This week started with so much hope. The week had finally come that we could address the issue with the back of the house…
You may remember from a previous post in week two; how we’d uncovered carpet behind the plaster down the back of the house. This resulted in completely rotten joists and crumbling render. The window then fell out of the wall… the wood finally giving way to the rot and glass cracked like …oh anyway! Lets not dwell.
We hired Lee of LG Guttering & Property Maintenance and he at last began work. They say things get worse before they get better and trust me when I say things certainly LOOKED worse … at the end of day one I was petrified Lee wouldn’t come back. Not because he lead me to believe he wouldn’t but because I have “worst-case-scenario” syndrome. I only slept those first few nights because he left tools behind…
It took him just four days to completely rebuild the side of the flat; delicately balancing on his ladder above our fragile roof. He made me feel like this enormous and terrifying issue was finally being resolved and it felt really good to have someone like Lee take control. He was even kind enough to patch our roof, fix/replace our broken gutters and various other odd jobs I roped him into… I would also like to thank him for giving up his bank holiday Monday which wasn’t lost on either of us…
Meanwhile, we decided to crack on with PAINTING! I wanted to finish off the bedroom and the kitchen so Seb focused on the shop. Once again, Stuart came to the rescue and as I took care of the little human, they whitewashed the shop entirely!
Their efforts…
Mine…
They even took the time to clean the moss off the roof – pretty sure Stuart hated us by the end of this day…
When on day two we had him sanding floors – I’m pretty sure I heard him declare the end of our friendship!
We really must acknowledge just how amazing Stuart (and Hayley) have been. There has literally not been a job they’ve not volunteered to help out with and we feel very honoured and lucky to have them as friends. Thank you both.
We timed Lees repair with the arrival of our replacement window supplied by Wimborne Windows. By Friday I was thoroughly excited to see the final piece of the puzzle slot into place.
What’s that phrase… one step forward and two steps back…
The “custom” made window did not fit. It was cut and forced into place and the Georgian-bars which run through the window panes didn’t exactly seem level…
The more we inspected the window; the worse it got. It was hacked off at the top and forced up against the joists which meant as soon as we plaster the walls, we’d loose most of the window frame… we were both pretty mad and beyond fed up.
When on Sunday, the plasterer we’d booked (Samuel Reeves Plastering) just simply decided to not bother showing up; I finally reached breaking point. After an hour of trying to “cut in” and finish the ceiling paint in the bedroom, I finally lost it. After an hour of tears I thought I’d go and smash something up. The fence on the terrace is leaning up against our lovely neighbours and is about to break it so I thought it was time to bring it down.
After hacking and smashing and levering the first half of the fence, I was starting to feel a bit better…and then I hit myself in the head with a crowbar…
I carried on; pulling the rest of the fence down. However, I realised after about 10 minutes that blood was running down the side of my face quite intensely, I sheepishly went back inside to find Seb.
He made the executive decision to call “time” on our work this week, patched me up and drove me home. We thought it was time to take a leaf out of dear old Samuels book and bunk off, enjoy the sunshine and have a BBQ…
Until tomorrow…
“Prevent a moss problem from returning by installing strips of zinc- or copper-coated sheet metal just below the top ridge on both sides of the roof. Copper is more toxic to moss and algae, but zinc is much less expensive. You can purchase sheet metal in rolls and cut it into two- to four-inch strips. Attach the strips to the roof using roofing nails or screws with a rubber washer. You also should consider pruning any tree limbs that overhang the roof—natural sunlight is a powerful moss preventive.”
http://www.bobvila.com/articles/how-to-remove-moss-from-roof/
https://www.google.com/search?q=permanently+clean+moss+off+roof+with+copper&safe=active&hl=en&gbv=2&oq=permanently+clean+moss+off+roof+with+copper&gs_l=heirloom-serp.3…8439.12327.0.12549.12.9.0.3.0.0.249.1223.2j6j1.9.0….0…1ac.1.34.heirloom-serp..6.6.677.3BOq49_8w-Q
Keep moss from forming
http://www.enkivillage.com/how-to-remove-moss-on-roof.html
Use a zinc strip
This is one of the easiest ways to get rid of the moss. Simply attach a strip of zinc to the top of the roof. As rainwater runs over the zinc strip, it creates an alkaline
condition on the roof, and this kills the moss very quickly. If you don’t want to add the strip to your roof, you can use products that include zinc sulphate. These are
available in both granular and liquid form.
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I see that Samuel Reeves Plastering didn’t bother showing up to do the work. Funnily enough, he has just let me down as well and I have now heard that Samuel Reeves Plastering is getting a reputation for this kind of behaviour. Such a pity – he seems like such a decent, professional chap when he comes to quote. After that stage, all communication goes out the window and he seems quite willing to leave you in limbo.
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