Well the last *checks notes*, two weeks have been pretty hectic... There's a lot to cover, so I'll go with some bullet points and photos!
23rd Oct - with the grant for heat pumps up to £7.5k, and running short of options, agreed in principle to getting an air source heat pump fitted. I was, and still am to an extent, as cautious as others have mentioned, but the decision was made with all contributions very much at the forefront of my mind (thank you, as always). I'll do a follow up post just for heating
24th Oct - whilst down in Epsom for work, get a panicked call from SWMBO asking if we have breakdown cover (we didn't, but do now). Long story short, Qashqai finally given up, slave cylinder gone - and that's just the tip of the repair bill we were waiting for
25th Oct - fairly uneventful other than carpet fitting getting booked in (since delayed) and an EPC survey for the air source heat pump grant. Made by worse by the complete lack of heating, but we scored a G!
At some point around this time, work started to notice things weren't going to plan. I'm extremely fortunate to have great colleagues in a fairly niche part of a global corporate company, and they spotted an imminent mental breakdown before anyone else. I was advised, then eventually told, to take a couple of days sick leave over the next week, for which I was extremely grateful in hindsight and enabled a completely switched off weekend with the family
A visual representation of my mental state leading up to this point (yep, that's a full tub of paint freeing itself onto the floor)
On the topic of mental health , I'm attempting movember with others at work, and have been encouraged to beg/steal/borrow via any means possible for donations. If you can and are willing to donate, it's a great cause
After a spot of pumpkin picking, I bought this
What I didn't realise until taking it for a spin, is that it's the 220bhp BUL 2L TFSI engine - not simply the practical family car I was tasked with sourcing. Having done 250+ miles in it now, the inevitable "to do" list is as follows
• Bluetooth & sat nav not working
• Some tow bar electrics not working
• Rear wiper and jets
• Cambelt squeal (tensioner I think)
During the week we also had carpenter and plasterer (come painter/decorator) doing some of the finishing touches, whilst I started electric 2nd fit overnight. Just one room and all lights to go, but have found a fault to final socket in nursery so still have to figure that one - just hope it's not snagged in the wall
Four working days after signing up to air source heat pump (now on 02nd Nov), the installers turned up. Although I'd run most of the pipework under the floorboards, I'd not done any fittings and bigger rads were needed. I was told two guys two days. The first day saw an "oh sh!t" moment from their gaffer, and we had six/seven in on day one. So the carpenter agreed return another day, I now need to repaint all the walls, and the front yard temporarily claimed its first van. Oh, and since they couldn't squeeze the tank through the existing hatch, the hallway ceiling now needs redoing
Monday gone (13th Nov) saw the last of nine different plumbers we've seen come to finish off the final rad, switch on and test for leaks. Having arrived at 1000 he left at 1800, only for it to leak again once up to temp a couple of hours later. One of the leaks was, as anticipated, the joints I'd done under the bedroom floor. I made an exec decision to go through the ceiling of our temp bedroom instead of ripping all of upstairs floor up again
Also on that Monday, we had a tiler booked in for the bathroom, who we've waited months for. He knew the bathroom wasn't done, and wouldn't be when he started. Hour or so after arrival he "went to get some parts", then rang up 30mins later to say he didn't fancy it anymore and wasn't coming back - cue a very distressed missus. Fortunately aforementioned ninth plumber is a bathroom fitter first and foremost, and supposedly had had a job cancelled for next week, so he's now booked in. He'll also be back tomorrow to fix that final leak as well - he's well and truly sucked into it now
To bring us for today, and doors have been fitted now that carpenter could return unimpeded. It actually feels a bit like a home, and for the first time since moving in (almost 7 months now) we used the front door for the first time when returning home for bed - it's always been the back door to get to temp bedroom up until today
A celebratory drink is being had - my first today and her first in over a year. No the WKD isn't mine!
Down to the final touches now, and all being well we'll be "finished" for this year come 01st December, just in time to ruin all the fresh paint and plaster with Xmas decs....
