On Monday, I received a letter from the Teachers' Pensions organisation telling me that they had made a mistake when first calculating my occupational pension. They were very sorry but as a result of this error I owed them just shy of £100.
On Tuesday, I received a letter from the NS&I (National Savings and Investments) telling me that I had won £100 on the Premium Bonds - inviting me to confirm my identity and secure the prize.
"The Lord giveth and The Lord taketh away" - Book of Job (Chapter 1). Or in my case "The Lord taketh away and The Lord giveth" - Book of Pudding (Chapter 13).
Pressure from her ladyship has resulted in me agreeing to update our small front room. We have already paid out almost £1000 to replace our old inefficient living gas fire with a new glass-fronted, and infinitely more efficient fire that we might actually use this winter instead of always relying on the central heating radiator.
We have also arranged for our leather Layzee-Boy sofas to be reupholstered. They should have served us far longer but two of the armrests have disappointingly worn out in just five years. The new covering will be of a lighter coloured, good quality fabric.
On Monday, we went to "Atkinsons" department store to order a new carpet and we have plans to decorate the front room when the sofas have been taken away but before the carpet is fitted. As you can imagine, there's a bit of juggling and finger crossing to do before (hopefully) it all comes together.
But then...
We have never had any significant damp problems in this house. It has been pretty water tight. But two weeks ago we discovered a possible damp issue on our bedroom ceiling. Maybe the flashing around the chimney has been compromised. And then yesterday in the very room we are updating I discovered certain damp on the pillar wall adjacent to our bay window. Oh no!
It is not rising damp. It is rain water that is somehow penetrating the brick wall but where is it coming from? It can be very hard to determine the source of such problems but we really need to solve the matter before decorating the room.
Today I was up our tall stepladders removing the silicone that sealed the gap between the external brickwork and the UPVC bay window we had installed over twenty years ago. I could not see any glaring gaps or cracks in the sealant but there's a good chance that this may be where the water has got in.
Tomorrow morning I will be up that ladder again with a sealant gun re-filling the gap with fresh silicone but with very limited confidence that this work will solve the problem. I just can't figure out where else the water might be coming from.
It seems to go like this, one thing leads to another and another and another. Hopefully the water problem can be found and fixed easily. Our rental house needs all new water pipes which I just can't deal with right now. In the '90s, our government thought that poly B was good piping, it's not. Sigh.
ReplyDeleteAll I want is a simple life without damp or indeed disruption,
Deletewell it's super good timing that the leak made it's presence felt before the redecoration happened! I wish you luck on the diagnosis
ReplyDeleteMy garage was leaking earlier this year and several things stored in the roof were destroyed. I told my ex the roof was leaking "no, it blows in under the roof if there's enough wind"
I liked that idea but just last week I was in the garage and looked up to see sky. I guess I need a new garage roof after all
At Liverpool's John Lennon Airport there's a statue of John Lennon with the inscription "Above us only sky"... but I don't think it refers to his garage!
DeleteSo from the book of Red Ch 1 verse i1 There are some good things and some bad things. I hope you get the water situation repaired. a leaking roof is a serious problem that has to be repaired. You guys get lots of rain.
ReplyDeleteI wasn't sure you were right but Sheffield gets almost twice the amount of rain that Edmonton receives each year.
DeleteI absolutely HATE water issues and leaks. They ruin the joy of re-decorating or getting ahead in a house. Instead, repairs gobble up the energy and money. SO sorry!!
ReplyDeleteOh for a simple life! Did hippies of the sixties ever think of damp or silicone sealant? I wonder if Hugh MacDiarmid ever used a silicone gun. Maybe that is what made him grumpy.
DeleteWhoo boy. It always happens just like that...a simple decision opens the very portals of hell. There are always unhappy surprises and it always takes twice as long as you expect. Good luck.
ReplyDeleteMy grandfathers both fought in World War One so surely I can battle the dampness and win.
DeleteUgh, we have two leaks! The flashing around the chimney needs to be resealed, as does siding where a dormer meets the roof. It's a VERY high, narrow steel roof. We seniors can't do it....we've been trying to find someone professional for a year.
ReplyDeleteGetting reliable tradesmen can itself be nightmarish.
DeleteFabric instead of leather? Fabric that cannot have just a wipeover and be done with it? Fabric that needs to be cleaned and then wait for it to dry before you can sit on it? Fabric that will fade and fray over time? Well, okay, they are your sofas after all. I just really prefer leather.
ReplyDeleteI think you should have a professional examine all the seals and flashings, it may be a cracked tile letting water in that travels, maybe cracked or missing grout in the brickwork. I hope you find the cause and get it fixed before next winter.
"Next winter" is already upon us River. I also like the "cleanness" of leather but having two armrests cracking to then split and reveal the foam padding beneath is very discouraging. That's why we have gone for fabric
DeleteOh, you are leaking. Nothing worse than a damp patch. One of our houses had some minor rising damp but we've never had a leak. What fuel does you flash new heater use? Coal from a nearby pit? I think we need a photo of the unit. As I am quite ignorant about central heating using water filled panels, is it something you leave on all the time through the cold season, just turning it down when sleeping? I think if you turned it off for a day or so and the house cooled, it would be hard to warm it up again. Do take care on the ladder...men over 50 and all that.
