Yzzy

Luckily we can provide all of those... hope he doesn't mind my pants?

HA HA... saw those... they are teeny tiny!!!

No way!!! He's like a bloody real life superhero or something!

Spoken to Nick... once we have the quote I will run it past him.... or have him kidnapped and brought to Southend!!!

Got one! Still scared... will grow some balls and give it a go.... ha ha

No central heating at all in the house, ok hubby says it was just for the boiler and fitting of it. The CH pipes will be laid by someone else. No idea what boiler it is sorry... not agreed to anything yet. Will be more specific once I get actual quotes through.

Really!? Woah... ok will contact one and report back if it's as good news as that!

Yes, someone else said this..... I'm a bit dubious about starting a fire though as we ave no running water, we currently ferry 2l bottles of water back and forth refilling in our home and taking to the house lol

The 2 bathrooms are above the kitchen in the NW corner of the house, the boiler will be in the main bathroom... then central heating pipes around the whole house. That's what the chap guestimated for.

Any ideas what's the best thing to do with a really good condition original tiled Art Deco fireplace? It isn't wanted in the bedroom it is in but I have no idea how to remove it safely without damaging it and we've decided to leave it there for now and work around it.... but would like to sell it. Should I Gumtree it or does anyone have any experience in contacting an expert?

Thanks everyone. Our local tip has a no pedestrian policy due to H&S.... Otherwise I bloomin would! Started pulling down one of the bedroom lath & plaster ceilings this weekend. Did most of the laths yesterday and OH MY WORD.... the amount of pigeon poop coming down is grim! But, the good news is it isn't on much of the woodwork up there so.... the plan is to take down all the ceilings upstairs one by one, get on some tall ladders/platforms and fumigate/clean the wood in the attic and then slap new ceilings up and insulate as we go. It's a vile job though and we are also now left with bags and bags of plaster we need to get to the tip. The laths will be burned this week (and some of the fig) and the polystyrene tiles are finally gone! Well from one room anyway.

sadly we sold our big car a few weeks ago and only have an Aygo! lol... drat!!! Someone quoted us £150 to take it all away yesterday, wish we had kept the car now!

Is a week long enough for it to be dry? It isn't is it... I keep reading 2 years and then it also mentions how toxic it is... grrrr.... bloody fig trees!!!

Thank you JS...... It was a REALLY sunny day the day they chopped it all down, they removed their hard hats and jackets I insisted they wear too saying "Ahhh we're ok!".... hmmmm.... I think burning is going to be the only way... I totally LOATHE garden bonfires but it's a grey day so hopefully everyone will be either at work or windows shut tight. I will knock on the neighbours' doors and let them know what's happening too...

OOhhh meant to update you all on the fig trees and cant remember if I did... Anyway, my darling brother came down with his petrol chainsaw and spent te day with hubby chopping most of the beasts down. We now have a huge pile of wood and branches in the garden. Good job we all thought.... Next day both hubby and brother developed blisters and chemical burns on them... brother was worse as he was the chainsaw user. Turns out the sap in Fig Trees is really toxic and now brother is on steroids and strong anti histamines ... has HUGE yellow blisters on his arms, forehead and back of neck ... PLUS... nobody can have the wood as burning it releases ARSENIC!

As carpets and wallpaper are coming off I hold my breath and am then really happy to see a lot of it is actually ok to just sand down and decorate!! It's just the rubbish extension that is all gnarled up and rotten... meh!

Oh goodness we have our fair share of nasty in the house It's only really the main red brick building that is ok... there are some horror stories in other parts.... But it does make me feel better, thank you ..... :-)

Thank you.... it's been a hard task and much more to come but now all the crap is going we can actually imagine living there again..... I'm actually excited!!!

'Hot as' mainly..... it gets SO hot up there! But yes it is pretty bloody awesome and the talk of the town... When I was 15 I had this AMAZING idea that I would like to sleep up there.... so parents said yes, one day in May 1985 I dragged a single mattress, small bedside table, extension lead for power, small B&W Tv and radio up there and YES!!!! ... Loved it .... for about 3 weeks.... It was bloody freezing at night and as soon as the sun came up it turned in to a hot house with NO opening windows so I would literally wake up gasping and run downstairs to breath. Money permitting I am replacing the windows with stained glass opening windows and putting a telescope and seats up there.... currently (as you can probably tell) it is covered in pigeon poop.... and I mean at least 2 foot of poop on the floor!!!

Long time no update! Question..... Do I have to have a TV license on the property in order to listen to the radio while I work? I said no as I can hear music on building sites but sine saying that I actually haven't heard any building sites playing radio music so perhaps rules are now tight! OK found the answer to above.. it's not a business so no I don't need to have a License... Phew.... I'd go mad just listening to my inner voice all day! Update is..... downstairs (apart from old Library) is now empty. We are now flitting from emptying upstairs and stripping back downstairs.. Downstairs vestibule, hall and stairs carpet and wallpaper free, Old Music room carpet and wallpaper free. Kitchen floor and walls naked and omg.... so much work needing to be done in there. Electrician came and gave us a basic quote... as in rewiring, new sockets in rooms, new fuseboard etc... £5k Plumber came in, saw the mess of the upstairs and went all shy on us and said he couldn't quote anything until the whole house was skinned naked... but did say a new boiler would be £3k fitted. OUCH!!!!!!!! Really???? Now the floors and walls are being exposed I am HAPPY to see that actually the old Queen Victoria is actually in good order mostly.... it's still the part of the house that suffered the burst pipe a few years ago that is yuck but the property developer who we have popping in and getting things priced up seems to think it's "not that bad actually Yzzy"... which really does make me feel much better. I managed to evict all the pigeons..... FOR A WEEK!!!.... So now have added more protection to the roof (until we can afford a repair) and am waiting for the remaining 7 bastards to fly downstairs so we can let them out the door with the others... The observatory is now pigeon free and proofed.... doesn't stop them all from sitting on the window ledges and complaining! Some photos... The one with the orange barrier in the windows is the observatory on top of the house, I was mid staple gunning that lot to the broken windows to stop the flappy gits getting back in!

Cat gave birth! ha ha ha..... So, I played Midwife..... not all bad though as now have 4 BEAUTIFUL kittens mewling away in the birth 'cave'...

He's good luckily, and has just contacted me and we are all good to go tomorrow.... Thank goodness!!! I feel like I'm stuck , can finally get going again...

Risking boring you all but... All going well, upstairs is a mission and a half with all the poop but slowly slowly I am doing it.... A new client of ours (we are web developers) is a Chartered Surveyor and has offered his services gratis! So that's amazing.... A local guy with a 14 yd flat bed who offered to do loads for much less than what we were paying for an 8 yd skip looked like a good thing but then it started to snow and we've had nothing but excuses from him since so I think the hunt for cheaper trash removal is back on. Way ahead of schedule so far... pigeon problem still there but cant do anything about that until we find funds for the roof to be fixed...

nevermind sorry

Back in my distant youth I trained as a Hairdresser (most boring job ever)... Now Hairdressers LOVE picking up peoples locks and sucking air in and saying "Oh my GOODNESS... who murdered your hair!!?" and then bitching about whom ever it was. Well I witnessed one stylist do exactly that to a client who hadn't been in for a few months only for her to frown and say "Um, you did, in July???"..... I learned then at 18 never to pick holes in anothers work... lol