The DIY/Doing up house Thread (aka My house is falling down)

Clearly all the problems we’ve been having around the house are getting to me. As well as the roof we had a part on the boiler replaced not long ago and the idea that no job is ever finished is bleeding through everything because I dreamt/woke up convinced that it must be leaking gas so went downstairs and spent ages sniffing around in the dark. Still got some lingering anxiety since it was so vivid to have got me out of bed at 3am but rationally I know we tested the carbon monoxide detectors when the plumber was over and if there was gas leaking directly out of the boiler it’d be a lot more obvious, and the heating probably wouldn’t have fired up.

Just need the plaster in the kitchen to dry enough to be painted over (its a garage conversation the previous owner largely DIYed), the roof fixed and our dispute with the original roofer settled, and the idea that everything is in a constant state of disrepair should subside.

What's this about insulation? I was thinking of redoing my loft soon, is that ok or can that also cause issues?

Loft is fine. When was your house built?

Just make sure that air can get in, eaves cleared etc.

70s, 78 specifically 😅

Even loft insulation can cause problems yes!

But as others have said, it’s generally and easier install/problem detection.

If your insulating on the flat then as Dougs says make sure there is ventilation at the eaves. Ie make sure there’s a decent gap at the very edges of the loft where it hits the outside walls. There is a product available for this. You should also have vents fitted the the soffit boards at this point.

If you’re insulating directly under the roof it can be a bit trickier and English roofs are different from the mighty scotch roof so I’m not making comment on how to do that.

Definitely this. We had some work done a few years back and the workmen had moved some insulation about and covered some of the air flow. Things got a bit mouldy.

Thankfully, moving them back sorted that. And getting rentokill to check the moild let us find woodworm & get that treated.

Leading to another life lesson- If any previous owners have stored any wood in the loft as crawlboards, don't leave it there in case it's riddled with the wood munching fuckers!

Taking on a debt for life for something which can be ruined by pests. What is life?

It was only a kiss
It was only a kiss

My roofer is Mr Gobshite

So a new diaphragm washer did the job, £1.68 and now I have 4 spares! If only all DIY jobs went that well.

The pictures don't quite do it justice, but we've built a nice little play area for the kids and seating area for us. It's got a definite DIY feel to it but cost less than a third of what a couple of builders quoted so we're happy with it.

Land grab of the neighbours garden. It's Czechoslovakia all over again

That looks great. Excellent work Rich.



Latest news from the simple house - still no response from the original roofer so looks like that’ll be going to small claims at some point. We’re shopping around for a more afford quote for the repairs but I’m loathe to go with anyone who isn’t massively well established after the fuck on we’ve had with independent traders.

Aaaaaand the area directly in front of the boiler has started to smell mildly gassy. On our plumber/boiler guy’s advice we replaced the CO detectors around it and have continued to use the boiler as he thought it might just be blowback from the exhaust vent and should go away fairly quickly but to let him know if alarms sound or things don’t change. No alarms yet but its gone from being a pocket of smell opposite the boiler to permeating a bit more widely now.

Aside of blowing up or being gassed in our sleep I’m particularly concerned that the smell only seems to coalesce when the boiler *isn’t* running. So since he said use it and monitor it we’ve still had the heating on and when the heating is on there’s no smell. But on a morning like this morning where I did the school run then went to the supermarket meaning it’d been idle for a couple of hours I returned to the smell.

The venting suggestion made sense when he suggested it but given the smell only seems to be there when its not running, that to me suggests leak rather than exhaust fumes. Presumably its at some valve that opens when the boiler fires up so that excess gas is pulled into the system and used before it has time to escape but an idle boiler isn’t pulling it through so its drifting into my home office instead.

Luckily its next to a big window and that gets rid of it very quickly too.

He’s very reputable so that won’t be an issue but it does mean another big hassle and more disruption. Albeit with far more serious potential risks than having to keep a bucket on the loft stairs to catch rainwater.