Water, water, every where

Lola Towers, March 2026

It's been a very water-focused winter. So much rain, mum's leaking pipes, evidence of water rising in my Auditorium, and then my boiler also started to make an intermittent noise. I've received a lot of attention from plumbers.

The boiler guy came in the morning of the day that Severn Trent were booked to dig up the pavement in the afternoon, which was quite convenient. In between phases of investigating the boiler noise he was kind enough to take a look in the cellar beneath the water stain. The heating pipes all looked sound and dry but he did comment that the cellar walls are saturated, and the house being the age that it is, there is no effective damp proof course. He tweaked something in the boiler and the noise hasn't recurred yet, but he's going to give me a quote for a replacement fan which will help not only if it fails but also should guide potential house purchasers, should guidance be needed.

In the afternoon the two Severn Trent workers came. I offered them tea or coffee and then discovered that I have no coffee, so that wasn't a good start. They put up signs and barriers and closed the footpath before getting stuck in to the job of digging around the water meter, and were very clear that I was not allowed onto 'the site' to look any closer. Their verdict was that the joint under investigation was not leaking but wouldn't let me through to look in the hole, so I gave them my camera to take a photo, which just showed a puddle in wet gravel. I've now followed up with a text conversation with another plumber, and then went back to Severn Trent to challenge their verdict. The saga continues.

In the meantime I've got a heater set up in the Auditorium which is drying the wall nicely. It keeps raining though. I've also done a test with photographing the water meter at 10pm and 8am and it shows some movement of the dial, but I don't know how significant it is. I did the same at mum's with the same result, so there's Thames Water to contact about that too.

At mum's I also had the job of replacing the knobs on her 40-year-old cooker. I found a company which supplied 'universal' knobs but the kit supplied didn't entirely work without adjustment, which we did using some tubing left over from when dad needed a catheter. I've left mum with one new replacement knob to try out, and if she's happy then we'll replace the rest. [Update - we've put the old ones back.]

Then there's the painting needed of the front of the house. I finally managed to get three acceptable quotes from firms. One was a man on a ladder, which I specifically don't want because of the chimney pointing experience, but when I turned him down he started to argue that he's very experienced with ladders... The second one started talking about payment in cash (the amount is more than £2000). So I picked the third one who advised that the start date will be based on the availability of the scaffolding. 

Then the scaffolding company called to explain the convoluted process of applying for a licence to put up scaffolding on the public highway (the pavement outside my house) and the steps that would need to be taken involving suspending parking, cones and redirecting pedestrians. Let's just say, it's complicated. But after just a day or two he phoned back to say the permit had already been granted and the scaffolding can go up at the end of March.