ReplyDeleteIt is a gas fuelled fire. Our central heating boiler is never left on overnight - that would be so expensive. It is on a timer.
DeleteOh dear! Something like that can be really worrying. I wouldn't know where to start and would have to rely on experts - hard to find and even harder to judge how well (or not) they have done their work.
ReplyDeleteThere are advantages in renting. I seem to recall that you rent your flat or do you own it?
DeleteIt's mine (or will be once I have paid off the mortgage).
DeleteOn that day there will be dancing in the street.
DeleteHope that you discover where the water is getting in!
ReplyDeleteI had a similar in/out of money at the time of the millennium. I was working for Barclays Bank as a cashier and they wanted " volunteers" to work extra time over the bank holidays. My name came out of the hat and I earned an extra £300. Less than a month later my cat needed an emergency op to remove something he had eaten from his gut, and it cost......Just over £300 !
A question of balance.
DeleteOh heck. I sympathise about the damp issue. Is the wall there rendered or just brick? Render can trap water the gets in through small cracks..
ReplyDeleteI hope the new window sealant fixes it.
You are right about render. It can hide a multitude of sins. There is render a few feet above the damp patch but exposed brickwork below. Thanks for the helpful suggestion JayCee. The water could be tracking down inside the cavity wall.
DeleteDo you have roof/slate vents? It could be heat rising causing condensation and running back down on to the ceiling causing damp.
ReplyDeleteWe have lived here 33 years. I don't think it would be that but thanks anyway Dave.
DeleteOddly I discovered some damp in the loft a while ago. As you said finding the cause can be hard. I called in the cavalry. They immediately stripped part of my roof and removed dozens of sparrow nests from between the sarking and the tiles preventing the rain from running out (Scottish roofs are of a totally different construction to the English roofs that I was familiar with) and hopefully all will be well. Sorry sparrows.
ReplyDeleteGood luck.
In your rather harsh landscape it must be hard for sparrows to find safe nesting sites.
DeleteWe replaced our living gas fire with a glass fronted model a year or so ago. Much more efficient and easier to keep clean than the old one. Nice to have a back-up in case of central heating failure.
ReplyDeleteYou got it in a nutshell Sue. Living gas fires were a dumb invention. All the heat seemed to go up the chimney!
DeleteOh dear, YP, well you win some and lose some! Congratulations on the win and commiserations on it being snatched away again!
ReplyDeleteGood luck with finding the leak - hopefully it will be something minor and easily fixed. Then we can look forward to your decorating exploits and see photos of the finished results.
I'd go for fabric covers too - leather is so uncomfortable to sit on, until you've warmed it up.
With hindsight, I think the dark brown leather we chose was visually unappealing anyway. The sofas will be taken away in two weeks' time and will be away for a fortnight.
DeleteWhen I hear stories like this I'm glad to be a renter. If we have problems with our flat we can just move! (Of course we're paying for that luxury.)
ReplyDeleteYou are right. Renting does have its advantages.
DeleteI read the title and thought you needed to be re-employed for some reason. Then I realized, why is it why pronoun Job as "job" and not "jobe". So I googled it and found this ridiculous video on the subject.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wo5C3N2Zo1c
It is so ridiculous that I nearly forgot I was going to say good luck on finding the leak. They are so hard to find that it can be a big job... or is that jobe.
Did Job have ear lobs or ear lobes?
DeleteOh Lord. One thing does inevitably lead to another. But it will all feel so good when everything is put right. At least you and your Missus haven't gotten hit with a plague of boils or anything. Let's keep things in perspective.
ReplyDeleteYou are right. We do not live in Mariupol, Ukraine or an unnamed village in Somalia.
DeleteI think you'll solve the problem with fresh silicone around the bay window. I know absolutely nothing about roofs and leaks but I'm a believer in gut instincts and a 20 year old bay window sounds like a likely suspect to me.
ReplyDeleteI hope you are right Melinda.
DeleteIntermittent leaking from rain blowing in a different direction was the problem in this house or maybe the flashing on the chimney, mended twice. Our plasterer put panelling on the walls and then plastered over. I am not a fan of leather chairs either fabric is far more cosy.
ReplyDeleteI wish there was a foolproof way to detect the sources of water ingress but there isn't. You just have to keep your fingers crossed. I have now replaced the silicone where the external wall meets the bay window frame.
DeleteYou know what ?
ReplyDeleteI bloody well hate God's reply to Job, who wasn't even a loft insulation man or a plumber ... but then neither is God.
Just heard about Tasker's health issues.
Bloody awful. To be hit by two kinds of shit at once.
I know Graham has had a rough time in the past and many others here too.
Jack
P.S. The poet Heine, a good Jew, had to converted under pressure.
God will forgive me, he said. It is after all His trade.