I can't believe its been five weeks since I updated this topic, time just seems to slip by just now.
Further investigation in the area of our rotting roof beam revealed that there were actually two that needed replaced. Ouch.
We were thinking that this one may be a biggy and affect the overall budget quite seriously. In addition to the steel work we needed four new supporting pillars constructed as the walls the beams rested on were in pretty poor condition. I don't get some folks, this was all caused by a leaky roof over several years and it would have been so obvious as when it rains here, it really rains!
Email came in and to be honest, I didn't want to open it - we were heading out to meet some friends and I thought it may put a damper on the evening. Curiousity got the better of me and what a result, €2,495 to install three metal beams, one of them fairly complex as it has to also support the roof joists and construct all necessary supporting pillars. I drank way too much oloroso that evening
Two other major issues we've had to deal with is windows and doors - we have twenty five windows and about twenty doors. Our original plan was to renovate and repair where we could and replace those that were beyond repair, a concept our builder understood and was happy to go along with. Unfortunately as work progressed it became apparent that this simply wasn't a practical approach; the windows were all a bit of a mix with some aluminium framed, some metal framed and a few with wooden frames, all in varying states of disrepair.
Decision time. Lets go for it we decided, replace the lot (well, almost all) and just be done with it.
So... our builders regular window guy comes out - little weedy guy with a face like a rat and a lot of attitude because we couldn't keep up with his rapid fire Spanish. We took an instant dislike to him but thought we could ignore our feelings if he came up with a decent price.
Two weeks later we still haven't got our quote, despite nagging our builder several times. Don't worry he says, we've plenty of time.
Another week goes past and we told our builder that if the window guy didn't come up with the quote soon we'd be going elsewhere. Surprise, surprise, quote arrives in my email two hours later.
Including VAT, this joker wanted €13,500 for twenty windows. NFC says us (think about it ).
A few searches on google and we worked out that there were four or five window manufacturers in one particular industrial estate, so off we toddled that afternoon completely forgetting that the following day was a public holiday. They were all closed bar one. We decided to give it a go and once we'd found the office the folks there couldn't have been nicer or more helpful. After twenty minutes, with a combination of our rotten Spanish assisted by Google Translate, we provided them with a specification list of what we wanted. They made a few (excellent) suggestions in respect of the windows we weren't going to replace so we decided go for the lot, all twenty five of them. It was left that they'd give us a quote based on our measurements and, if we were happy with the price, they'd come out to the house and take accurate measurements.
One day later, email arrives with a very professional quote considerably less than rat faces price. We arranged to meet the owner of the company at the house in a couple of days.
Once again, the advice given was excellent - rat face had included persianas (built in shutters) on several windows that weren't actually deep enough to have them. More money saved.
Two days later and after a little bit of to'ing and fro'ing we ended up with a final price of just over €9,000 for all our windows and a new set of patio doors which will all be fitted sometime during the last week in January. Happy days.
The same day rat face was out, we had a carpenter out to quote for new doors, repair of doors and to assess our front door to see whether it could be repaired or would it need renewed.
We couldn't believe it, same sh1t as rat face - nearly three weeks for a quote and when it arrived it was for nearly €8,000! Again, NFC.
He wanted almost €400 each to replace ten internal doors and €1,800 to just repair the front door. Then there was over €2,000 in time to repair the other internal doors. In my opinion the guy either didn't really want the work or he thought we were rich - or maybe he was simply stupid.
The following day we headed off the equivalent of B&Q with our builder and picked up a dozen solid pine doors for around €140 each including frames. A new carpenter sourced and he will fit them for €50 a time. He's old school and took the time to assess the front door properly - beyond practical repair (which we pretty much knew anyway) therefore new door required. Its a big chunk of door, 1.5m wide and 2.3m high, and we knew we could buy a factory made set of double doors for €2,000ish. New carpenters price for a hand made set of hardwood doors, including new frame €2,400. Again, Happy days.
We're looking at something similar to this one he made recently.
Overall we're pretty pleased with the progress of the project - we get on well with our builder and the guys he has working on site are a good bunch. Not a word of English between them but we still had a cracking time when we all went out for a celebratory meal over the festive period. Do have to say that Google Translate is a godsend!
Here's a few before and after pics of the roof which the guys have almost finished:
More later.
JF
