New Year and New Home in 2021

[AJSki2fly]

So after nearly 6 months and several false starts we are moving next week to our new home, a bungalow from the 70's era, it is only just over a mile away. It sits up a nice quiet lane in a lovely village on the edge of the 70's estate, it has quite a large level plot about 90' by 100'. We are quite surprised to be moving next week as the original owner sadly passed away in early October and thus had to go to probate and were told at 4-5 months. Out of the blue before Christmas we were advised probate had been granted and all was in place and to set a date, also to our surprise our purchaser had already gone ahead and sold his home and was waiting for us, making it easy to move.

The bungalow has been empty 18 months but is liveable, it needs the central heating replacing, a new kitchen and bathroom and decor throughout. We are going to knock out a couple of walls to make a kitchen/diner and go from a L shaped lounge to a 22' by 11' rectangular connected to the dining area by dual pocket doors. We have spent the past 4 months getting a builder, electrician and plumber on board, and it seems they are all keen to get going in February, the only hold up may be delivery times of some replacement windows and a bi-fold door for the kitchen/diner. I will be taking the opportunity to run a discreet mains feed for the hifi and un-switched new wall sockets.

So 2021 will be an interesting year for Sue and me, hopefully when all done we will have a lovely home we can be happy in, till we are forced to move on. Sue has been off work for the past 2 weeks and has been slowly packing up and I have done what I can to help. As we are pretty organised and do not hoard much it is pretty much in hand, there are a few things left, mainly my precious hifi system which I will carefully box up next weekend. I will move it myself in the car apart from the speakers, for which I have the substantial original boxes for and the heavy hifi stand, carefully wrapped in bubble wrap.

This will mean that musical entertainment will be somewhat limited to the Yamaha Sound bar and Sub from Volumio - RPi/HifiBerry and the Schiit MAGNI 3 Heresy amp to KLH Headphones for discreet listening, I will either be streaming from Qobuz/TIDAL or listening to files from my NAS. The hifi will remain packed up until all the nasty dusty work has been done and the lounge is sorted, I hope this will be by the summer, by then it will be time to be sorting the garden out a little at a time, but this is really Sue;s domain, so music may take a back seat for a while.

I will be looking in on AoS as often as I can and for a break from the building work, and will keep up with the Album club, which I enjoy. I will keep you posted on progress or lack of it as it goes along.

Wishing you all a Happy New Year, and I certainly hope it is much improved over 2020 for us all.

Adrian

[Barry]

Good luck with the move Adrian - hope it all goes smoothly.

One piece of advice, have a corkscrew/bottle opener handy so you can celebrate! :)

[AJSki2fly]

Good luck with the move Adrian - hope it all goes smoothly.

One piece of advice, have a corkscrew/bottle opener handy so you can celebrate! :)

Thanks Barry, Sue has the Champagne in a cool box with glasses waiting.:D

[brian2957]

Good luck Adrian . I hope you'll both be very happy in your new home . Oh...and a' the best for 2021 . Let's hope it's a much better year for us all :)

[Wakefield Turntables]

Good luck Adrian, A NEW LISTENING ROOM FOR YOU !!??!! :eyebrows:

[struth]

Good luck Adrian . I hope you'll both be very happy in your new home . Oh...and a' the best for 2021 . Let's hope it's a much better year for us all :)

same from me:)

[hifinutt]

Lots of pics please Adrian, love house renovating projects.

[Pigmy Pony]

Good luck with the move Adrian, it sounds like you have it all in hand :)

You're right about possible delays with windows and doors - for my customers it currently stands at about 2 months and I imagine it's the same everywhere. Problem is supply of materials I believe. One bit of advice: go for aluminium bi-folds, which look cooler and are more temperature stable with regards expansion/contraction. Upvc bi-folds are a nightmare, you never stop having to adjust them :(

Welcome to the Bungalow Club! No climbing stairs at bedtime, love it :)

[AJSki2fly]

Good luck Adrian, A NEW LISTENING ROOM FOR YOU !!??!! :eyebrows:

Hi Andrew, I have my eye on converting half the large double garage as my interest in silly cars has dissipated somewhat, the MX5 can sit in the other half and the daily basher on the drive. But that will be a project in a year or two maybe.

Best wishes

Adrian

[AJSki2fly]

same from me:)


Thanks Grant, keep safe and Happy New Year

[AJSki2fly]

Lots of pics please Adrian, love house renovating projects.

Will do Phil.

I can’t believe this will be our 11th home in 37 years, we moved about 6 times in the first 7 years and the rest we were in for 3 to 11 years, this one for nearly 7. I personally have fitted out about 7 bathrooms and 5 kitchens, which I do not particularly enjoy anymore. My health is not really up to it now so a lot will be done by trades, I will do as much as I can, and Sue is an excellent painter/decorator, which I hate doing.

