Ooer Missus, stop messing about! Seriously, after a marathon effort, the insulation is in: cavity walls have been filled and the loft fully lagged and foam blown ready for the on-coming winter! Yes, it cost a bit, but it’s one of those spend-to-save scenarios in which we should come out as winners, according to Himself we should save from our fuel bills what we just spent within a year (as well as doing our bit to reduce our carbon wellie print, or such). So, what did I learn from the experience? It’s easier to pass on what I now know not to do in the event of having your home insulated (in the manner of letting you know from my mistakes) ….
THE DON’Ts OF HOME INSULATION
- DON’T take the first quote you get – do shop around, we were able to obtain an additional grant which led to an extra £30 off each item (ie: cavities, loft) just because of our postcode!
- DON’T let the company persuade you that it’s fine for them to do your own property and your next door neighbours’ on the same day. This means that they arrive with you early in the morning and fill your cavities, then go to do next door’s (“whilst we’ve got the stuff out, love”) then hit a major hold up because next door haven’t been repointed for years and drilling into their mortar caused a bit of a collapse, so now they are all bricking it (literally and metaphorically). Meanwhile the weather turns reminiscent of the great storm of ’87, and regardless of this your front door is on the latch because they are “bobbing back in a mo”, with the wind blowing it open and blasting a draught that runs up your reception area something shocking (as it were)! They will finally return to insulate your loft at 5.30 pm, leave you at 7.30 pm and have to come back today because they haven’t had time to vent you properly! However well you get on with your neighbours, this turned into a ‘job-share’ too far – we’d have been free of them by early afternoon yesterday if we hadn’t agreed to let them double up on the job! Don’t be pursuaded – it’s actually for their convenience, not yours!
- DON’T forget to dust-prevent all of the areas that they are drilling in. I remembered the major and important stuff , covering up the coat rack in the garage, taking pics off relevant walls etc (Himself moving his demi-johns of gently fermenting sloe gin and chum vodka) fearful of dust and vibration, but I forgot to clear our little utility area, resulting in a fine layer of dust over my clean (but still wet) washing basket (it didn’t get put out because of the weather etc, whole cause and effect thing)! D’oh.
- DON’T forget to keep an eye on all of those that would take advantage when you are cleaning up the results of (3) above. Having made use of a feather duster to get the dust from hard to reach areas (no, this is not another cavity joke), I let it drop to the floor whilst I then wiped down with a damp cloth. With my back to the feather duster I was unaware of the arrival of the small but purposeful chewing machine at my feet, resulting in Seamus giving the duster a good plucking. He tried to look innocent and deny it, but I’m afraid the evidence convicted him:
What feather duster?
I really expected more help from a creature that actually looks like Dobby the House Elf!
Still, whilst shut away with the dogs whilst the men filled the house with chaos, I put the time to good use and actually got a new autumn version of the summer tea cosies finished:
Happy Hallowe'en!
It is actually a cosy, but since I finished it, I’ve had a request for hallowe’eenie beanie hat versions for my son’s skating crew to wear up the skate park. Did I mention that they are all 20 or so?
Welcome to Autumn everyone!
Habibiboo 