The Flat Roof Society

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It might be boring (and that’s why Paul is writing this blog entry), but we did have the flat roof over the utility room re-felted.

I hate flat roofs. They are so much trouble. I don’t know of a single flat roof that anyone has had that hasn’t caused some trouble at some time. I suspect the only reason anyone gets them is becaue it’s cheaper. Which like most cheap solutions, is only designed to last for the shortest amount of time. Anyone out there thinking that a flat roof might be the option, just don’t.

The utility room is on the side of the house, and that’s the only part of the house that has a flat roof. We’ve always known it was a bit dodgy as the utility room looks to have suffered from damp and leaks in the past.

The utility room on moving day

And in the winter of 16/17 we noticed it getting slightly worse in one particular area.

This prompted us to get the local building compnay to have a look at it.

Originally, it looked like we were going to have to have the whole roof felt replaced, which was going to be expensive, but we at least knew that we would have a properly sealed roof that wouldn’t leak. But after an expert had a full look, he thought that he would be able to patch up the area that was causing a problem, and there were quite a few of them.

Holes

That obviously made things considerably cheaper and easier. Although it will probably only last a few years, but hopefully by then, we will be in a position to look at the extension.

Plumbum

Whilst on the roof, they did replace all of the lead work,  and we noticed that the pointing in the next door neighbours utility room was looking a bit dodgy too. But that can be a problem for tomorrow.

So far, the roof has held up pretty well. We did see a little bit of water ingress when we had the snow, but there was quite a lot of snow on the roof at that time, so I think that’s to be expected.

 

 

 

Windows 7

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Just as our outside space is starting to take shape, so too is the interior of our house; six more windows have been replaced: the big bay at the front of the house, a couple in the hall, a couple in the utility room and the back bedroom. Most excitingly, our much anticipated front door has been fitted.

Replacing the bay window fixed a leak which had rendered the windowsills rotten and damp and some nice fungal growth, which has been present since we bought the house ,should be gone for good once we finish the work on this room.

New Windows

A couple more of our leaks have been sorted too; we’ve had a plumber around to fix our boiler and filling loop leak, there was a drain off valve leak in the dining room which soaked through the carpet and left the room smelling of sour milk until I borrowed my parents’ carpet cleaner.

The downstairs toilet has been leaking since we moved in (though neither of us are brave enough to actually venture into the room as it’s so damp and disgusting) but the plumber was courageous enough to put an isolating valve in to cut the water supply.

As far as we’re aware, the roof leaks in the utility are the last of them (fingers crossed, eh?).

 

Bokashi

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For the last three or four months (since I read about it in Dick Strawbridge’s self sufficiency guide) Paul and I have been using bokashi bins.  Dick’s book didn’t go into great detail about the bins, it mentioned them in passing and said roughly how it worked but that was it. It intrigued me, all I knew was that he was making compost in a plastic tub by filling it with bran and food waste.

After looking into it further, I read that you could put all of you usual peelings and overripe fruit, but also dairy,  meat and fish, cooked foods and bones (though they may need to be cut up, as they take a long time to decompose).  These are things that you usually can’t just put into a compost pile.

So this is how it works:

You can make or buy your own bokashi bins, and I recommend having more than one  (this means you can still use one whilst the other decomposes). They are bins with air-tight lids, with a mesh near the bottom to allow any liquid to pass through to a tap. (They aren’t expensive to buy – I got two for £19.99 and that included two bags of the bran).

Bokashi Set

It’s used to make compost through an anaerobic process (meaning there should be as little air as possible in there). You put in your leftovers; cheese; fish; meats; vegetables all raw or cooked and you sprinkle over special ‘bokashi bran’ (it can also be sawdust, rice or leaves etc. as long as they have been inoculated with the right bacteria ) and press it down to get out the air, and you leave it. This then ferments everything inside the bin in a process that’s much quicker than ordinary composting. You don’t need a lot of space and you can keep the bins indoors, as we do.

Hot mess

The liquid or ‘bokashi juice’ needs to be drained as often as possible – this liquid is highly concentrated plant food, so I pour a little into a watering can and dilute it before watering my plants but it’s actually a really good drain cleaner if used neat. It prevents the build up of solids in the drains and can help sort out blockages.

Looks better than it smells

We used this stuff throughout the summer and it seemed to do a very good job.