This stack pipe had lost its' top layer of FLASHING - the stuff that stops the rain running from a surface into the roof.

You can see a hole where the water has been running in. Luckily there is a metal flash under the tiles and the roof has a liner. The wooden battens, that the roof tiles hang on, are at risk though.

I bought a LEAD TILE from Travis Perkins. It's specially made for the job.

Derek slid the roof tiles out of the way and gently fitted the new slate, having first cut a hole in the rubber sleeve.

The metal was tapped into shape and a roof tile had to be 'dressed', Chipped to help it sit well. All straight forward stuff to Derek.

The final piece with lead mastic around the neck finish the job . 

SMART.

MeWally cleaned up a hole near the eve created where he'd just removed a boiler flue line. Derek cut and fitted the brick to fill it.

Another job we'd noticed were the ROOF VERGES which are falling apart as the cement has weathered over the 50 years since this property was built.

Verge caps - the black things along the roof edge.

Derek pointed all the way along the verges in readiness for the VERGE CAPS which he'll fit next week,

Weather permitting.

Proper Job - Saturday 5.11.11

Derek popped over this afternoon to finish off the CORBELS with us.

He knocked out the wooden supports and nothing moved!

We all breathed a sigh of relief.

Finally Derek filled in the holes and pointed up. Both ends of the wall look resplendent with their new corbels and repointed mortar.  

Then he got on with another little job that we'd noticed on Tuesday. See the next blog :)

Cor, Balls!

OK, I admit it, I meant CORBELS. Had to replace them today.

Storm clouds are gathering, but the forecast for the day is good - phew!

Two scaffolding towers were erected by BUDGET SCAFFOLD,

each with a ladder. Here's one of them.

And here's the problem, CONCRETE CANCER, or, as I like to call it: 

s**t the roof's about to slide off!

After setting up a simple roof support system, much brick cutting,

demolition, and muck mixing,

we were ready to pop in the new CORBAL

and bricks. The props stay in for a few days, at which point the final pointing along the roof line will be done. Another few days after that and we can strip out the support and pray the new block work will hold up the roof.

Front and rear corbels done in a day - happy DEREK.

He'll be paid on Saturday with a meal. He's a great mate. I'd better crack out the recipe books, he's earned a blow out feast.

DIY

This house is about to have CAVITY WALL INSULATION.

I had to fill the gap around a boilers' flue pipe - inside and out, or risk having the insulation fill the kitchen and the entire close in which the house sits!.

You might think, "fascinating."  But, look at the ladder. It's a wreck and this side isn't touching the wall; well stupidy-dangerous

I'll tell you this for nothing,

they're not paying me enough!

All Hooked Up

Yesterday the PV panels went onto our roof. Today it was the turn of the electrics, which, although the inverter was put in place yesterday, 

Inverter for PV Cells

wont be fully wired up until the end of today.

Mike spent all day wrangling cable

and grovelling about under the stairs.


Tomorrow we will be making and selling our own electricity.


WOOPEE!!!

PV Panels Go On

It takes a couple of days to fit PHOTO VOLTAIC PANELS and get them wired to the National Grid. 

This is day one.

The electrician prepared the mount board for the inverter.

The roofing team positioned 

    

and fitted a load of brackets.

Supporting rails were attached to the brackets.

And finally the PV panels were fitted.

All that has to happen now, is they have to be hooked up to the national grid. But that's for tomorrow.

They look lovely, very neat and the team were a great bunch.

Thank you GREENMAN!

Nearly Done!

Not a lot left for us to do on Sams' bathroom.

Once the adhesive, that's holding that frame work onto the underside of the bath, sets, I can pop on the side panel.

Grouting with wet room grout in the shower area will finish the job. A little bit of fancy, anti mould mastic will be the cherry on the cake.

All I'll have to do then is clear all the tools out of the house and take the old bathroom up to the tip. So, that's tomorrow morning taken care of.

: )

Bathroom Replacement day 3 and 4

FRIDAY

I managed to get the rest of the tiles onto the walls.

A small run os tiles will go on once the bath's in place: a sealant strip will be put in place at the same time. Hopefully it will waterproof the shower area.

SATURDAY

We prepped up for a clean working day covering pipework and the floor!

I got on and grouted.

The vinyl went down and MeWally fitted the sink ...

and the loo.

TOMORROW

The bath can go in and the shower can go back onto the wall. Just the nasty bath panel to fiddle about with  and a final grouting session.

All finished by the end of the day?

We'll see!

Sams New Bathroom

Here it is, Sams' bathroom. which means I'll have to get on and put in a new one. Her bath suddenly developed little cracks in the base. Even with the temporary repair it was clear that I needed to get on and replace it.

Went off to buy tiles yesterday, Sam came too, it's her bathroom..

The white, ripple, tiles came from B&Q, the pretty ones, from Tile Trader in Stonehouse. I like it at tile trader because of all the stuff going on around the edges ... Morris Minor repairs, old farm kit and chickens.

Sams choice of decorative tiles is a run of pretty, iridescent, slumped,  glass, mosaic tiles. My plan to tile from the bath upwards on top of the original tiles, incorporating a waterproofing system as I went,  has gone Pete Tong. Screwfix didn't put any legs in with the new bath. It's OK though, they'll be her in about 10 days!!!! JOKERS! Today, after threats along the lines of TRADING STANDARDS and BLOG moans, they found some in a dusty corner. Shame they couldn't make the effort in the first place.

It's important to clean of the tile cement with a damp cloth, as you work as it sets very fast. This way the grout goes on more smoothly and quickly.

I'll be back on Friday get most of the rest of the tiles on. In the evening MeWally will join me and we'll fit the flooring and the ceramics together.

What Fun : )

Bonny Dub Dub

Here it is then, the Dub Dub, all ready for the off!

We're quite pleased with it.

The bed looks good enough to crash in right now.

It's definitely better than when we first picked it up in April ..... thank goodness.

Dub Dub

MeWally went on EBAY and picked up this little beauty. He got it from Germany as the ones on the UK site were a lot more expensive. He had to grapple with German and the vendor with English; neither of them could speak a foreign language! Some how they did the deal and here it is.

Smart, in a RETRO kinda way.

It suits the bus well. The IPOD LEAD arrived today and needs to be fitted. The lead cost about 2 quid - bargain.

Dub Dub

Hey look we've got a button in the bus. I think it's to call the BUTLER.

MeWally says it's to turn on the water - OO-ER-MISSUS!

We've a little pump down under - I feel I'm digging a hole for myself here - press the button and the pump kicks in. Water flows out of the tap. Well that's the theory, we've not yet tested it.

So here it is, the interior. Its getting there. MeWally's covered the panel under the seat with what looks like a condom. It'll stay that way until we seal the panel so that it's washable.

On the whole, it's almost use-able. We'll have to go on a test trip in a couple of weeks.

VW Camper Bus

MeWally spent the tail end of Saturday fitting the new fridge into the little bus and last weekend working on fitting the cooker.

It's beginning to look habitable.

YIPPEE !!!