September is with us, autumn colours appearing on the trees and the leaves falling everywhere. We still have a fair bit of rain but that’s no worry for us, actually we quite enjoy it!
We had a chimney sweep in to make sure the flue for the fire was clean so we could start using the fire when we wanted to. However as we have been finding in the house nothing was ever that easy. He said that the flue was rusty and needs to be replace as there chimney pot was not correct and the rain was going inside, hence the rust. Richard jokingly said to him, “I suppose you are going to condemn it and put hazard tape on it”, to which the reply was “yes” and he proceeded to get some tape from his van and fix to the fire. So no fire for us until the chimney gets repaired. More expense not planned for, but this is becoming the theme for the house!
Luckily we have not need any heating in the house as yet, it does get cooler in the evenings so Theresa found a portable gas fire on Marketplace tat we got cheaply and we use when needed.
The annex still remains the key project for the immediate future and we are continuing to develop the building into a self contained unit.
The shower room progressed well and the big step forward was the installation of the staircase to connect the floors together. To find the best fit the the building took a lot of research as we wanted something that fitted and worked but not at any cost. Meanwhile Theresa was starting to paint parts of the main house so we were not living in “someone else’s” home.
- Tiling the shower room
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- Cutting the ceiling and fitting the staircase
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- Plastering of the shower room and around the staircase
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- Painting parts of the main house
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- Fitting the shower tray and screen
Other work carried out during this period includes having a new oil tank installed, which we had not planned or budgeted for! The new tank was smaller and more than sufficient for our needs as well as being legal, both in design and also installation. This was more than just swapping it out as we needed a new concrete base and new pipework.
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Towards the end of September we had take a break to go a wedding, not just any wedding but Richard’s youngest daughter Joanne. This was being held in Italy so everything went on hold whilst we flew off for this event.
It was a lovely wedding with days of sunshine either side of the actual day, but even a bit of rain didn’t dampen the occasion and it all went off well.
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We left the sunshine of Tuscany, eventually getting back home to house in Wales and ready for carrying on with all the work, thus bringing September to a close.
