There is something about running an old house that is bitter sweet. It shouldn't be complicated but it is.
For over 30 years we have had a problem with our roof. Finally we decided to tackle the worst part of it this summer. We chose the time as a compromise between supposed good weather (easy and quick to do) and interfering with our holiday visitors (staying in the house and visiting it by day).
So far it's been pretty disastrous. The delays have not been the builders fault. We had to move scaffolding for a commercial wedding (photos of the wedding party) and we have had to move holiday makers to alternative accommodation (hammering above their heads early in the morning). The scaffolding has now gone up right outside the house martin nests where the young are about to fledge. Now the intensity of the rain has meant that it has been getting through the temporary covering. Our son came home for the week-end with his wife to find not only was it raining in his bedroom but in the bathroom too. Finally this week it was so intense that it broke through the temporary barriers to stream down the main internal wall. That would have been bearable if there hadn't been our only 17th century portrait of a revered ancestor below. She has now had to go for treatment ( water and oil on the same canvas is not good news).Naturally some extra problems have emerged during the work too so overall the cash flow for this year has not worked out quite as planned. original cost, extra work, lost holiday income, cost of delays and any redecoration/restoration internally not covered by insurance. I do get a strange sliver of satisfaction in knowing that, as these are repairs, bizarrely they would have attracted VAT anyway before the Chancellor's budget proposed adding VAT for improvements, so there is no extra disadvantage there.
What are the advantages? It has enabled insulation to be put in in otherwise inaccessible areas of the roof. We have been able to work out a bit more about the history of the house through successive earlier roof timber replacement. It reminded me that the only place to photograph a cottage behind for advertising purposes is from the roof. Finally it reminded me that the views to the south are the best in the country.
