It's hard to keep my chin up right now, but everyone work is great and that helps. However, having to repeat my problems several million times doesn't. Hopefully this will be the last time.. and I might be able to pour my heart out this way.
Firstly the boiler. It is still not fixed. While they ordered the right part yesterday an "alternative" was sent since they don't stock ours. The alternative being a completely different circuitboard. The gasman is going to see if someone can get him the correct part from Cardiff today. If not it will have to be ordered from the manufacturer, which could take anything up to ten days. So he said he'd bring round two fan heaters tonight. Doesn't help with bathing but we're planning to pop round to Rat's mum's tomorrow. At least the house (or two rooms of it) might be a bit warmer.
The roof, however, is much more of a problem and no longer covered by the insurance since it's a "workmanship" problem. Apparently some bricks are missing in the wall and so the flashing can't be secured. There could be two reasons for this: at some point work was done (the bay window?) and the bricks weren't put back, or there is a more serious problem (perhaps with the lintle) and the bricks have dropped off at some point. If this is the case it could be "silly money" to fix. I'm basically sticking with the people who the insurance company went to because they know the situation.
The first problem, however, is that they can't even find out the problem without taking the roof off. This needs a full scaffolding because of the situation of the house and garden - something that worries me in general because the wall holding up the garden isn't perfect and I don't know how much weight it would take. But then they should be able to work out what they're meant to be doing. This investigation of the problem will cost a fair bit because of the scaffolding and they're meant to be getting back to me today to tell me how much. Then they have said they will give me a quote for (a) fixing the leak and (b) fixing the underlying problem. We can probably scrape a grand or even two together with overdrafts and credit cards, but not more than that. And of course that delays things like double-glazing. Of course, the lack of bricks probably isn't helping with the noise and the temperature so it could help that considerably.
The next issue is do we complain to the surveyors? If it's only a small problem to fix then I won't bother. But if it's bigger then why didn't the surveyor notice something was wrong. I don't think he even noticed the flashing was odd and that's something even I could tell. My worry is that he could turn around and say "I had no access to the bay roof". But then, the fact that there had been a leak in the past was fairly obvious. I wonder if the contractors will provide us with photos as proof is we do take action? Is it worth the solicitors cost? Have we even got a case. Everyone says that we should take it further but the whole idea terrifies me, and I'm scared of this whole thing enough as it is.
The past week has been putting a strain on our relationship too. Well, the whole moving house has. As people say "what doesn't make you split up just makes you stronger" and I'm sure that we aren't about to split up. But I've felt that we're less close than we were. Thank God for all the good TV that is on right now.. that helps.
The good news is that our router turned up today. The line was sorted yesterday. So assuming the tests that we have to do on the line go okay then we should have broadband by the end of tonight. Let's hope our line isn't problematic. I don't think it should be. At first I thought it sounded a little rough but it does seem okay now. Assuming that Rat will allow me use of his Guildwars account then I may be able to play that pretty damn soon. Or if not, there is always Neverwinter Nights online. And I will be able to upgrade Fedora. So our "holiday" next week won't be totally dire.
The other thing that is bothering me right now is that I haven't heard from the guy who asked me to do the website. Actually, I haven't even checked if the first cheque they gave me went through. Maybe they've decided not to use me? Although I suppose it could be that they're so busy with having just opened that the website is the last thing on their mind. I'll pop him another email over the weekend. I'm tempted to finish the program even if it isn't needed just so that I've done it. It would be satisfying to prove that I can do it.
Firstly the boiler. It is still not fixed. While they ordered the right part yesterday an "alternative" was sent since they don't stock ours. The alternative being a completely different circuitboard. The gasman is going to see if someone can get him the correct part from Cardiff today. If not it will have to be ordered from the manufacturer, which could take anything up to ten days. So he said he'd bring round two fan heaters tonight. Doesn't help with bathing but we're planning to pop round to Rat's mum's tomorrow. At least the house (or two rooms of it) might be a bit warmer.
The roof, however, is much more of a problem and no longer covered by the insurance since it's a "workmanship" problem. Apparently some bricks are missing in the wall and so the flashing can't be secured. There could be two reasons for this: at some point work was done (the bay window?) and the bricks weren't put back, or there is a more serious problem (perhaps with the lintle) and the bricks have dropped off at some point. If this is the case it could be "silly money" to fix. I'm basically sticking with the people who the insurance company went to because they know the situation.
The first problem, however, is that they can't even find out the problem without taking the roof off. This needs a full scaffolding because of the situation of the house and garden - something that worries me in general because the wall holding up the garden isn't perfect and I don't know how much weight it would take. But then they should be able to work out what they're meant to be doing. This investigation of the problem will cost a fair bit because of the scaffolding and they're meant to be getting back to me today to tell me how much. Then they have said they will give me a quote for (a) fixing the leak and (b) fixing the underlying problem. We can probably scrape a grand or even two together with overdrafts and credit cards, but not more than that. And of course that delays things like double-glazing. Of course, the lack of bricks probably isn't helping with the noise and the temperature so it could help that considerably.
The next issue is do we complain to the surveyors? If it's only a small problem to fix then I won't bother. But if it's bigger then why didn't the surveyor notice something was wrong. I don't think he even noticed the flashing was odd and that's something even I could tell. My worry is that he could turn around and say "I had no access to the bay roof". But then, the fact that there had been a leak in the past was fairly obvious. I wonder if the contractors will provide us with photos as proof is we do take action? Is it worth the solicitors cost? Have we even got a case. Everyone says that we should take it further but the whole idea terrifies me, and I'm scared of this whole thing enough as it is.
The past week has been putting a strain on our relationship too. Well, the whole moving house has. As people say "what doesn't make you split up just makes you stronger" and I'm sure that we aren't about to split up. But I've felt that we're less close than we were. Thank God for all the good TV that is on right now.. that helps.
The good news is that our router turned up today. The line was sorted yesterday. So assuming the tests that we have to do on the line go okay then we should have broadband by the end of tonight. Let's hope our line isn't problematic. I don't think it should be. At first I thought it sounded a little rough but it does seem okay now. Assuming that Rat will allow me use of his Guildwars account then I may be able to play that pretty damn soon. Or if not, there is always Neverwinter Nights online. And I will be able to upgrade Fedora. So our "holiday" next week won't be totally dire.
The other thing that is bothering me right now is that I haven't heard from the guy who asked me to do the website. Actually, I haven't even checked if the first cheque they gave me went through. Maybe they've decided not to use me? Although I suppose it could be that they're so busy with having just opened that the website is the last thing on their mind. I'll pop him another email over the weekend. I'm tempted to finish the program even if it isn't needed just so that I've done it. It would be satisfying to prove that I can do it.
posted by Unknown at
11:51 am
1 Comments:
Damn Fran, I had no idea things had taken such a bad turn. I know its scary but try and keep your wits about you (I say this because when faced with a drama/crisis I crumble and want to spend all my time under the quilt pretending it isnt happening. I would not reccommend this survival tactic). Hopefully, the estimates will be affordable and the problem can soon get solved. I would definitely investigate the surveyor situation and why this did not appear on their report.
I know its tough to resist bursting into tears at the thought of scary house stuff, but you will get through it and it WILL be ok.
PS Have always thought you and your beau were made for each other. All this stress is just clouding the issue, once it settles you'll be back to normal. I have faith.
By
DayDreamer, At
Friday, October 28, 2005 12:31:00 pm
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home