Step 2: Destroy the place!
Week 2 just about to kick off and what a week we’ve started off with! The place is stripped out and it’s all currently residing in the back garden! We had quite a pressing issue to start off with – the oil boiler had to be pronounced dead at the scene! To make matters worse, it turns out the manufacturer went out of business God knows when so any parts were non existent. On top of that, it appeared that the central heating system was retrofitted to the house so there was pipework surface mounted all over the house – yuck! Come to think of it, the house had obviously also been rewired but cheaply so there was also surface trunking all over the place with surface mounted sockets and switches…. but back to our decision – how should we heat the house? The oil tank was actually disconnected too so we basically has a freezing cold shell! What to do, what to do…
We chose to install storage heaters. Now I know what everyone is thinking: What. On. Earth! The main selling points for us were:
- Cost: Yes, Dimplex quantum heaters are expensive up front but with a ten year warranty, this is negated. Ongoing maintenance costs compared between oil and electric also were considered
- Reputation: Oil’s reputation is not great. There is a considerable shortage of oil engineers in comparison to gas engineers and parts and machinery are less common and more expensive
- Efficiency: Oil boilers are not overly efficient. Add that into the cost of heating oil and how it has fluctuated, it may not be a viable long term solution anyway
- Environment: Do we want to be installing something which is essentially burning a fossil fuel?
- Space they Require: Not only is it a floor mounted beat of a thing that needs it own cupboard to hide it away, there is also the outside storage tank consider. This is more pertinent when we consider our future plans… but more of that later
So now its emptied, we have removed the ugly surface piping and trunking and have started rewiring properly but chasing out the walls and lifting floor boards.paper has been stripped and unbelievably, the plasterer has been in and started his work on the upstairs and bathroom! Plumber due tomorrow to get the bath tub in and renew pipe work (chasing the wall out for his pipes this time) so we are cooking on gas!
A few things we have noticed that have made life really easy:
- Paypal: Paypal is our friend! Whether it be splitting costs over 3 instalments or the credit card with 0% over 4 months, this has made life easy when trying to stretch the budget as far as it goes. It is dangerous and you need to plan carefully ut this can make your life easier when it comes to materials.
- Shop around online. Finding out the model of something and then shopping around (such as a storage heater) often gets you the best value. Check for delivery costs and (given the time of year) there are lots of promo codes floating around to give you money off.
- You can pick up packages of items (for example a bathroom suite) for less than individual items. We’ve just done something very similar with the bath suite we purchased – couldn’t get near when picking up the items individually!
Watchout for our next chapter but so far, week one has gone far better than anyone could have expected! for more information, you can email us at info@witlet.co.uk and if you need any contractors for any work (rental or not), just ask and we’d be more than happy to recommend! Our electrician is Mid Essex Electrical and is extremely good value and hard working contractor – if you need help with your electrics – he is should be your first port of call! https://www.midessexelectricians.co.uk