Cheers,
Rob
grizz - thank you for the kind words, from someone with a work ethic as your own these are nice to hear indeed. Damp is something we'll cope with and try to gradually improve over time
homersimpson raumer kevins -
I'm still not entirely convinced ASHP was the way to go, but faced with the alternatives at the time, it's what felt best to my gut
1) Rads are much larger than we'd planned and expected, but all included and for the 1.5hrs they were working seemed decent
2) It is big, largest single fan of this range I understand (14kW). Sticks out more from the wall than we thought it would is our only grumble at present
3) We will probably notice! I didn't know this until you mentioned, thank you for sharing
4) I think ours is one such system, with an immersion type override built in for when needed
5) As above, and the legionella point was a great one. Salesman wasn't massively keen to disclose this until pressed, so again thank you for sharing
6) Solar panels are something I'd like to do one day. However currently out of reach because a) I can't afford them as it is and b) I think we need a stronger roof before fitting solar, which I absolutely cannot afford
7) External insulation is something I still need to work out, as I think I've mentioned previously the current render is probably doing more harm than good. So will likely form part of that solution, whatever it may look like
8) By floor insulation do you mean solid floors downstairs presumably? If so that's still to do, the current concrete floor isn't in the best of shapes and so insulating might fix two in one. At the moment I've just thrown laminate down there
9) Water tank is in the loft, I'm just hoping it's strong enough! See point 6 above..
10) All in it's cost us c.£8k for the install which is reasonableish I reckon, but obviously a large chunk still required to get from our EPC "G" to the potential EPC "B"
Apologies for the long post and skipping very quickly over most of it, hope it's still of interest - any questions fire away!
Cheers,
Rob
PS - the golf has filled with water
PPS - somehow I'm running out of storage space, so I ventured upstairs in the garage for the first time in a long time. The plan is for this to be my office one day
PPPS - one advantage of the plumbers havoc and mess is all the "rubbish" they left behind. Along with a box of TRVs, a near full coil of layflat 15mm pipe and a bunch of pipe insulator, this is what I dug out over the weekend. Multi-tool probably knackered, but maybe repairable?
PPPPS - all but two of the rads have the TRVs on the right hand side, so I want to get those swapped over whilst the system is empty awaiting leak repair. Only problem is, adjustable spanner amongst other plumbing kit has gone missing...
23rd Oct - with the grant for heat pumps up to £7.5k, and running short of options, agreed in principle to getting an air source heat pump fitted. I was, and still am to an extent, as cautious as others have mentioned, but the decision was made with all contributions very much at the forefront of my mind (thank you, as always). I'll do a follow up post just for heating
24th Oct - whilst down in Epsom for work, get a panicked call from SWMBO asking if we have breakdown cover (we didn't, but do now). Long story short, Qashqai finally given up, slave cylinder gone - and that's just the tip of the repair bill we were waiting for
25th Oct - fairly uneventful other than carpet fitting getting booked in (since delayed) and an EPC survey for the air source heat pump grant. Made by worse by the complete lack of heating, but we scored a G!
At some point around this time, work started to notice things weren't going to plan. I'm extremely fortunate to have great colleagues in a fairly niche part of a global corporate company, and they spotted an imminent mental breakdown before anyone else. I was advised, then eventually told, to take a couple of days sick leave over the next week, for which I was extremely grateful in hindsight and enabled a completely switched off weekend with the family
A visual representation of my mental state leading up to this point (yep, that's a full tub of paint freeing itself onto the floor)
On the topic of mental health , I'm attempting movember with others at work, and have been encouraged to beg/steal/borrow via any means possible for donations. If you can and are willing to donate, it's a great cause
After a spot of pumpkin picking, I bought this
What I didn't realise until taking it for a spin, is that it's the 220bhp BUL 2L TFSI engine - not simply the practical family car I was tasked with sourcing. Having done 250+ miles in it now, the inevitable "to do" list is as follows
• Bluetooth & sat nav not working
• Some tow bar electrics not working
• Rear wiper and jets
• Cambelt squeal (tensioner I think)
During the week we also had carpenter and plasterer (come painter/decorator) doing some of the finishing touches, whilst I started electric 2nd fit overnight. Just one room and all lights to go, but have found a fault to final socket in nursery so still have to figure that one - just hope it's not snagged in the wall
