Why is nothing ever simple in our house ?
We decided to treat ourselves and put a woodburner into our living room. We currently have an open fire (it's a rather large fireplace!!)
and decided that open fires are far too messy and a bit dangerous, so a woodburner would be much more preferable. However, after doing lots of research and finally settling on the one we wanted, we went to a very reputable, local fireplace shop and got the guy to come round and check the chimney etc. He condemned it !!!
It turns out the previous owners had used cowboy builders to remove the old chimney stack (which used to be right in the middle of the room) and rebuild it, using a metal thing which runs from the top of the fireplace, up through the spare bedroom and the loft and then out through the roof.
Unfortunately, the cowboy builders had completely ignored all the regulations surrounding installing such a chimney. They had cut through the rafters of the house (and not put adequate replacement supports in place), along with not encasing the metal pipe thingy in a fireproof cage, and letting it rest against both the roof, the floorboards and the plasterboard chimney they constructed in the spare room. This was, of course, a complete fire hazard and it's a wonder the whole house didn't catch fire !!
So now, instead of just having a woodburner installed, which should be a simple job really, we have now had to have the entire metal chimney exposed (here it is in the spare room - please ignore horrible pine wardrobe with frou frou lampshade on top - this is not indicative of our house !!)
so that it can be fully encased in fire proof stuff (don't know the technical term!) and be actually moved away from all of the wooden joists etc. This has resulted in the sealant around the top of the chimney being dislodged which now means that the builders have to get onto our 250 year old roof to repair it all !!!
Why is nothing ever simple ??!!!
But at least my new camera arrived - YAY !! The above photos were taken with it, without me having read the instruction manual so I'm sure they can be improved on, but I'm very impressed so far. It's very clever because it just automatically adjusts itself to the lighting situation and subject !
Here is the original photo of my green spotty star buttons (as seen on the website)
and the new (trial) photo that I took just now. What a difference !!
I can't wait for the daylight tomorrow so that I can take pictures of all the lovely NEW STOCK that arrived today (and it looks like I'll have to take new photos of EVERYTHING now as the old photos are SO BAD !)
Watch this space
xx
2 comments:
The difference in the two photos is amazing!!!! Am so sorry about your cowboy builders, will all be worth it in the end though.
Andrea x
Agh - scary cowboy builders - good job you decided to have the chimney investigated.
I used to live in a cottage with a wood burner and it was fabulous. In Germany (and in some places in the UK too, I think) you can get ones with little shelves in them to put your teapot - very handy!
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