The long and costly road...

We always knew we had our work cut out with our new home but nobody prepared us for how much work and at what cost. Sat amongst packing cases in our living room we were debating which room to decorate first - decorate, hah! My mum spotted water coming down the wall and panic ensued to see which tap had been left on upstairs. When nothing could be found we realised that the water in the ceiling was actually from the floor and the chalk walls were soaking it straight up like a sponge. We'd fallen in love with our house after a dry spell, but after a week of rain every wall in the house was damp.




What followed was months of floors being dug up, concrete poured in, false walls, insulation, drying out, electric osmosis cables which repel the water and an ever decreasing bank account. Thankfully my BH (better half) is a very handy man and did most of this himself but even so i still shudder at the memory of it!

By the time we got to this I think we'd both aged 10 years and learnt more about damp proofing and insulation than anyone should know in one life time.



That was one room done - then it was a case of ploughing on through the rest. Our initial plan had been to build a two storey extension that summer, but that had to go on the back burner for another two years whilst we chased mould spores out of the house. Im glad to say were almost thinking of building know rather than repairing but the constant mess and upheaval meant that this house didnt really feel like ours until recently. The big day came after the mouldy corner bath and blue carpet came up out of the bathroom, the insulation was put in (that word again!) and our bathroom was finished - at last a bath that we could lay down in.