Broadband returns, some planting, an enclosed porch and a new bathroom
Following on with the saga of diabolical broadband, I contacted Talktalk to report the fault and after 30 mins and two departments, they accepted there was a problem and would get it resolved. I looked into 4G wireless broadband with 3 and they guaranteed 70Mb as we are only 1 mile from their transmitter. Their unit turned up the next day and after much faffing, I achieved 20Mb. Five days later and still no word from Talktalk, I phone again and after confirming there was still a fault, they insisted on me paying for an engineer call-out if the fault was in the house. I assured the ‘technical’ support person (she/they/it) that the fault was not on my premises. I then took a trip to Screwfix to get a Master telephone socket, which I proceeded to splice into the telephone wire as it entered the attic. Exactly the same 3 Mb performance and completely dead when I plugged in an old Trimphone. Eventually an Open Reach engineer turned up, looked in the manhole outside and said he had requested a new bit of cable between us and the cabinet before Covid. I don’t believe it! He swapped out our feed onto a better cable and service back to its old 20Mb level. Following that, I managed to get 3 to take back their wireless 4G router as it didn’t meet their guaranteed minimum speed of 70Mb -oh the promised luxury! I believe it’s easier to get onto Fort Knox than to cancel and return a router with 3. I have subsequently found out that full fibre is available at number 67 and we are number 71 – beam me up!
Whilst browsing eBay, I decided to purchase some beech, buckthorn and red oak saplings to fill in some of the bald and unusable areas in the garden. They arrived within a few days and wrapped in multiple thermal layers and petrol auger in hand, I proceeded to plant up 30 healthy looking plants. Some are in the front garden in the open corner and the rest went into the scrub land just down from the poly tunnel. I can’t do much with this area, so I may as well make it prettier rather than letting it revert to brambles and hogweed. I subsequently ordered 30 bush roses and five willows to continue my planting. Almost all plants are doing well and new shoots have appeared; any that don’t sprout by March will be replaced.
Mark has done a sterling job on the porch. I’ve waterproofed and painted the exposed interior stonework with the same exterior wall paint, laid a waterproof membrane on the floor and then 18mm T&G OSB sheets. This was then covered with a waterproof, hard waring and glued down matting. I opted for an internal microwave proximity sensor for the porch lights which has taken a little bit of adjustment due to the lorries triggering it at night, but at least it’s I’m not subjected to rain while adjusting the settings. Just need to drill through wall from spare room and wire in a mains socket for the porch to finish it off.
I’ve finally got around to starting on my bathroom, having eventually decided exactly what I want. All the materials were ordered and preparatory work started, so February looked to be a month of DYI! All went well with the ceiling and over-cladding of the walls, except that I underestimated the number of panels. The eBay supplier had zero stock when I went to re-order and recommended contacting towards the end of the month – nope. A very similar product was purchased from another supplier and that was used to clad the end wall, which fits in well with “contrasting wall” concept, except mine is the same but lighter. I fitted a new towel rail/radiator with an additional (summer) heating element – I HATE PLUMBING. I just have the bath front and toilet cistern to box in and that’s all the major internal work completed.
We talked a few years ago about changing the conservatory roof, but at the time it was too expensive. When the roof started to leak, we had a rethink of our options. As the structure was over 20 years old, a simple seal replacement was not feasible, so the options of new plastic panels vs a solid roof were costed. We went for the solid roof and negotiated a bit off the cost if I did the electrics. The basic roof, guttering and internal work was done in two days and the plasterer came a few days later to finish off the room. He also boarded over the existing brick wall, finalising the conversion of a conservatory into a garden room. A new light fitting, a respray of the radiators and a couple of coats of emulsion and hey presto, a new room to sit and watch the grass grow all the year round.
