Pages

Subscribe:

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Ever get that sinking feeling?

Well it’s been a while since my last blog entry and a lot has happened since then for sure.  We settled on the house on the 7th July and have finally moved in 3 ½ weeks later.  We had a bit of a heart stopper an hour before settlement. While driving towards the soon to be ours country home we get a phone call from our solicitor to say that they where just notified that some builders works that where carried out on the home 9 years ago never received final approval and that as the new owners we could be liable for anything a that need to be done in order to rectify this. Now of course the worst cast scenario crosses my mind.  If there where serious building violations we could be forced to demolish the entire back end of the house and rebuild. So our happy and excited drive out to pick up the keys turned into a stress filled journey. I sat there dumbfounded while my husband made frantic phone calls and uttered four letter expletives to the world.

As per procedure a solicitor searches for any new building work that may have been carried out in the past 7 years and checks that all inspections where completed, so as this issue was 9 years old it did not turn up in the search.  After finally getting hold of the building inspector we find out that there where a couple of issues in the framework initially along with a few other minor things and that a final inspection was never completed to make sure these problems had been fixed.  We also found out the reason for these issues was that the previous house owners had hired a builder that was for want of a better word a dodgy. They had applied for an owner builder’s license and hired this guy to do most of the work.  Turns out he was an alcoholic and tried to take a few short cuts in his work.  One being that fact that he should have levelled the existing part of the house first before building the extension. Instead he just built the extension level with the back sunken part of the house. So we have a dip in the floor between original section of the house and the extension. But in the end when you buy a house that’s over 100 years old you gotta expect some problems. Anyway it turns out most of the issues where minor. The only thing we are still waiting on is a stat dec. from the previous owners to say that the frame issues were rectified.  We are hoping this will be done soon..

Since then we’ve ripped out the old carpets, had the any damaged floorboards replaced and polished. We’ve connected the house to the mains gas line which  luckily for us, mains gas has just been added the local area. The stovetop was previously connected to gas bottles, which cost a fortune to re-fill. We were also fortunate that we managed to cook on what remained in the gas bottle left right up until mains gas was connected.  So didn’t need to pay for a refill. So one day soon as well we’ll get gas ducted heating done as, but we’re not in any rush. I mean we got through the coldest months already snuggling under blankets by the fireplace, which is not a bad way to spend a cold winter really.  We’ve had the driveway widened so we can accommodate the boat without needing to move it every time we need access to garage/shed.  Currently we are working on the shed itself so that hubby can have a working space that secure and no longer leaks.  There’s lots more we’d eventually like to do the place but for now, we just wanted to fix what needed to be fixed and make it a more user friendly place to work from home for hubby and myself.

On a more exciting topic today is the day as my new Mini Diesel Countryman was delivered to our house and by that I mean the type or brand of motor vehicle.  We didn’t just go out a purchase a small country-person. :p  I haven’t even started it up as yet, I’m a little nervous, it being a new car and all, so I’m waiting for my husband to get home he can accompany me on its maiden voyage. The controls are a bit different to what I’m used to as well. The indicator stick thingy (that’s the technical term for it) if on the left hand side, so that will take some getting used to.  And the windscreen wipers and heads light turn on and off automatically when required. Fancy huh?  The day I got my license I walked into our previous house to hear my husband on his mobile saying ‘She got it, organise it’. So of course I replied ‘organise what?’… The new car that was delivered to day as it turns out. 

My new wheels
This is actually the key... the round section plugs straight into the dash to start the car... cool huh?

1 comments:

Mr.Shmerlap said...

It might be stolen... Check the tags.. hehe