Have a good and Happy New Year��

[AJSki2fly]

Good luck with the move Adrian, it sounds like you have it all in hand :)

You're right about possible delays with windows and doors - for my customers it currently stands at about 2 months and I imagine it's the same everywhere. Problem is supply of materials I believe. One bit of advice: go for aluminium bi-folds, which look cooler and are more temperature stable with regards expansion/contraction. Upvc bi-folds are a nightmare, you never stop having to adjust them :(

Welcome to the Bungalow Club! No climbing stairs at bedtime, love it :)

Hi Steve, thanks for the tip, we have Ali bi-folds at our current house, and had heard the pvc ones were problematic, apart from not being very green like all pvc. It will be interesting what they might replace them with in the future to be recyclable.

Hope you got some nice vinyl for Christmas, have you settled down to one amp yet?��

[Pigmy Pony]

Hi Steve, thanks for the tip, we have Ali bi-folds at our current house, and had heard the pvc ones were problematic, apart from not being very green like all pvc. It will be interesting what they might replace them with in the future to be recyclable.

Hope you got some nice vinyl for Christmas, have you settled down to one amp yet?��

Oh no, they are recyclable. I take all my old frames to Recycling Lives in Preston where they accept them for free - they are ground into little pellets I'm told, which can then be made into new frames or other products.

I'm loving the MF A5 amp. All things considered, it may not sound as good as the Audion (but what constitutes "good sound" will probably be more down to personal tastes). There may be a little less "air" around vocals (if that makes any sense) but is more than made up for by the added "punch" of the lower frequencies. Which is a quality I have wanted from day one. And it doesn't get flustered when the music gets busy or loud.

I certainly am enjoying listening more at the moment, just relaxing with the music, rather than focussing on the aspects I'm not happy with, which I often did with the Audion. I'm in no hurry to sell it, I'll give it a while then revisit.

Anyway Adrian, all the best to you and Sue for the new year, and if (as planned) we get down to Poole this summer, maybe I can pop over for a brew and a hello (Covid permitting) :)

[Filterlab]

Oh no, they are recyclable. I take all my old frames to Recycling Lives in Preston where they accept them for free - they are ground into little pellets I'm told, which can then be made into new frames or other products.


Spot on. PVC can be recycled up to 8 times before the molecule chain length becomes too short. And as the finished PVC product is weather resistant, it’s essentially an infinity product. So definitely recycle those frames.

[Pigmy Pony]

Spot on. PVC can be recycled up to 8 times before the molecule chain length becomes too short. And as the finished PVC product is weather resistant, it’s essentially an infinity product. So definitely recycle those frames.

I did not know that - cheers Rob, I do like learning stuff :)

[Marco]

Yesh, Rob's always been an expert on his PVC!:eyebrows::D

Marco.

[Pigmy Pony]

Yesh, Rob's always been an expert on his PVC!:eyebrows::D

Marco.

Whereas you just spurt on your PVC :eyebrows:

[Filterlab]

Yesh, Rob's always been an expert on his PVC!:eyebrows::D

Marco.
LOL!

Yes, but not in the way you think. :lol:

Partnering with a plastics company via my business interest in the last five years has brought much knowledge with it. Plastics aren’t the enemy in the ecological world; non-recyclable plastics are the enemy.

Most are recyclable, some are indefinitely recyclable - including the plastic we use in our invention (HDPE 2). Our invention uses 100% repro material and no virgin material, plus we add a talc to the mix which ensures biodegradability if the plastics don’t make it to a recycling facility.


Whereas you just spurt on your PVC :eyebrows:

But it is wipe-clean of course.

[Pigmy Pony]

Clever stuff, maybe there is hope for us after all :)

[Barry]

My pet hate is the expanded polystyrene used for packaging. Our plastic re-cycling wont take it; and if the packaging is in the form of pellets or chips, is difficult to sweep up due to static charging of the damned stuff. :doh:

[Pigmy Pony]

The worst is when I replace windows or doors in a house that's had the cavities filled with those tiny polystyrene balls that look like the fake snow they use on TV. Those little bastards go everywhere. If the day is slightly breezy I've found the best method is to ignore them until they form drifts in the corners of the garden :)

[Audio Al]

