Page 6

New roofs

My house on 13th March 2022 © Ricky Yates

Yes – I know! It has been four months since I last wrote and posted a blog post. A couple of people have recently been in touch, complaining about the silence 🙁

It’s not that I have forgotten about the blog. On New Year’s Day 2022, I started writing a post but never completed it. I then thought of writing a post for 4^th February which would mark the date this blog became a teenager, thirteen years on from when I wrote and posted here for the first time. But again, thoughts and ideas never materialised into a published post. And for a long time, I’ve been thinking of writing a post about migrants, an issue now brought sharply into focus following Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. I still hope to do so.

However, since very early in February, a lot of my time has been spent dealing with a major issue in relation to my house. So in order to get the blog going once again, here is the tale of what has recently been occupying me.

On the morning of Friday 4^th February, I awoke to find that the very strong overnight wind had blown numerous ’tiles’ off the roof of my house. Some were lying in my garden, whilst others, most embarrassingly, had landed in my neighbour’s garden. The following two photographs illustrate the damage.

Asphalt shingles from my roof © Ricky Yates

Rather than ’tiles’, their correct designation is ‘asphalt shingles’. They are also what had been used on the roof of my carport and several of those had blown off from there in previous strong winds causing it to leak in a few places. Fortunately, there was no water ingress to the house but I knew I needed to act fairly quickly to avoid any future damage.

I posted the two photos above on Facebook and asked if any of my friends knew of a good local roofer. One almost immediate response came from my friend Michaela. She gave me a link to a business about whom she had heard good reports but, as she lives in a flat, she had no direct experience. I sent a message via her suggested link and got a prompt response from a man I now call Karel the roofer. After some further messaging & sending more photos, he agreed to come and inspect the roof on the afternoon of Tuesday 8^th February.

Karel the roofer is one half of K & K renovace nemovitostí Decín. The other half is his father, also called Karel, hence K & K 🙂 Here they both are, looking at the roof, taking photos and measurements.

K & K inspecting the roof of my house © Ricky Yates

Their visit clarified a number of things. Repairing the existing asphalt shingles, (not that I wanted to), would not be possible until the summer, as warm temperatures are needed for the asphalt. Re-roofing with clay or ceramic tiles, as I initially suggested, would be very expensive as I would need a new wooden frame for the roof in order to bear the increased weight. Instead, I agreed to Karel the roofer’s proposal of a black plastic form of tile, widely used here in the Czech Republic, as can be seen in this link which he sent me. Perhaps the best endorsement for his proposal was him saying that this is what he has on the roof of his own house!

On Thursday 10^th February, I received Karel the roofer’s promised quotation for stripping the A frame roof of the house and the roof of the carport, covering them both with foil underlay and then re-tiling them. He promised that the total price should not exceed CZK 83,400. This figure included fitting new metal rails at either end of the carport roof, replacing the existing wooden ones which were fairly rotten. As they had a gap in their work programme, they could start almost straight-away.

So on the morning of Monday 14^th February, Karel the roofer arrived with two assistants to start work. Soon afterwards, a pallet load of new roofing tiles was delivered to the paved area of my front garden.

By the end of work on Tuesday 15^th February, one side of the A frame roof of the house had been stripped and then covered with foil underlay.

One side of A frame roof covered with foil underlay © Ricky Yates

And the carport roof had been completely stripped down to the bare wooden boards of which it is constructed.

Carport roof completely stripped © Ricky Yates

Unfortunately, there was then a hiatus in proceedings. First of all, the weather the rest of that week was wet and windy. Then the roofers tested positive for Covid and were quarantined for several days 🙁 So it wasn’t until Thursday 24^th February that work re-started.

However, during the hiatus, I agreed to some additional work being done, based on what had been discovered when stripping both roofs. Some of the metal rails surrounding the house roof were rusty in places so I agreed to them being painted black to both preserve them and to match the new tiles. Several of the wooden boards in the carport roof were fairly rotten, especially those alongside the gutter as you may be able to make out in the photo above. So I agreed to these being replaced, together with all of the boards being treated before they were covered with new foil underlay.

When work recommenced, the roofers concentrated on the carport. Here it is at the end of work on Thursday 24^th February, covered with foil underlay and with new metal rails at either end and new metal gutter plates on either side.

