2011-2012 winter

If they get on your bones again about upping your DD then I would just call their bluff and say direct debit payments are my choice. They are a method I choose to pay my bill. I will simply just choose to just pay quarterly. They'll prefer you stayed with the DD and back off hopefully. Worth a try anyway - I just did this with BT, pushed and pushed for a DD that actually covers my usage, not their prediction of what I might use

i think they are cheeky sods who think once they have access to your account they can do what they want.
Today i have ordered 2 curtain rails from argos so will pick them up tomorrow and they will go up on the otherside of the conservatory door, so we have double curtain layers there, and in my sons room as he only has a blind up just now. They were only £5.99 each, just the white plastic ones, so i was quite pleased about that sometimes the rails and hooks end up costing more than the curtains do!
OH is talking about putting polystyrene sheets up in the conservatory roof to see if that helps with heat loss but im not sure so if anyone else has done anything that works on conservatory roofs im all ears

bubble wrap would be soooooo good on the conservatory roof, but I wouldn't fancy the job of putting them up there!

I would be supervising that job
or labourer basically handing everything up to OH as he shouts and swears
why cant men do stuff without swearing

fingers crossed for you lollyfin re the cavity all and loft insulation...

froogs wrote:
Insulation is my problem. this house has minimal, if any. The landlord isn't prepared to pay for it and we can't pay for it so we have to just put up with the heat escaping.

yep. same here. BUT on the advice of a friend we've asked around other friends and family and got given old stuffed toys, duvets, sleeping bags and even an old kingsize mattress to pull the wadding out of. it HAS made a difference. all are modern items (post 1987) and therefore fire standard too lol!!!

we've also lagged the pipes in the loft using some insulated paper stuff they use for packaging at jim's work, something the landlord refused to do despite one bursting in the snows of 2009 and causing thousands of pounds worth of damage to his property! this worked during the snows last year. we've used packing created from jim's work to board out the loft too!

livingroom curtains have been lined with other curtains, sophie's bedroom curtains are lined with fleece blankets.

we used foil, it didnt work and looked horrible!

I use the kettle a lot for extra hot water in winter as our boiler is so far from the kitchen that hot water cools in the pipes too quickly.

we don't have any open chimneys since the back boiler was condemned and removed when that happened we shoved some crap up the chimney. newspaper and a pillow I think. and now we have this covering the hole as the landlord refused to fix it.

stinky landlord for not fixing the hole... but flibsey, I love how you won't put up with it and have 'installed' your own fire. It actually is warm to look at!

the way I figure it is, everything nice in this house is going with us (curtains, rugs, all hangings, fireplace, lapshades, kitchen appliances, the "wallpaper" in the main bedroom...) so when we finally move out and people come to look round before we leave they'll see a nicely decorated place. then they'll move in and it'll cause a shitstorm for the landlord. I know it's kind of cruel but sorry, the next tenants are collateral damage.

I've never been a tenant so excuse my ignorance but surely the LL is legally obliged to keep the house in good repair?? And people wonder why home ownership is desirable

I do love the fake fire flibsey

he is legally obliged, but the law only covers roofs, pipes (not insulation of), gas appliances and brickwork. not windows, insulation, flooring, decorations, white goods etc. being tenants we are also on a knife edge. he has the right to retalliate to demands by kicking us out so long as he gives proper notice which is 2-3 months. he does the bare minimum; which is he fixes stuff grudgingly if it breaks.... but we have to fight for it. although I've been pointing out the front guttering since 2008.

carpets, paint/interior walls are not a legal requirement. nor is providing white goods. so we live with the 30 year old carpets (found a copy of the sun under one of them from 1980 being used as underlay ) and have painted, treated mould and damp and made the place liveable.

it is desirable to own, but we cant afford a deposit, and if we could we couldn't afford the lowest interest monthly repayments on a mortgage for a sensible sized property round here (min £140k for a 2 bed terrace with no parking and probably a shared back garden/yard), let alone when rates go up again.

