12 July 2007

Fire and water

This morning was focused on utilities. Mike talked to a man about improving our smelly water, while I chatted to the chimney sweeps. What we thought was going to be a straight-forward job of sweeping the two chimneys turned into a several-thousand dollar bill as we discovered that neither chimney met current regulations. The chief sweep refused to touch such badly-put-together items. So the steel flue for the woodburning stove is going to be replaced and the stove itself re-seated on a hearth-stone that is the proper size. In the living room we're having the chimney lined with a new flue and a new wood-burning fireplace fitted. Ho hum.

Getting the water fixed is going to be pricey too, but that really needs doing - at the moment the kids are really objecting to having a bath as the smell of hydrogen sulphide from the water is so strong (and the water is grey!). Bubble bath helps a bit, but the resulting combination of smells is almost as bad as just the hydrogen sulphide. The new system should get rid of the smell as well as the lime and iron. In the future we will be able divert the reject water (which would otherwise go into the septic tank) through a grey water system which will fill the toilet cisterns and can be used for watering the garden.

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