Carport with foil underlay & new metalwork © Ricky Yates

Two working days later, after numerous hours of Karel senior, fitting and nailing tiles, the carport was complete. I also agreed to one of the young assistants treating all of the wood of the carport with wood-stain, one coat on the inside and two coats on the outside. As a result, it looks almost like a new building.

Work then moved on to the house with the other side of the A frame roof being stripped and tiling commenced on the side which had been stripped in mid-February and covered with foil underlay.

Part of the A frame roof tiled © Ricky Yates

Karel the roofer had one further suggestion. Having looked closely at the roof of the newer extension of the house and then sent me a video 😉 , he offered, at a total cost of a further CZK 15,000, to treat all of it with a hydrophobic (water repellent) coating to extend its life and to match the new tiles. Having seen the quality of the roofers work so far, I agreed to his suggestion. This, together with the additional work and materials mentioned earlier, inevitably pushed the total cost over CZK 100,000, which was the maximum I was expecting when work commenced.

Once again, work was delayed by the weather with several mornings being frosty and cold. And by Karel the roofer’s work vehicle breaking down. But by the end of the day on Monday 14^th March, the job was almost complete. The A frame roof was tiled, the roof of the newer extension had received three applications of hydrophobic coating and all the metal railings had been painted.

The other side of the A frame roof tiled © Ricky Yates

As there were sufficient spare tiles and foil underlay, for which I had already paid, Karel the roofer offered to use the remaining material to also tile the roof of the lean-to, rather than giving it a hydrophobic coating. So on Tuesday 15^th March, that is what he and his father did. Photographic evidence below.

Newer extension with hydrophobic (water repellent) coating © Ricky Yates

The total cost eventually came to CZK 105,952, about £3,600. Whilst this has made a big dent in my bank account, if I’m honest, it wasn’t totally unexpected. When I agreed to buy the house, five years ago, I did think that the front part of the A frame roof did look in need of possible repair. At least now, when I plan further improvements to the interior of the house, I can be sure that those improvements won’t be affected by the ingress of any rain or snow.

There was one final expense and a delightfully funny WhatsApp message with which I will conclude this post. The original quotation from Karel the roofer did clearly state that the cost of waste disposal would be what he was charged by the nearest waste handling site, which in my case, is in Decín. During the whole saga, we communicated by both Karel senior & junior & I, having some German. Or by Karel the roofer using Google translate on WhatsApp.

Karel the roofer had promised to come on Wednesday 16^th March to remove the remaining debris from stripping the roofs. Instead, I got an apologetic message in ‘English’, saying he had a problem with his wheelchair 🙂 What he meant, as I realised, was that he had a problem with his trailer. No, Google translate doesn’t always accurately translate 😉

He did come the following day. Unfortunately, the waste handling site in Decín, increased its prices at the turn of the year to CZK 9 per kilogram for hazardous waste. There was 724 kg of waste from stripping my roofs, giving me a further invoice for CZK 6516.

It’s taken a long time but, my Lean-to is finally complete

At the end of a post I wrote more than four years ago entitled, ‘Making progress‘, I featured two photographs of the incomplete lean-to on one side of my house. This one on the left, taken in May 2017, just a couple of weeks after I moved to Stará Oleška, and the one below, taken after ‘Jan with his van’ had taken away a whole load of unwanted items left by the previous owners.

In that September 2017 post, I wrote, ‘Once I’ve removed some remaining loose timber into the wood shed, then I plan to lay a proper concrete floor. After that, I hope to be able to hang the door that is already sitting there, propped up on one side, and create a dry and secure home for my mower and garden tools.’

Whilst soon afterwards, I did move all the remaining timber to the woodshed where it was cut up and used as firewood, everything else remained an aspiration until earlier this year. However, over the intervening period, whenever I found bits of brick, stone, broken tiles etc, in various parts of the garden, I stacked them by the open entrance of the lean-to so they could be used to form the foundation of the concrete floor that I envisaged being laid at some future date.

When, in the Summer of 2020, I found František and he came and laid a new path in my back garden, as described in this post, I showed him the incomplete lean-to and indicated by sign language 😉 , what I wanted doing. The project was put on hold over the winter, but during April 2021, he promised to come and commence work on Saturday 1^st May.