So after nearly 6 months and several false starts we are moving next week to our new home, a bungalow from the 70's era, it is only just over a mile away. It sits up a nice quiet lane in a lovely village on the edge of the 70's estate, it has quite a large level plot about 90' by 100'. We are quite surprised to be moving next week as the original owner sadly passed away in early October and thus had to go to probate and were told at 4-5 months. Out of the blue before Christmas we were advised probate had been granted and all was in place and to set a date, also to our surprise our purchaser had already gone ahead and sold his home and was waiting for us, making it easy to move.
The bungalow has been empty 18 months but is liveable, it needs the central heating replacing, a new kitchen and bathroom and decor throughout. We are going to knock out a couple of walls to make a kitchen/diner and go from a L shaped lounge to a 22' by 11' rectangular connected to the dining area by dual pocket doors. We have spent the past 4 months getting a builder, electrician and plumber on board, and it seems they are all keen to get going in February, the only hold up may be delivery times of some replacement windows and a bi-fold door for the kitchen/diner. I will be taking the opportunity to run a discreet mains feed for the hifi and un-switched new wall sockets.

So 2021 will be an interesting year for Sue and me, hopefully when all done we will have a lovely home we can be happy in, till we are forced to move on. Sue has been off work for the past 2 weeks and has been slowly packing up and I have done what I can to help. As we are pretty organised and do not hoard much it is pretty much in hand, there are a few things left, mainly my precious hifi system which I will carefully box up next weekend. I will move it myself in the car apart from the speakers, for which I have the substantial original boxes for and the heavy hifi stand, carefully wrapped in bubble wrap.

This will mean that musical entertainment will be somewhat limited to the Yamaha Sound bar and Sub from Volumio - RPi/HifiBerry and the Schiit MAGNI 3 Heresy amp to KLH Headphones for discreet listening, I will either be streaming from Qobuz/TIDAL or listening to files from my NAS. The hifi will remain packed up until all the nasty dusty work has been done and the lounge is sorted, I hope this will be by the summer, by then it will be time to be sorting the garden out a little at a time, but this is really Sue;s domain, so music may take a back seat for a while.

I will be looking in on AoS as often as I can and for a break from the building work, and will keep up with the Album club, which I enjoy. I will keep you posted on progress or lack of it as it goes along.

Wishing you all a Happy New Year, and I certainly hope it is much improved over 2020 for us all.

Adrian


Adrian , Is " THAT " sofa going with you , You know the one :D

Hope it all goes to plan for Sue and yourself :)

[AJSki2fly]

Hi Al, thanks, sofa stays, so have to work with it. Happy New Year and take care, be safe. [emoji2]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[AJSki2fly]

After what can only be described as a week of torture moving boxes and stuff we have SME semblance of organisation. All hifi and boxed records are now neatly stacked along one wall of what will be the study,leaving enough room to be able to use the small desk and get past to the old built in wardrobe that houses some of my clothes for now.

Our bedroom is orderly and not cluttered with boxes. Bedroom 2 has been a major undertaking, it was full and is now empty apart from a mattress with some pictures and mirrors behind it. We had to clear it to use as our temporary lounge in the evening, the builders arrive next Tuesday for lounge and kitchen/diner alterations. Bags of soft stuff was re-homed to mother-in-laws loft temporarily, and the rest was either skipped or moved to the double garage. It still has enough room for one car, my MX5 has been taken to a good friends garage for 4-8 weeks.

So we just need to clear the lounge on Monday, large sofa, TV and occasional tables to bedroom 2. The other sofa to the garage, along with the Ekoness stressless chair.

Plumber has been in twice this week to finalise where pipework for new bathroom and radiation will run. Also the renewable energy company supplying Solar thermal and air source heat pump has been to finalise it all and discuss radiators sizes based on heat-loss calcs, gear is all ordered.

Electrician is in place and will come in as needs by builder and plumber.

In the midst of all the above we managed to go to kitchen/bathroom supplier and finalise the order, pay deposits and get ordered. Also collected new in the wall meter box and bathroom tiles all in the same morning.
Replacement windows are all ordered as well.

😱😱😱

So to say we are knackered is an understatement, it is taking its toil on me a bit with my health issues, so this week is rest and chill week as much as possible. Sue as she says “Has gone back to work to rest”, she does 5 hours a day locally at a Chandlers, and is the career for her Mum for at least 3-4 afternoons. Sue has also managed to clear some of the garden from horrendous ivy growth over a wall and some of the garage and removed a load of brambles in one area.

So I think we are all set for the refurbishment, I will be keeping out of the way in the temporary lounge with Harry whilst the builders are here, or will be in the garage fitting old kitchen units to be used for storage.

So that’s it for now, I will try and take a few pics of the before and the after as things progress.

Happy listening everyone, I am missing the hifi very much!🥺

[struth]

Well at least the hard bit is done. Will hopefully be all worthwhile