If the average metered bill is £395 and there are only two of you AND you do not have to pay the 95% towards the sewage, which you don't, it should be about the same as now. You really ought to contact SW water, and ask why this is not the case and perhaps why your neightbour's is so high, just to put your mind at rest.
Andy C
Eek! If you do end up going down the divorce route (hope not, it's not very nice) through voluntary separation then you've got to wait two years from separating. However that doesn't mean you need to live in different houses. So long as you live separate live (eating, sleeping socialising) then that counts.
Mind you, it sounds like you wouldn't have trouble building a case for unreasonable behaviour either but it'll probably cost more in solictors fees.
Matt
Which bring us back to DIY ! ;-)
Andy C
Just A thought, have you thought about oil fired heating, initial outlay quite high, but running costs would be a fraction of electric costs.
Bit of info here.
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Sounds like a rather pointless move? Stay and improve; a section at a time. Although of course this advice comes from a do-it-yourself groupie!
If husband in good nick, at age 59! Is capably and 'handy' (e.g. My good neighbour who like myself does most of his own house repairs, has his own trucking business and is still working/driving at age 65. But he says the 5.00 AM starting times are getting harder!) it sounds like the most profitable thing and from a physical exercise viewpoint, to do, would be for hubby to spend time fixing up the existing property? Which will then be worth more?
I'm 76; working since age 17, finally (officially) retired at age 70, from second or third job, when our catering contract for a school cafeteria finished after some 30 + years completed. Do all my own repairs to this house that my late wife and I built (our second one) in 1970. Also dabble in electronics.
Have just unloaded a bunch of scrap wood from back of my pickup through basement window for the wood stove down there. Before that had to dig out several cubic metres of the snow at the back of the property to get truck into backyard. Next; have to look at the sump pump in the basement, with all this mild weather much of the snow has melted and the ground is quite wet. The pump is cycling and then staying on too long .............. then a dodgy light switch in the hall closet to replace.
After taking out the wood from the truck threw the burnt out old burning barrel and some other metal scrap onto back of truck. (Never expected to rust out the engine sump on a 7 year old pickup with no more than 90,000 kilometres! Some months ago young neighbour and I installed new one. Hope it lasts longer!) All to take to the to the metal recyclers tomorrow. Got another used barrel recently (free for recycled metal) and cut four air access holes into it. Very useful for burning old records and papers etc. as try to clear up som 50+ years of living and completed business. The Canadian tax man only says keep six years and usually only checks back three!
Oops gotta go. Keep busy and useful.
Christmas tree that son cut yesterday with friend is on front step drying out; we'll do that later.
Also BTW. Immigrant ex Liverpool UK 1956. Despite our climate this is/ has been a great place to live/work/bring up a family.
Cheers. Good luck.
PS. Personally hate gutters (Feel they lead to rot in roof edges of our mainly all wood houses here) So we built this house with big roof overhangs (soffits) so that water drains off some 2 feet out from the concrete basement wall. With most house probably necessary to have gutters at least over door ways etc.? Son bought a house last year and we had to get up ladders and literally dig leaves and other debris out of the gutters and get down-spouts working. The drip and leakage problems cleared up. Very basic maintenance item; done from ladders. Although one edge of the roof was too high with sloping ground below. If we need to get at that we will need roofers harnesses cos can't reach that from ground. We have had septic tanks and water wells twice, now on water/sewer.
[...]
Yay! Bloody well done!
Pete
Bernard Peek wibbled on Tuesday 22 December 2009 21:12
That's the first step - like being an alchy - know the problem exists.
The OP's husband sounds a bit like my Dad - although my Dad could pull some pretty amazing things off if he could be arsed to start.
To an extent I suffer a little of that. I find it very hard to start a job and get pissed off big time if something goes wrong. But I acknowledge that and try, if expecting to do something the next day, to set up all the "boring" bits the day before. Like clear stuff out of the way, confirm I have the right tools handy and the correct materials - that sort of thing.
I'm totally jealous of people who can plough through jobs with massive optimism - I'm not one of them. But if I can will myself to get started, I can do perfectly adequate, and sometimes excellent work.
Telling someone with clinical depression to "snap out of it" isn't going to work
You have to get him to admit to himself that there is a problem and that it's a medical condition for which he needs medical help
Clinical depression is not something to be ashamed of, its a medical condition which needs attention, and the end of the tunnel can seem a long way away
He will need support, but not pandering to. Don't be soft
He quite probably needs to talk to someone (or a group) about it. You are probably not the best person for that as you are too close and he might feel embarrassed and weak opening himself up to you
Go and have a chat with your GP and see what he advises. At the end of the day its your life and his life and you only get one take
I'd better stop - I don't do soft and sensitive very well ...
We had noticed. But this is the exception - well said!
I have no reason not to believe what whiskeyomega is saying but there are two sides to every story and I'm a little uncomfortable with the encouragement towards confrontation (telling him to leave, divorce, turning the heat up against his wishes etc) which she is receiving.
If everything is as it's presented then the encouragement *may* be appropriate, but if it's not, then...
YMMV.
Actually, I think you've done it rather well. Well said.
However they do thousands of homes and you only get a few here complaining. They did a good job on my dads. It did cost me a £100 extra to have a towel rail fitted as an extra.
You don't half have an old fashioned view of sheltered housing. Around here there are lots of "extra care" schemes where you can buy or rent a flat or a bungalow and never need to have a visit from a "warden", and they have maintained gardens for you to potter about in. Just like living in a penthouse flat except someone will come if you press the red button.
Maybe so - but it's still a hell of a culture shock for someone who's used to living in a detached house with an acre of land!
Bending the laws of physics I see.
Wrong. In the warming up phase the fabric of the building will require energy to heat it up. Once in a steady state the energy required to maintain that state will be less as the fabric is no longer absorbing heat to raise it's temperature.
What is the price of metered water? You are unlikely to use more than
150 litres per day per person. 200 litres per person per day is the usual estimate in New Zealand and Australia. This estimate includes children and watering gardens. Two adults in a wet climate may well use less than 150 litres per day each.You can consider the area of your roof and the local rainfall and calculate whether you can get enough water off the roof for your needs. You will certainly be able to get enough to flush the lavatory and water the garden. Just do the sums. Do not forget to deal with the interest on the capital involved in the storage tank and pump.
R
You should not need a new well every 25 years, whatever the well driller tells you. What you need is a water level sensor that keep you informed as to the standing water level and the dynamic level when pumping. When the dynamic level drops noticeably it is time to re-develop the well. That means blowing it out with compressed air or surging with a plunger to open up the screen and, if there is one, the gravel pack.
R
Have you thought about a dehumidifier? Much the same price as a heater from an appliance shop and VERY much better at getting rid of the damp.
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