Celebration time!

Tonight I am going to have a celebration. I will be taking my first shower!!! This afternoon, I finally managed to get the hot and cold water to work! The problem had been the 2 flexible hoses that connect the shower unit to the pipework. Because they were so short, they kinked and stopped the water flow. So yesterday I purchased longer hoses, and now everything is working fine... Well almost!

I now have a new small problem. One of the body jets has split, and water just pours out. I have not been able to find a replacement cap for it, so I have just had to order 6 new jets. I will simply replace the existing ones with the new ones, and then everything will be in full working order.

I have also just bought a new carpet for the shower room, and I will probably fit it either on Sunday, or next Tuesday, when I have my day off from work.

Almost done!

Yesterday was a very busy and long day. I started the final completion of the installation of the shower and towel rail at about midday, and went to bed at about 23:00 when the work was completed.

As you can now see everything is now connected!. On the towel rail, one of the pipes might have a slight leak, which will mean I will have to tighten up one of the nuts. This is a major improvement from when I first tried it out with running water through it! Nearly all of the joints leaked! What has cured the problems was jointing compound.

Now all that is left to do is to test the hot water flow to the shower on Tuesday, when the new hot water tank is replaced. Then I can consider the last addition to this room, a new floor covering. This will be chosen by my wife, both the colour and the texture. So I have absolutely no idea what it will be! She is already looking through the Argos catalogue for inspiration!

Hopefully, later this weekend, I will make a start in tidying up the shrubbery alongside the house (I had a neighbour politely ask me to cut it back). Perhaps I might even be able to sit down, take a rest, and give myself a small pat on the back for getting this far along with my project. Although I will think long and hard about attempting something like this again!

It sometimes pays to be insured

Today, I had a day off work to stay at home and wait for the plumber to arrive. Eventually he arrived at 13:30, and very quickly informed me that it was NOT a water pipe that had burst, but the water tank itself had split at the bottom! Considering that the tank is only 13 years old, I am very surprised that something like this should happen to a copper tank!

I thought the plumber would disconnect the tank and remove it ready for when the new one arrived. Instead, he spent 3 hours draining the remaining water from the tank (the drain valve wouldn't open properly!) and then told me that he would not disconnect the tank, as he was not allowed to leave the pipes unconnected, in case the valves stopping the water flow failed.

Next, he gave me the news that did not make me a happy bunny. A new hot water tank has to be ordered, and will not be delivered here until Monday! Then on Tuesday morning, another plumber will arrive to remove the old tank, and install the new one. Until then, we have only cold water supply in the house. The only way we can have hot water, is by boiling water in a saucepan on the cooker! So for the next 7 days, I will be reduced to strip washes!

The only real good news out of this disaster, is that I will not have to pay anything for the replacement tank, or the work carried out by the plumbers. I had the good sense to set up a contract with British Gas to maintain, my gas appliances, central heating, plumbing, and electrics. The policy costs about £28 each month, but I have been told that the tank and plumbing work alone would cost over £1000. Then there is the cost of the electricians afterwards to repair or replace the damaged smoke alarm.

My daughter now has a job to do for the next 7 days. She has to use a hair dryer to attempt to dry out the floor underneath the tank, and the ceiling downstairs. I may even decide to call in the house contents insurers to see if I can claim on that insurance to repair the water damage to the downstairs ceiling, and the dining room. I'll have to think about that one, and make a decision tomorrow.

Drip, Drip!

This morning, I came downstairs to find that water is still dripping into the bucket. Also as you can see the ceiling is looking decidedly wet. The dining room has water seeping down in the corners, so God knows how far the water has spread from the initial problem. Even more worrying, how do I dry out such a vast area? Answers on very absorbent material please.

Now I have to decide whether to detach the pipework from the hot water tank, and remove it, so that the plumbers can get to where the broken pipe is underneath. Or do I wait for them to come and do it themselves.

I think I will go and have a cup of coffee, and mull this one over for an hour or two. Hopefully the plumbers will turn up before I make a decision one way or the other!

Disaster!

I switched off the water supply while I connected the shower to the pipes. First I switched on the cold water supply, and everything was fine. It was when I switched on the hot water supply that disaster struck. A pipe burst underneath the hot water tank! This is an area that I haven't been anywhere near! All I can say is it was just waiting to happen, and it was the weight of the water filling up the tank that caused the pipe to burst!

