Pilot Error

[JK0]

Finally got the electricity on today, and got a few items tested. My friend who is being kicked out by his vengeful ex wife wants to take the flat.

I found out why the kitchen is full of mould though. The kitchen sink & draining board are separate circles, so both need connecting to a drain. The drain was disconnected from the draining board, so all the water from the wet dishes has been dripping into the cupboard for years.

(I left it connected in 2010. I suspect someone clouted it with a bag of salt.)

[JK0]

Finally got the electricity co to co-operate today, (after asking for the supervisor!) They have given me a code to take to the shop to credit my key by £160. They also say they will send a code to the meter to stop it deducting my tenant's debt. Not sure why they could not do this remotely last week?

I am shocked to learn that my tenant has been charged £6 per week for the last 6 years, for a £500 debt. (£1800!) With the £4 per week standing charge, it must have killed her to have £10 deducted every week.

I'm not going to make a fuss on her behalf though, in view of the state of the place.

[duckandcover1]

That's a good result JK0 - cut your losses and start again I guess

[JK0]

I think I was the victim of my own pilot error again today...

I just had some new appliances delivered to the flat by AO. I did not pay for installation of the oven, as they charge £99.

Just had a go at installing the new one, but could not get it to go back fully. The waste pipe from the kitchen sink crosses the back of the oven housing on its way to the soil stack in the airing cupboard. This keeps the oven about 2cm out.

I was thinking what an awful job it was going to be to take out the kitchen, lower the waste pipe and, fit it lower on the soil stack. However, looking at the oven, there does not seem to be any 'works' inside the rear inch or so. I have brought home the back panel of the oven to take my tin-snips to it.

Anyone see a problem with that?

[nukecad]

Melting of the waste pipe because the back of the oven will be too close after you have modified it? Sometimes/usually these voids at the back (and maybe sides) are for ventlation to stop adjacent surfaces getting too hot.

[JK0]

Thanks Nukecad.

Yeah, I know. I think I will try the oven with the plastic pipe. Worst comes to worst, I could even replace a small section with copper.

I can get 1.5m of 42mm diameter copper pipe for £27, so not outrageous.

[JK0]

Been cleaning this filthy cooker hood today. Took me all afternoon, but I did manage to take a lot of it apart, so did not have to clean from below it.

[JK0]

Today I changed the locks at the flat my friend will be renting. There is the front door, and two locks on a set of french doors. I did not have the key for the slave french door, so could not get the cylinder out. Searching on Youtube, I found this video, which seems to be Australian. (Who'd have thought they have Eurocylinders there?)

The two spanner method worked perfectly, and did not require much effort at all:

[JK0]

BTW, I had an idea how to check my tenants are putting the salt in the water softener...

I'm going to put in outside taps during voids, then test the water every time I drop off salt.

[JK0]

My friend moves in on Friday. This week I have been packing up my tools and bringing them home, plus doing the final cleaning.

Today I found the bath/shower mixer too stiff to turn. (It has worked up to now.)

Also, I noticed one side of the lounge storage heater was cold. (That also worked up to now.) Fortunately I have a spare element here, so should be able to change it on Thursday.

Ahhh. Does any one else get last minute failures?

[JK0]

Phew!

Received one of these from Screwfix first thing, and installed it this afternoon.

61344_P&$prodImageMedium$.jpg


Surprisingly there turn out to be two duff elements in the storage heater, so have to wait for tomorrow for the other to arrive.

[JK0]

My friend asked me to help remove his TV from the wall of his old house today...

I got there around 12.30 in the snow, and roused my friend who was in bed. Looking at the back of the TV, I could see we needed an allen key to unbolt it from the wall bracket. My friend told me his allen keys were over at the new flat, so off we went to fetch them.

I got all four allen screws out, but my friend almost dropped his TV.

Then we had four hexagonal bolts to remove the bracket from the wall. Have a guess where my friend's socket set was?

[JK0]

Oh, crikey. I'm beginning to regret letting a flat to my friend...

Yesterday he asked me to go over to put up his mirrors, which I was happy to do. While there I noticed he had towels & bath mats hanging on a trampoline in the garden. He told me the washing line was too weak for them. Investigating, I found them to be dripping wet, as they had obviously not been spun. It turned out they had been hand washed, as my friend's wife has already lost the washing machine instructions.

Today, he just rang me while eating breakfast regarding the hob. He asked if it was normal for it to go 'on & off, on & off'.

Depends what setting it's on, surely?

[KTC]

Oh, crikey. I'm beginning to regret letting a flat to my friend...

You ought to know better than that. I hope it's just taking time to settle in, and that things will improve for you.

[JK0]

You ought to know better than that. I hope it's just taking time to settle in, and that things will improve for you.

I do. However he was desperate for somewhere to live, and I had my hands full with another flat, so did not want two vacant ones.

My friend just visited me at home, and tells me he took his old 2nd hand fridge freezer over to my flat. There's nowhere for it to go in the kitchen, and actually I had separate new under counter appliances delivered last month. He now has the old fridge freezer in front of the under counter freezer, so that cannot be opened.

I suppose I should be thankful he's not filling up the garden with cr*p.