Finally, an update!

There's been a fair amount of work being done on our house recently, unfortunately, most of it is the sort of stuff that doesn't lend itself terribly well to photography.

We had the previously-discussed plumber provide us with an estimate regarding items on the city point-of-sale inspection as well as a considerable amount of work with regard to our radiators. Many of the radiators, you see, have valves that either don't open, don't close, or are leaking. Further, many of the bleeder valves won't bleed. A couple of the radiators, in the attic, didn't have shut-off valves at all.

His estimate seemed very reasonable, so we decided to go ahead with the work. When I did a final walkthrough with the plumber before he ordered the parts and began the work, we found a few more valves that needed to be fixed, as well as several bleeders that didn't bleed. He said that he could get all of this done, at the price he had estimated originally.

There was some additional work required - the baseboard radiators in the library had to be replaced, as they didn't have a hot-water return line, and had become clogged. This was done at reasonable material cost.

The entire time, the plumber kept us well informed of his progress, consulting us at each step along the way where decisions of aesthetics might be involved. He is quite comfortable dealing with the issues involved with older plumbing systems.

As this work was nearing completion, we had talked about the repairs that I hope to have done on the roof. I thought that the plumber might know someone who could do the repairs on the roof at more reasonable rates, given that his rates were lower than what I might have expected. He talked to a roofer with considerable experience with slate and came up with an estimate considerably lower than the other estimate I received. The plumber would act as the general contractor and would be doing some of the basic work on the job. His estimate was such that it seems we'll be able to get almost everything done this year!

I came up with a diagram of all of the areas of damage that I saw on the roof and discussed this with the plumber. On Sunday, we went over everything again, including my specifications, and I wrote him a check for the cost of materials. He's begun assembling materials and tools in the garage and will begin work on the roof on Wednesday, if weather permits.

I'll be sure to keep posting as the work progresses.