Flat update

[andrewducker]

Ok, so the pipe has been replaced and everything's been put back together and painted.  It looks great.

This leaves two things:
1) A bit of crumbling concrete on the outside.  This is being inspected next week to see how much work it'll take to fix.
2) Replacing the carpet in that room, as Julie's asthma isn't too fond of spore-laden carpets.

The insurance is covering the floor, and the cheque is in the post (presumably to be eaten by polar bears on the way to me).  However, we'd quite like to get wooden flooring put down rather than carpet.  But....

The boiler is dying.  And by dying, I mean it hasn't worked in two days now for heating.  It's fine for hot water, but the heating is giving up the ghost.  It's an old boiler, and not a good make when it was originally bought 15 years ago.  And it's noisy, goes out intermittently, and frankly needs to be thrown away.  Oh, and the radiators are all full of rubbish and need to be flushed.

Flushing them is part of installing a new radiator anyway, so it makes sense to get that all done in one go.  But I don't want to put down the flooring until after the flushing takes place, in case it causes a pipe to explode - which wouldn't surprise me, given the quality of work that's generally been done on the flat.

So the remaining work seems to be:
1) Get new boiler installed in the kitchen (which is a much better place for it to be anyway).  This means that the flooring in there needs to be replaced.
2) Replace the flooring in the kitchen and the now-sorted bedroom.  And probably the study, as I've hated that carpet since I moved in.  And possibly the hall, as the floorboards there are _shit_ and it's cheaper to get them all replaced at once.
3) HAVE A NICE FUCKING FLAT FOR US TO LIVE IN.
4) Spend all our time there, as that's our money gone for the year.  Oh, and that includes my bonus that I won't get until March.  If I don't get it, then expect me to be selling my kidneys on ebay.

Comments

[andrewducker]

Oh, and the Saniflo is currently broken, so the second bathroom has been out of action since the 1st. But that should be sorted today. Don't ask.

[poisonduk.livejournal.com]

British Gas have discounts off replacement boilers at present.

[e-halmac.livejournal.com]

Sounds like a lot of work that will be worth doing in a oner, as you say. Getting a new combi boiler is always worth it - there's nothing worse than it being on the blink. Good luck :) What kind fo timescale do you reckon for all the work?

[andrewducker]

Hopefully only a few weeks, but we'll see...

[drdoug.livejournal.com]

FWIW, here's the details about the Boiler Scrappage Scheme, fairly recently announced.

Alas, you may not qualify since your boiler has to be in working order :-(.

And alas, my boiler doesn't qualify either, since it's insufficiently inefficient. It's actually not that bad. Which is doubly bad news since it means that the prospects for dramatically reducing my gas bill by shelling out for a new boiler are not so good.

(It would reduce the bills, just not by as much as I was hoping. And making the payoff period for the investment even longer.)

[andrewducker]

My boiler is sadly an E, not a G. So I don't qualify. And the scrappage scheme doesn't cover Scotland. Oh well.

[missedith01.livejournal.com]

I was hoping to qualify, but our boiler doesn't heat space as well as water. Three strikes!

[drplokta]

I'll take one of your kidneys; perhaps we can come to some private arrangement.

[andrewducker]

I'll let you know how it goes...

[autodidactic.livejournal.com]

I work in heating assistance, and there's been money recently for Weatherization, at least for us. We look at insulation, boilers, furnaces, and the like, and replace and fix what's needed. Is there anything out there that could help you, and are you within income guidelines for it?

Good luck with everything, and I vote as well for hardwood floors being great for asthmatics. :)

[andrewducker]

Thanks! If there's anything useful then I'll post about it!

[joexnz.livejournal.com]

How's your SQL database exeperience, alans work is need. This would also give me a functioning alan

[andrewducker]

No SQL Database experience, I'm afraid. I can ask around if you like.

[dalglir.livejournal.com]

British Gas Homecare would have fixed your boiler and may even service your heating system as a whole. We've been using them for about 8 or 9 years now. They service the boiler every year and make sure everythings up to Corgi standard and come out and fix things with no callout fee, parts or labour costs. They also cover our whole central heating and water system. I'd highly recommend them. No cowboys. Just British Gas trained and equipped engineers.

They also fitted Thermorads for us a couple of summers ago (outside the Homecare agreement) and did a great job.

IHMO laminate flooring and bare floorboards ought to be punishable by death in flats as the noise transmits to every surrounding property. Still. At least you're on the ground floor and unlikely to hammering each footstep through someone elses ceiling.

[andrewducker]

I have a Homecare agreement. They've been out multiple times. I think 6 times in the last year. I've had numerous bits and pieces replaced. The boiler is now just too old to fix properly, and the heating system is fill with sludge and needs flushing - which they don't cover.

[dalglir.livejournal.com]

Damn. That sucks ass. I look forward to bidding on your kidney :(

We're in the same boat with our boiler - it just hasn't had a major failure yet. Our engineer told us that our boiler was old and very inefficient but 'the most reliable model' he's worked on.

Fingers crossed because there's no way we can afford we can afford a new boiler with the flatroof scheduled for replacement and Vic on maternity leave... My kidney may be end up in direct competition with yours.

[andrewducker]

I shall keep my fingers crossed that they don't :->

To be honest, if the winter hadn't been so cold and the boiler wasn't so stupidly placed, and we weren't sleeping in the same room as it, it'd probably still be working. Bah!