A tank, a leak and a piece of putty

So it seems like doing DIY and renovating your house is a bit like real life, it’s a bumpy road! Just when you think things are going well, the gods throw a little something your way to shake things up a bit. Minutes after I posted my blog on Sunday celebrating the near completion of the bathroom, IB and I suddenly heard a noise that sounded very much like rushing water.  A high-speed sprint out of the living room and up the stairs proved it was exactly that.  It turns out, while we’d been standing around earlier in the evening appreciating our new bathroom, above our heads, the cold water tank had cracked and water was pouring out, soaking through the ten inch deep insulation and the wooden beams, getting ready to push its way out through the ceiling an hour or so later. By the time we got up the stairs, there was water running all down the walls and huge great damp dark patches all over the carpet. On a positive note though, the woodchip on the ceiling has peeled away and started to bubble up, so that’s one job that’s going to be a little easier!

 

 

Anyway, we thought we’d have to rush out and buy a new tank  – the current one is plastic and it seems the supporting wooden framework was built around it once it was put in place so it’s not coming out without a fight – but thanks to the nice man at Toolstation, we’ve bought ourselves some time. Toolstation in case you don’t know is like the Asda of the tool world. It’s owned by the man who used to run Screwfix, a big competitor of B&Q until they got fed up and bought it out (who says I don’t know my DIY store history). Anyway, IB LOVES Toolstation. He has their catalogue, he’s on their mailing list and if he goes missing in the middle of a DIY job, I know that’s where he’ll be. Toolstation is to IB what shoe shops are to me, except I don’t get to play in shoe shops anymore!

Anyway, K., who manages our local Toolstation, and who IB now has on speed dial, recommended a £3 pack of ‘structural bonding putty’  telling IB to smear it  all along the ‘fault line’ in the water tank and it’s actually done the trick! We’re on day three now with no sign of any more leaking! It’s only a short-term fix of course, we definitely can’t cross a new cold water tank off our list but we can maybe wait until we’re doing up the en suite bathroom and have it fitted at the same time as the new shower and sink.

On a much more positive note, the living room has been painted (sneak preview shots below)  – well everything except the skirting boards. As I write DIY Dad is up a ladder touching up little bits of stray Montelmare paint on the coving!  Still lots to be sorted as always, but we’re getting there!

 

Remember this?

 

Tah Dah!