The shiitake incident last spring threw a major monkeywrench into the works. After recouping what seemed to be a large wad of moolah, 2010 sees the house project coming back on track.
Like cars and household appliances, a house has an energy rating these days. When I bought the place, the government hadn’t introduced the mandatory home information packs. I am sure with the house being more than 100 years old, it won’t be that efficient.
To begin with, my boiler is 15 years old (or older) and is obsolete (so said the British Gas engineer – but looking at/hearing the boiler, you just have to believe her). So, to save money on energy bills (I don’t want to know how much I spent on gas during the recent cold snap) and going green, the trick is to get a more efficient boiler, change the windows to double glazing (only the two set of front bay windows are double-glazed at the mo – ouch says you) and hopefully in 2011, add insulation into the external walls. One area that I should also venture into is loft insulation (not sure whether that’s already in place) but I’ll cross the bridge when it comes to building the master bedroom/en-suite in the attic.
Window-wise, the ground floor will be my first priority, as visitors (read Malaysian) to mi casa can attest to. If it doesn’t break the bank, I am hoping to convert the large dining hall window to a double door (as suggested by Sherry), and convert the kitchen door to a window.
If this is done by June, the ground floor will/should be cosier than the basement. Yeah, buangruang room is lovely even in the winter.
This means the Natuzzi will still have to wait (I go the full whack, yo – what’s the point of buying something that you don’t really want, ni investment bukannya beli t-shirt boleh derma/recycle bila tak suka). My rationale: the Natuzzi ain’t gonna make the living room any warmer. So, guests have to resort to sitting bedouin stylee if the sofa is fully occupied. No Pasha-esque gelek, I’m afraid. Heh.
The last thing will be the kitchen, as it is functional at the moment. Spending 4 to 5-figures on the kitchen wouldn’t make my char kuey teow any nicer. I see spending a bare minimum for it for the next couple of years – I plan to retain the worktop’s durability and lustre by oiling it and possibly a splash of paint on the walls. Hence, the kitchen door-to-window conversion needs doing first.
Mini paint jobs will occur throughout the year – the first floor doors and the front door jamb (Atok, ada la dua tahun tunggu nak buat…).
Another addition to all these is the imminent arrival of a certain game from Square Enix in March. You may wonder where this game comes in, in the grandest scheme of things. If you remember, I took pride in making a media-cum-guest room #2 in the house. With the game, I need these:
Cannnn. Kot.
Kudo,
I agree with you regarding kitchen. I don’t spend much on mine either – I’d rather spend on appliances because those do make a difference in cooking+baking. The trick with kitchen is NOT to spend more than the total of 10% of your house price. But if you do intend to sell later and might need to upgrade just get the simplest Ikea/warehouse kitchen because a *new* kitchen does sell the house.
the other thing you might want to check with your local council if you can get your double glazing subsidize since you house is of certain age. I think you can get some rebate. Updating the boiler is always good but make sure you sign up for scheduled maintenance which saves lots of money by paying a yearly sum because they are on call 24/7 jsut in case your boiler meragam at weekends!
ya, i’ve read about the 10% cost of the kitchen trick. not that ambitious, probably i’ll go for at most 5%.
as for the scheduled maintenance i’ve been with british gas homecare since i bought the place, and yeah it helps!
the govt subsidises for insulation and new boilers (but the boiler one is a right faff and you only get like £400.. not worth the effort). i’ll check if it included double glazing, but i doubt that would be the case as i would’ve heard about it.
ooo…. get the ps3 with samsung LED. do you have LED there? oh, get singstar with ps3. baru meriah!
eddy: LED is available but the current specs are still not up to par with current LCD technology. so i am willing to wait for a few more years but not long enough for march 9! hehe.