Four working days after signing up to air source heat pump (now on 02nd Nov), the installers turned up. Although I'd run most of the pipework under the floorboards, I'd not done any fittings and bigger rads were needed. I was told two guys two days. The first day saw an "oh sh!t" moment from their gaffer, and we had six/seven in on day one. So the carpenter agreed return another day, I now need to repaint all the walls, and the front yard temporarily claimed its first van. Oh, and since they couldn't squeeze the tank through the existing hatch, the hallway ceiling now needs redoing
Monday gone (13th Nov) saw the last of nine different plumbers we've seen come to finish off the final rad, switch on and test for leaks. Having arrived at 1000 he left at 1800, only for it to leak again once up to temp a couple of hours later. One of the leaks was, as anticipated, the joints I'd done under the bedroom floor. I made an exec decision to go through the ceiling of our temp bedroom instead of ripping all of upstairs floor up again
Also on that Monday, we had a tiler booked in for the bathroom, who we've waited months for. He knew the bathroom wasn't done, and wouldn't be when he started. Hour or so after arrival he "went to get some parts", then rang up 30mins later to say he didn't fancy it anymore and wasn't coming back - cue a very distressed missus. Fortunately aforementioned ninth plumber is a bathroom fitter first and foremost, and supposedly had had a job cancelled for next week, so he's now booked in. He'll also be back tomorrow to fix that final leak as well - he's well and truly sucked into it now
To bring us for today, and doors have been fitted now that carpenter could return unimpeded. It actually feels a bit like a home, and for the first time since moving in (almost 7 months now) we used the front door for the first time when returning home for bed - it's always been the back door to get to temp bedroom up until today
A celebratory drink is being had - my first today and her first in over a year. No the WKD isn't mine!
Down to the final touches now, and all being well we'll be "finished" for this year come 01st December, just in time to ruin all the fresh paint and plaster with Xmas decs....
Cheers,
Rob
grizz - thank you for the kind words, from someone with a work ethic as your own these are nice to hear indeed. Damp is something we'll cope with and try to gradually improve over time
homersimpson raumer kevins -
I'm still not entirely convinced ASHP was the way to go, but faced with the alternatives at the time, it's what felt best to my gut
1) Rads are much larger than we'd planned and expected, but all included and for the 1.5hrs they were working seemed decent
2) It is big, largest single fan of this range I understand (14kW). Sticks out more from the wall than we thought it would is our only grumble at present
3) We will probably notice! I didn't know this until you mentioned, thank you for sharing
4) I think ours is one such system, with an immersion type override built in for when needed
5) As above, and the legionella point was a great one. Salesman wasn't massively keen to disclose this until pressed, so again thank you for sharing
6) Solar panels are something I'd like to do one day. However currently out of reach because a) I can't afford them as it is and b) I think we need a stronger roof before fitting solar, which I absolutely cannot afford
7) External insulation is something I still need to work out, as I think I've mentioned previously the current render is probably doing more harm than good. So will likely form part of that solution, whatever it may look like
8) By floor insulation do you mean solid floors downstairs presumably? If so that's still to do, the current concrete floor isn't in the best of shapes and so insulating might fix two in one. At the moment I've just thrown laminate down there
9) Water tank is in the loft, I'm just hoping it's strong enough! See point 6 above..
10) All in it's cost us c.£8k for the install which is reasonableish I reckon, but obviously a large chunk still required to get from our EPC "G" to the potential EPC "B"
Apologies for the long post and skipping very quickly over most of it, hope it's still of interest - any questions fire away!
Cheers,
Rob
PS - the golf has filled with water
PPS - somehow I'm running out of storage space, so I ventured upstairs in the garage for the first time in a long time. The plan is for this to be my office one day
PPPS - one advantage of the plumbers havoc and mess is all the "rubbish" they left behind. Along with a box of TRVs, a near full coil of layflat 15mm pipe and a bunch of pipe insulator, this is what I dug out over the weekend. Multi-tool probably knackered, but maybe repairable?
PPPPS - all but two of the rads have the TRVs on the right hand side, so I want to get those swapped over whilst the system is empty awaiting leak repair. Only problem is, adjustable spanner amongst other plumbing kit has gone missing...
