Beta Mum's Blog Beta Mum on 01 Nov 2007 08:25 pm
Gas Leak number 2
You may think this picture shows some kind of make-up removal kit or kitchen surface cleaner, but it’s neither.
It’s a gas leak detector.
If only it were that easy.
I called the Old Boiler cowboys out again, as I could smell gas.
“Yup,” he tells me, pointing a big blood pressure type gauge at me, “it’s leaking.”
“Is it the same leak you fixed last time?” I ask, hoping for a quick and cheap solution to the problem.
But, after two floorboards are again untimely ripped from their rightful place, he sucks his teeth and says,
“Nope, that cap’s fine. Must be somewhere else.”
And with that, he looks vaguely in the direction of the kitchen, and its hardwood floor: a feature we hoped would prove attractive to potential buyers.
It wasn’t laid by us, so I have no idea what’s underneath it.
Could be a layer of chip board, could be the original floorboads, could be concrete.
But it seems we’re about to find out.
If only we could just spray that stuff about a bit, and then use the little plunger thingy to identify the exact location of the leak, instead of wrenching up every piece of lovingly laid wooden flooring between the meter, the oven and the boiler.
He’s coming back tomorrow, with more tools.
He may get to meet one of the removal firms who’ve taken to sending out laughable estimates, and who’ve prompted us to list every friend without a dodgy back, a full time job or a cluster of kids.
So far we’ve come up with two…
on 03 Nov 2007 at 5:25 pm 1.Mother at Large said …
I sympathise, I really do! We went through similar earlier in year. The expense, the hassle, the mess…. horrible! Hope you get this sorted as quickly (and cheaply) as possible.
on 03 Nov 2007 at 5:27 pm 2.Mother at Large said …
PS - greatly enjoyed your allusion to the Scottish play!
on 03 Nov 2007 at 11:28 pm 3.Beta Mum said …
MatL - after all that waiting for the corgi people to turn up, it turned out to be a leak on the Transco side of the meter. So we paid a callout fee for the diagnosis, then Transco came out and fixed it for free.
Still, we’ve got an intact kitchen floor, so all is well and there’s no smell of gas.
on 04 Nov 2007 at 10:14 pm 4.Mya said …
That’s good news! What a relief.
Is there a local rugby team you can bribe to help with the removals? They’re fantastic for picking up fridges, pianos etc. and probably not as ridiculously expensive as most of the big firms seem to be.
Mya x
on 06 Nov 2007 at 3:41 pm 5.Mother at Large said …
Hassle, hassle, hassle. Glad you got it sorted. Always more of a worry with little ones around.