Welcome to my blog.

Welcome to my blog.

Saturday 17 December 2011

The last ten days.

Ten days since I last blogged, but again I've had no internet and phone for about 6 days of that and some other annoying things added into the equation!

So last Friday I was on the phone when it suddenly went completely dead and all the internet went off.
Of course at first we thought it was talktalk again, but this time everyone was off.
Turns out to have been caused by thieves cutting through a fibre optic cable, thinking it was copper they could sell for scrap!

Thing is that around 8,000 phones went down due to this, but as annoying as it was to us, at least we still had mobile phones. The worry was people like pensioners who had nothing ... what if there was an emergency for them?
We don't know if it was a problem for anyone like that, but even so, it wasn't good!

Most people had their service restored by Sunday, but ours was still playing up and not working correctly. In the end we had an engineer out and they discovered the line into our house was corroded and had to be replaced.  Pure coincidence to have the problem at the same time, but meant a longer 'off' time for us.
We were back on properly by yesterday.

Mind you, things have been upside down here anyway.


Damp causing paint work to blister etc.



For awhile we have suffered damp in our front room. We suspected it was caused by the door and window, but couldn't afford to get it done.
It got so bad though that we knew we HAD to get it done. Got the builders in and they ordered us a nice sealed unit window, to replace the door and window as we suspected that might be a problem but once they started work, the true problem showed itself. 



The cavity wall insulation, which according to the company website will NOT allow water to to pass through and cause damp, was doing just that! Infact, it's completely soaked and can be wrung out in your hand! 
So now we are at the stage where the cavity wall people have taken some away to test, they say it's a manufacturing fault, but that they know already that no way will they accept responsibility and will come back with excuses. They are saying we should have let them check the insulation before getting the builders in. Our argument being, that if you are guarenteed that something WILL NOT cause damp but will in fact protect the walls and that even if water does get in, won't allow it to penetrate but will cause it to drain down the outer cavity, well then, how are we expected to have suspected that to be the culprit?

On tests it shows the problem is even worse further up the house in the boys bedroom but is draining down and so is only actually showing damage in the lounge.

So now we are left with only half the job done while the cavity wall people are deciding exactly what to do and unless they can pull some strings quickly, which they say they most likely can't ... we will be left like this until some time in January!



The builders can't plaster as the wall is too damp still.  BUT, on the bright side, at least we're watertight and the new window is in!

I have nothing nice to show with my yarn sadly, just an upside down house with no where comfy to sit right now!  :(

Fun  times!  Haha.

:)

5 comments:

  1. Sorry you're going thru all the troubles - hopefully your wall will get fixed quickly. :)

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  2. Oh My..what a mess. I would be so upset with things torn up like that. I really hope that they will stand behind their product..if not I think you might be in for a long ride..and an expensive one..on the bright side..one way or another your house will be fixed..hugs,

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  3. Oh boy,Kim.I hope the start of 2012 will be better than the end of 2011,and I hope you get this resolved without a long delay and that it isn't left to you to foot the bill.
    Take care.

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  4. well here is crossing my fingers for you that they fix it all properly and take responsibility. Companys are just plain mean sometimes so make sure you put your foot down!!

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  5. Thanks ladies. :)

    They've agreed to remove the parts that are causing a problem, but won't do anymore until the tests are back. They don't want to pay compensation at all even though all I'm asking for is a contribution towards the plastering costs!

    So once we have the results back, I'll have more idea on where we stand, but I do think it's only fair they contribute, I'm not asking for the whole amount.

    :)

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:)