In this series of blogs and video blogs, which we will be putting out every Friday over the next couple of months, we are going to watch the renovation unfold as it happens. Jo will be blogging about the various parts as we go along. Great eh?! We are in for a great entertaining and insightful series, so stay tuned!
Remodeling a 1970’s House in Mid Kent, Phase II, Week 1
22 August – And so it begins
Grotty ceilings, disgusting old fibreglass insulation and piles of dust, dirt & cobwebs all now down and out – just leaves a wasps nest, old roof felt, crumbling pigeon poo-covered tiles, and then we’re open to the elements – Yikes!
23 August – Tip Hopping
I hope to be the Mayor of Crediton and Rochester Tips on Foursquare soon – well, Mum told me for every negative, there must be a positive. The negative being the additional raft of rules introduced in April 2020 regarding Hazardous Waste and yet more signs at the Tip – you can’t see the bins for signs now! We did eventually use a company to take all of the builder’s rubble, which saved on skip hire.
No more than 2 small bags of plasterboard or gypsum-based products once a month – I have about 150 bags.
You’re probably thinking we should have got a skip. We did get a quote – £1219 plus a highways license of £160 and a hazardous waste license of £40 – the very helpful lady at this point stressed that she now needs an education to do her job – before giving us the grand total of £1319, probably plus VAT too but we stopped her there.
You see, we live just down the road from the tip, so I thought with my trusty old landy, we could crack this job in a few trips. How wrong could I be? I turned up with 4 small plastic boxes of plasterboard – the very (un)helpful Recycling Operative(!!) agreed to take 3, leaving me with an 18-mile journey to Rochester and back to get rid of the last box.
But here’s the crack – I ask the said Operative at Crediton where I write down what day I’ve dumped my 3 boxes (as I’m not allowed to visit for another month) with more of this hazardous waste. The conversation goes like this:-
“Oh we don’t write anything down”
“So how do you remember when my month is up?”
“We don’t. You can probably bring that box back during the week, as long as I’m not here”
“Oh great, so when are you not going to be here?”
“I’m not allowed to tell you that”.
Is it me or is this a bizarre situation?
24 August – Tip Hopping Again
Today I’m pushing my luck – taking 2 boxes of plasterboard AND 3 buckets of sweepings to Rochester Tip. Thought I’d cut out the middle man this time and go straight to Rochester where the Operative also didn’t have the urge to write down yesterday’s visit. To my elation, he even helped me unload my 2 boxes and 3 buckets. I’m getting to like Rochester a whole lot better than Crediton.
Of course, I will be causing additional damage to the ozone layer with my 18-mile return trip to Rochester each day (in my Gas Guzzler), but I reckon it’s outweighed by my losing the desire to throw all my plasterboard over the hedge outside Crediton Tip – Only Joking.