Now I have to wait for the emergency plumbers to arrive tomorrow morning to try and find and repair the burst pipe. Once they have done that, I then have to find a way to dry out the whole area around the hot water tank, before the electricians will then come and check that all the electrics are OK. I know the smoke alarms have shorted out, as I can smell burnt plastic downstairs. I just hope that nothing major will go wrong with the electrics tonight, as the fire alarms are disabled until the electricians can come and fix them again.

I contacted my manager at work, and he has allowed me to stay at home tomorrow to deal with the plumbers, and whatever other problems that might arise.

Things were going so well up until now, I now need to let off steam, so ... BOLLOCKS, SHIT, BUGGER, FUCK!!!!! There, now I feel a little bit better!

At Last, The Tiling Is Done!

After getting way behind schedule, I have finally completed tiling the en-suite bathroom! It looks very nice now, apart from the grubby carpet. I am very pleased with the way I managed to drill holes in the tiles for where the fixings should go. the only thing I am a little disappointed with, was my inability to make the tiles match up at the corners!

The next thing to do is install the shower screen. I have no idea how complicated this is going to be, as I haven't even opened the package containing the screen yet! I will open it tonight and start to read the instructions, and probably make a start on Sunday afternoon.

Currently Reading

Synopsis: Autumn 1541

A giant cavalcade a mile long is wending its way through the Vale of York. Following the uncovering of a plot against the throne in Yorkshire, King Henry VIII has set out on a spectacular Progress to the North to overawe his rebellious subjects there. Accompanied by a thousand soldiers, the cream of the nobility and his fifth wife, Catherine Howard, the King is to attend an extravagant submission of the local gentry at York, the climax of the greatest Progress of Tudor times.

Also travelling to York at the behest of Archbishop Cranmer are lawyer Matthew Shardlake and his assistant Jack Barak. As well as assisting with legal work processing petitions to the King, Shardlake has reluctantly undertaken a special mission for Cranmer - to ensure the welfare of an important but dangerous conspirator who is to be returned to London for interrogation.

But the murder of a York glazier involves Shardlake in deeper mysteries, connected not only to the prisoner in York Castle but also to the royal family itself. As the Great Progress arrives in the city, Shardlake and Barak stumble upon a cache of secret documents which could shake the Tudor throne, and a chain of events unfolds that will leave Shardlake facing the most terrifying fate of the age...

Progress is slow but sure!

At last I have some progress with the en-suite shower room. At least the most important and difficult part of the room has been tiled. Half the room is fully tiled and grouted. Before I went to work, I managed to Plumb back in the toilet cistern, and the sink. The wall cabinet is also installed. I just managed to find time to continue tiling along the other long wall. I think that I should complete the tiling by next weekend.

Then I will have fun trying to install the shower cubicle frame and panels. That is going to require me to start drilling holes on my nice new tiles!!

Finally, I will then connect the shower up, and hope that when I switch it on, the power pump actually works and increases the flow to the shower! If it doesn't, I will have to admit defeat and call a plumber in to fix it!

The final part to this renovation will be to replace the carpet! I have already told my wife that she can choose what she would like. what material she wants it to be, such as linoleum, carpet, cork, or tiles.

Any one got a time machine?

I am rapidly running out of time every day! After failing spectacularly in completing the redecorating of the en-suite shower room (hence the reason for no more new pictures), I am trying to complete the tiling, whilst also embarking on a month of "Win a Mini" events at various DIY stores.

Also I have had to collect my wife and daughter from the airport last Friday, take my car in for repair, this morning, and find time to take the dog for a walk, take my wife to and from work, go grocery shopping, eat, sleep....

Tomorrow, I have planned to take my wife to work, cut the grass in the garden (subject to it remaining dry), commence tiling the second wall in the en-suite. Collect my wife from work and take her to the doctor in the evening, and finally head off to Northampton for my first appointment with a potential new customer!

I am feeling very nervous about taking my wife to visit the doctor tomorrow, as the problem she has could at best result in a course of ultrasound treatment, or possibly an operation! We wont know until we have gone through the process of seeing the doctor first, then being referred to a specialist at a hospital somewhere before knowing what the prognosis is likely to be.