Storm Damage.

Since the new windows were put in I'd noticed a creaking plastic sound coming from somewhere near my study window. Last night while I was blogging the creaking increased as the winds intensified and I intended to ask Peter to ring the window company in the morning to come and have a look before something happened. Later around midnight with the winds gusting outside there was a loud crash which I presumed was the wheelie bin falling over. I thought I'd better go outside and pick up the bin to stop any rubbish blowing around but when I looked out of the window I could see some of the plastic cladding planks scattered across the garden. There was nothing we could do so we left it until the morning.

Peter phoned the company first thing this morning and someone came round within the hour. He didn't say much but my best guess is the old windows were slightly wider than the new ones and were helping to clamp the side bar that the cladding was slotted into while the foamy stuff they used to fill the gaps didn't have the same function allowing the wind to get in behind the cladding.

Later that morning the workmen turned up, set up their scaffolding and got to work replacing the cladding and whatever that membrane was. I asked them to leave  the old cladding as I can reuse it to make a planter to go in front of the sitting room window and maybe a storage box for the re-cycling bin as well.

I went out in the afternoon to have coffee with two friends and when I came back 3 hours later they were just finishing off. They put in an extra fixing batten to keep the cladding secure and sealed every joint to prevent the wind getting in. I think it would take hurricane force winds to rip the cladding off now. We weren't even in the zone of the storm that hit the north of the country and then moved on to Europe.

During the morning I got the rest of the roofing material from the shed off and bagged and finally could start the real demolition work. I began by taking off some of the roof timbers which along with an old metal dustbin went in the back of my car and off to the dump after coffee at the garden centre. While I was at the garden centre I had a wander around looking at all the lovely things I could spend my money on. There were some amazing orchids but I don't think I'll be spending £35 on a single specimen no matter how gorgeous it is.