Not So Nice Surprise

A few weeks ago we received the "final" drawings for the conversion.  However, for some reason the structural engineer didn't believe what the architect had told him about the measurements of the ridges to our roof, and the drawings were completely wrong!  Just as well we know what we're talking about and have measured and remeasured everything ourselves.  The way the drawings are laid out, we would lose our little seating area in the bedroom (and I've already bought the sofa!).  So a phone call to the right man has put the drawings back on the drawing-board and we are awaiting the next "final" set.  

The Not So Nice Surprise however is that having been told the conversion could start earlier than planned, now it can't.  The last two jobs the loft converters have worked on have overrun by two weeks each!  (The reasons for the delays are usually the client changing things as they go along.)  That puts them a month behind.  So, now we have a start date of 2nd week of December and therefore it will not be finished by Christmas.  Oh well.  We are getting ready anyway.  We now have 3 children in one bedroom so that we have a spare room to put all the loft contents into.  And, we have plenty of jobs to keep us going, such as putting up shelving in cupboards and, of course, Christmas to think about.  Fingers crossed for the drawings.

The Gasman Cometh

"Twas on a Monday morning the gasman came to call..."

Happily, not because the gas tap wasn't working.  On Monday last week a couple of gas fitters came round to fit our new boiler.  As I mentioned in a previous post, one of the largest (literally) obstacles to our loft conversion is the fact that our loft is home to a very large header tank which drives our hot water system.  To be able to start the conversion we had to install a new heating system that doesn't need the header tank.  We decided to have a "combi" system - one that heats the water on demand and works at mains pressure, removing the need for either a header tank or a water cylinder in the airing cupboard.

I did a bit of research into boilers and came to the conclusion that there are only two makes that are recommended by just about everyone, and one of those has an aluminium heat exchanger which could probably corrode.  So I decided to get a Vaillant boiler with stainless steel heat exchangers.  I also discovered that one of the Vaillant boilers - ecoTec 937 - comes with a small store of hot water built in, which allows it to deliver a bath-full much more quickly than a standard combi boiler.  It is one of the most expensive combis on the market, but if you're paying a couple of thousand pounds to have something installed, you might as well spend an extra few hundred and get the best.

So I put in an order with Harpers Central Heating and Plumbing - they were actually the only people I could get to quote.  The plumber recommended by the loft conversion company never sent us his quote, and another chap who I'd used before didn't even turn up to do the estimate.  There was a 3-week waiting list, so I booked them in for the 20th October, and waited.  The first thing that happened was that the old boiler broke down - 2 days after I'd spoken to Harpers.  With only 3 weeks to go I wasn't going to spend hundreds of pounds on getting it fixed, so we made do with immersion heater and dimplex room heaters for the duration.  When we got to the 20th I was expecting to be waiting around for the fitters to turn up - but not a bit of it.  At 07:50 a van pulled up in front of the house, and before 08:00 I was showing them where I wanted everything.

It took them 3 days to complete the job.  That included taking up floorboards in two bedrooms and the landing, digging up the screed floor in the kitchen to find the gas main, and removing the old hot water cylinder.  After all that, I have to say that the new system is extremely good.  There's high pressure, high volume hot water whenever you want it.  The central heating is working fine and all I have to do now is work out how to use the controller.  Vaillant boilers may have a reputation for quality, but their instruction manuals leave a lot to be desired.

I've now removed the central heating header tank, and pushed the water system tank out of the way into the corner.  The loft is looking much bigger already.