry overnight and filled in any that sunk in the morning. More pictures of that on my flickr.

Next day sanded down the whole floor again, running over and bits I missed the first time or wasn’t happy with. After that it was time to let the dust settle – literally.

When the dust has fallen hoover and white spirit the floor and wait to dry.

Once dry it was on with the first coat of varnish (Ronseal DiamondHard, Clear Satin) which takes more the first time as so much of it sinks in to the dry wood.

Second coat went on after a couple of hours and left the windows open and for the first time sat out on the balcony and had my dinner which Ping had made me. Lovely evening for it too.

Next morning I was on my hands and knees again sanding it with 240 paper to flat the raised grain a little. Followed by another hoover and wet rag time all over.

By this time I was in need of back surgery and two new knees. Not forgetting that I had a hangover from the mix and fill which is enough for even the hardest glue sniffer.

Well after the warm summer/autumn day dried the floor nice a quickly it was down with the last coat of varnish, followed by more hanging around on the balcony – as it was the only place to be as I painted myself out of the front door.

Total cost was about £190 which is good as a new wooden floor would have been around £660 for the same room size (22m sq) and I don’t think I would have had the same satisfaction either.

Sorry, can’t stay here longer.. need my bed.

meet the neighbours (from hell)

Some days you think you have made a massive mistake.

The guy that lives in the flat above ours got a letter today from the managing agents about his dog doing its business on the grass around the flats and not picking it up. He wanted the whole world to know how unhappy he was with the whole thing.

“Don’t touch my f**king door, don’t come near my f**king door again, I’ll break you f**king legs and smash you f**king head in. I go to work to pay my rent so that my dog can crap where it likes and someone else is paid to pick it up, you f**king tw*t.”

This went on for about 20 minutes. Not one that likes violence and seen plenty of it in the domestic situation, was shaking by the end of this. Next was the furniture in the flat, that sounded like it was being thrown from one end of the room to the other.

The guy came out a few minutes later, with dog and lit his joint – smoking it outside in front of everyone. (Drugs – that’s up to you but don’t force the consequences onto everyone else.) Dog duly crapped 20 yards from our window and had a pee. The half dressed guy walked off with the guy (pants around his arse) like the little gangster he thinks he is.

A few more minutes later his mate appears outside sat down by the car park, rolling a joint too. I’m amazed, this isn’t Glastonbury. The weed is obviously having an effect on there mental stability.

The first guy returns, without his dog. The clueless wonders ask each other where the dog is, the dog returns a few minutes later. They both sit and smoke for a few minutes.

An old lady returns with her own dog, and makes a passing glance at them and says something about smoking pot. Big mistake, a torrent of abuse flies. Amazingly she walks in and they don’t do anything….perhaps they are all mouth and no trousers. Well the trousers are falling off.
As people walking into the building I walk out my front door and pretend to bump into them, introduce myself and we start talking about these guys. Everyone is really nice and can’t believe what is happening. As it happens the chairman of the residents committee turns up and I tell him what has been going on. Apparently the flat is rented out to a woman and her little girl. This guy has just turned up in the last couple of weeks. Just my luck.

Well this is good news in that as they are renting they can be removed – depending on the owners cooperation, but he is well known in the area and owns an Italian restaurant.

I know this won’t go on forever but a few days of this already and it is making me feel stressed and depressed.

stripping wallpaper 2

Well bedroom 2 is done now, still needs cleaning up, getting those last little bits off – the first wall was too easy, although it was a good training ground as I haven’t done this before or read about it, the paper just fell off.

On the other walls I ended up ripping the covering off as it was a washable paper, so pretty much waterproof.  Even with a paper scatcher to make lots of holes over the paper, the steam from the wallpaper remover wasn’t making inroads.

I had to move the storage heater out of the way to get behind it – it’s going anyway, once the central heating gets put in – those things are heavy.

We have also pulled back the carpet in the hall and front-room to find parquet flooring.  Nothing expensive, it’s finger mosaic but still nice – so that is getting a rub down, an oiling and buffing.

stripping wallpaper

Last night I started stripping wallpaper in the smaller of the two bedrooms. You can see how I improved, from right to left, across the room. Well when I say improve I mean become less bad!

I’ll have to take the camera over to the flat and take some really dull photos so that I can look back this. I doubt it will be of interest to anyone other than me though – I’ve seen this done on a million blogs.

oh my back!

I don’t know what I have done, nothing that I can remember, but my back is killing me. Feels like one of the muscles has gone into cramp, it is hard to breath and get out of a chair (I have to roll out of bed.)

This is not good as I need to get started on some wonderful wallpaper and paint stripping and the uncovering of many horrors no doubt.

We also got a lovely letter from our tenancy estate agents about moving out of our rented flat.  I have had some demanding agents but these guys take the biscuit.  More charges for checking out than I have ever seen.  I guess it is ok if you own the place – might use them if I ever have a place to rent out. Unlikely.