Final hurrah for 2020....

It's all about heating, actually the heat pump. Warning "picture" heavy blog and quite possibly the most boring blog ever!

It's not a cheap business, lots of "specialist tools" ebay provided a good source of used items saving quite a chunk of money...

First you build the concrete pad for the outside unit to sit on....

Then you purchase a big old copper pipe to connect the units....

Inside unit....

Connected to the outside unit...

Then the copper pipe was "braised" together, using the oxy acetylene kit and purging the pipes with argon...

Next it is pressure tested with argon...

A vacuum pump is connected so that all the air and moisture is removed from the system

Then a micron gauge checks the vacuum (exciting stuff right!) then the valves are opened on the outside unit to fill the system with refrigerant.

Some wiring was then completed inside, outside and to the thermostat unit...

Heating is up and working - toasty and warm - NOT!

Back down to the crawl space to finish up the plastic sheeting, which is laid over the gravel to stop moisture coming up through...

Then he shut the door to the house and took another 2 weeks off for the festive season.  We wish everyone a happy new year and onwards to 2021 and beyond! 

2021 = THE year we move in!!

Gah......

I know, I know it's been AGES since I did a blog, and seriously it isn't because things haven't been happening, it's because things that have been happening don't change that much week to week.

Firstly, ALL the gutters are on and done, and now we await rain! I don't think we've had more than a day of rain since they were installed - of course...

Then with the forthcoming winter in mind I asked for another garden shed, because a girl can never have too many sheds....

We  have now added some handles, collected from the beach but forgot the take an updated picture.

Oh and a cute little lean too for the wheelbarrows...

And after all that procrastinating, faffing around with gutters, building sheds he finally manned up and got down into the crawl space.  All the floor above had to be insulated...

Then all the heating ducts had to be completed and then wrapped in insulation and strapped to the rafters....

It's only 3 foot high down there, so the old camping chair is coming into it's own....

And then the air handler that has the blower in it (the heating system without the heat) was connected and air was blown through.  He then had to make a thing (think carboard and tape and wind speed gauge) to measure the air coming out of each vent so you can balance it to get the correct amount of heat in each room....

Next he will be connecting the heat pump and getting the heat running.  Lots of stuff is required for this project, parcels galore heading our way!

What else has been going on?  We ended up having a good year in the garden, and there are carrots, leeks and parsnips in the ground for the winter.  Garlic is planted up and the rest of the garden is pretty much put to bed.  One of my cherry tomato plants is still going great guns, and whilst we are still enjoying glorious autumnal weather it is given a reprieve from the compost pile...

Typical Summer basket....

And now we are into Autumn....

And so we continue, onwards and upwards and Thankfully the world keeps on turning......

Still here.....

 and still working hard, well mostly.  Thought we had better provide an update on progress.  Ceilings are all done, finished, completed etc. and look fantastic, we are both so happy.

Then we took a few days off to enjoy the summer, back to work and there was lots of procrastinating and cleaning (windows all got cleaned type procrastinating) before moving on to the next job.  Before the summer ends there are outside jobs that need doing, like the gutters.  We have had them sat round the back of the house for a while.

We went with galvanize, they are quite industrial looking, but we really wanted half round gutters and couldn't afford cooper.

They have brackets that hold them in place, not just one or two, but lots...

The lengths are soldered together, and the downspouts riveted in, it's riveting....

Looks fabulous...

Best thing is the downspouts have no straps holding them to the posts, they have these funky brackets which rivet to the back of the pipe and then attach to their mate that is knocked into the post.  makes them look like they are floating....

He's working on the ones at the front now.  Then he wants to put in a french drain at the back and then he will be down into the crawl space insulating the floor! 

Garden has finally come into it's own and is giving back plenty...

Summer has been glorious, absolutely nothing to complain about down here...

We aren't the only ones enjoying it...

Laters Taters. We'll try not to leave it so long next time.