Renovation Blog

2 February - I'm going batty

A letter arrives from the council regarding our proposed roofing work saying that we may have bats and they are protected creatures so we need to have a bat survey. I ring up the relevant bat-man to discuss it and he thinks we probably will have them and that they have a breeding season in April/May during which time we can't disturb them. This is exactly when our roofers are intending to start the work. We book a visit to see if we are facing a major delay...

6 February - Dinner dinner dinner dinner
Bat-man turns up, accompanied by his wife (much to my disappointment as I'd promised my son it would be Robin) and after some poking around they give us the great news that we don't have bats, but warn us we must still be very careful when removing the slates in case there are any nesting in the eaves. We breathe a huge sigh of relief and start chasing the roofers to get cracking as soon as we receive permission.

9 February - Seeds
I have to plan our what we intend to grow this year, and end up spending quite some time working out crop rotation plans and deciding on where to put everything. Finally I place a large order of seeds with The Organic Gardening Catalogue and wait excitedly for them to arrive...

14 February - Boiler research
Project Management seems to consists of hour upon hour spent at the computer sourcing things, and phoning to discuss and waiting for people to ring you back. Often whole days go past and I feel I have accomplished nothing. However, I have spoken to several more wood chip boiler suppliers in my continuing quest to install one of these machines, and am off to visit an installation soon.

15 February - Dropping like flies

Aaargh! Huge storm and gales have brought down a lot of our fencing and, more worrying, a huge coping stone fell off the roof and smashed through the potting shed below. Also about a dozen more slates have fallen down. Luckily nobody was underneath! This does however encourages me to redouble my efforts to sort the roof out as soon as possible, to ensure the building is windproof and watertight.

23 February - Getting plastered

Right. Enough sitting around and researching things, let's get down to some work. I had to replace the dining room ceiling which was missing, and skim over some dreadful artex the previous owners had put on the walls. Plastering is not entirely straight-forward, and you might be better off getting people in to do this. However it can be expensive. Like many aspects of renovation, it's not rocket science, and if you're prepared to put the time and effort into learning how to do it properly it's a handy (and money-saving) skill to have.

27 February - Veg update

As I'm sure you remember I planted a load of broad beans and garlic (plus some peas and cabbage) in October, and I'm pleased to say they are all looking good. Something to eat soon I hope...