Has anyone ever bought those things you put on your shoes to get a grip in the ice and snow and not fall over and do they work ok. I am considering getting some this year i really fear falling over?

yes! i own snow chains for my shoes and they ROCK!!! I bought them from a charity shop, unused, still in their box.

last year as a stop gap I made some. they worked! they were made from pure wool so had more friction ability than synthetics.



first off, make them with plenty of holes. if you make them solid the snow cakes on them and wont come off and you end up sliding all over. second, that's my hand holding a shoe, not some deformed and really hairy leg.

I also used football boots when the snow turned to ice. buy some second hand, knock the plastic off the metal which is inside the studs and you have ice grips.


and yes. I am a strange person who makes stuff when she has an odd idea and most of the time it flukes out and works.

great idea flibs.

Just to let you all know the guy came round about the cavity wall insulation and we already have it!
I showed him our copy of the house survey that says we dont and he showed me the holes filled in that proves we do, sooooooo but we are getting the loft done for £99 yippee. he said that should make a big difference since theres not much there
we got some of those draught proofing strips from lidl today, i think they were £1.99 a roll, so OH has done the living room and kitchen doors and he is doing upstairs tomorrow
I love your snow shoes flibsey that was a great idea

The thing I HATE about winter is waking up to the windows full of condensation and having to go round drying them all with towels. Do them mini crystal condensation thingies they sell really work? Was thinking about going to get some to put on the window ledges in the bedrooms.

I use one of those crystal thingys for condensation and yes it does work, only have probs in Ds room should really should have trickle vents put in the windows.
I got mine from aldi and now buy the refills, takes a week or so to see it working iykwim, quite shocking how much water it collects.

I use cat litter in bowls for that, it does work and its cheaper than the condensation thingys. We have a couple of dehumidifiers as well that we got last year and they have made a huge difference

hi, we do have a dehumidifier what someone gave us but never use to be honest, in winter we don't dry clothes in the house it all gets shoved in the drier for convenience (small house not room for airers here there and everywhere) its just the, well you know when you wake up in the morning and all the windows are condensated, drives me mad, DH says house is too draught proofed and we need more ventilation, to me ventilation = draughts though, will get some of the crystal dehumidifier things when i see some next and give them a try, will report back!

Your hubby is correct appletree your house is draught proof thus not breathing or leaking as you see it, unless you both stop breathing in the bedroom the problem will continue.
I've only got this problem in a new extension but only upstairs when DS is in residence and spending 8 hrs breathing in his bedroom, the rest of the house is timber framed and most likely a bit leaky here and there.
The Aldi water trap thing was a good buy, think I've had it 4 yrs now and just buy the refills, I've just dug it out of the cupboard ready to use again this year.

Heating oil just arrived, logs came yesterday now what else do I need.

I feel like I'm not prepared although I have no idea what I'm not prepared for. I do need more candles. I'm putting a read of MSE OS winter thread on my to do list. Those peeps will take the thinking right on out of the job.

nice thick socks.

froogs wrote:I feel like I'm not prepared although I have no idea what I'm not prepared for. I do need more candles. I'm putting a read of MSE OS winter thread on my to do list. Those peeps will take the thinking right on out of the job.

lol froogs I've also been reading that thread I do think some peeps take it far to seriously, but then I live in the sticks and are used to being snowed in.
I can remember the snow being higher than the hedges when I was in school.

I've been reading it, but gave up when I started getting panicky and finding it was giving me yet another thing to worry about!
we've never been snwed in. even when other people couldn't get up the hill to get out of our road last year (the council only grit the bus routes, and we're not one) we managed it in our front wheel drive volvo with winter setting on the auto gearbox... and when jim got stuck in london he had a shovel and a massive hessian sack in the boot. shovel snow out, place hesian as far under the drive wheels as possible and then try to drive the car onto it and out of the hole you're most likely in. it worked.

Glad I got my heating oil in the price is now going up. Very odd weather here today very cold to start with but its gone very sunny now. Had the first frost on Fri night, OH had to scape the screen before going to work on Sat. Just text DS to remind him to put anti freeze in his car, his first year living away from home with a car so don't expect him to remember.