Clearing the decks

It's the end of May 2014

I need to get everything ready for the asbestos removal firm.

The carpets and underlay get rolled up. The normal carpets are easy but the flotex-style in the kitchen and utility have been glued down and the residue is unpleasantly tacky. All the carpets are dated and worn.

lounge

The curtains and curtain poles come down. The full-length ones for the patio doors have mouldy bottoms so they go off to the tip. The rest are salvage-able, albeit not our taste and go into the wash. The too-low ceiling light in the lounge gets replaced with a standard pendant fitting. P is not sorry to see that go!

bedroom

spare room

The fitted wardrobes in both bedrooms and the hall cupboard come out by doing a bit of unscrewing but mainly with the judicious use of a lump hammer. There are mouse droppings on the top-most surfaces which isn't obvious until, yanking it, I tip it down on my head. It takes about half an hour of stomping around outside; shaking every bit of me; gargling with water and generally being grossed out before I can continue! Time to spread some rodent poison around in the loft!

kitchen

The kitchen units adjacent to the asbestos also respond to the lump hammer. Fortunately the unit housing the sink can stay in place as it will be the only working source of water for the time being.

Everything gets put in the garage to be gradually taken by the car load to the tip. Some of the wood is usable and will be salvaged but most of the stuff is worn or broken beyond use.

The radiators and bathroom plumbing removal require a professional. They don't really but, as I've said before, I don't do plumbing - too many leaks.



Removing the 2 radiators on the East wall is straightforward as is removing the bath. Removing the WC and basin requires more planning. Although the bathroom will be the first room to get fully renovated, we will want the existing, avocado(!) WC and basin to use until we're ready for a new suite. An added complication is that I think we want to move the basin to a different position and get the hot water cylinder removed because we also want to replace the existing boiler with a combi-boiler. It's time to talk to Nick the plumber.



Nick's a local lad and drafts in his dad every now and then when the work needs another pair of hands. He's the plumber who fixed the boiler for us initially: swiftly and cheaply. Him and his dad are both Christians so meetings with them often involve theological discussions. Mind you, when non-Christian tradespeople find out about OH's job, they often want to talk apologetics too.

I talk through what needs to happen now and what we plan to happen in the future with Nick and we come up with a plan.