So in the late afternoon of Friday 30^th April, František deposited in my woodshed and/or garden, a cement mixer, numerous bags of cement, a metal door frame and various other materials. He promised to return in the morning, once he had collected a load of sand. Unfortunately, he hadn’t reckoned with 1^st May being Labour Day, a public holiday. Therefore builders merchants who were normally open on a Saturday morning, were closed 🙁 So on the Sunday afternoon, František came and took back the cement mixer as it was needed by his regular employers from whom he had borrowed it for the weekend.

There then followed a month of frustration as František’s van suffered a major breakdown and was off the road for over two weeks. Eventually, I got Kát’a to phone František with two suggestions. If he told me what quantity of sand was required, I would order it and pay to have it delivered. Secondly, he could ask my neighbour Milan, if he could borrow his cement mixer.

In the end, František became mobile once again and was able himself, to bring the required sand to my garden.

But he took up my second suggestion and, as I expected, Milan was very happy to oblige. So on the sunny evening of Tuesday 1^st June, a month after it was meant to happen, finally a new concrete floor was laid with a metal door frame inserted.

František was able to use all of the bits of brick, stone and broken tiles I had collected and his calculation of the amount of sand and cement required proved to be exactly right.

Further progress was made on Sunday 13^th June when František returned and, with breeze blocks covered by cement render, filled in the gaps surrounding the metal door frame.

Gaps surrounding the metal door frame filled in © Ricky Yates

He also helped me transport a kitchen base unit, which I had held onto since January 2018 when the rest of my kitchen was gutted, out of the house and into the far end of the lean-to.

Old kitchen base unit in its new home © Ricky Yates

There then followed yet another hiatus. I thought František was going to find a door of the correct dimensions. He thought that I was going to do so. I should add that the old door mentioned in the second paragraph of this post and which can also be seen in the first two photographs, was both the wrong size and the handle and hinges were the wrong way around. So in advance of František commencing work, I sawed it up and the wood from it is currently being used as kindling for my woodburning stove.

Once I realised the misunderstanding, I paid a visit to Obi, a German-owned DIY store on the outskirts of Ústí nad Labem, to try and find a suitable door. I went with my English-speaking Czech friend Kát’a, to try and avoid any confusion. We found a suitable door and arranged for it to be delivered on the morning of Saturday 21^st August. My VW Golf is unfortunately not big enough to transport a door of the correct size so I ended up paying over 1000 Kc to have it delivered 🙁

Here it is, propped up against the door frame.

In due course, František came to fit it. However, whilst the door was of the correct dimensions, it had its hinges and holes for the door handle and lock, the incorrect way around 🙁 At this point, I really did begin to think I was fated and would never ever see this project through to completion. I certainly didn’t want to spend over 1000Kc to get the the incorrect door taken back and the same sum again to have the correct one delivered.

The solution eventually came some days ago, with František taking the incorrect door back to Obi, accompanied by my receipt, explaining the problem and returning with the correct door. I promised to more than cover his petrol costs as well as paying him for taking a strip off the bottom of the door so it was the correct height and fitting the door handle and lock that I’d purchased back in August.

By the time František got back with the correct door, the light was fading fast. So I ended up using the torch on my mobile phone so he could see to fit the door handle and lock and adjust the hinges. Even then, we were once again frustrated as the door catch and lock wouldn’t quite connect with the appropriate holes in the door frame. Finally, František returned on the afternoon of Sunday 28^th November and, aided by an electrically-driven metal cutter, removed a small bit of the door frame. The door then shut firm and the key turned easily to lock the door.

Lean-to complete with locking door © Ricky Yates

A danger of driving in the Czech Republic

According to a news report I read some time ago, the three most common causes of road traffic accidents in the Czech Republic are: First – driving too fast. Second – driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Third – hitting a wild animal, either a deer or a wild boar. Unfortunately, late on the night of Monday 27^th September, I joined those statistics 🙁

I was giving a lift to my friend Kát’a, from a rather late evening appointment in Ceská Lípa, to her home in Decín. Driving through the forested area between Kamenický Šenov and Ceská Kamenice, I had a major altercation with a large deer. It suddenly appeared out of the forest on my left. I only saw it for a nano-second before it crashed into the front driver’s side of the car and smashed the windscreen.

Thankfully, neither of us were physically hurt and, being on a straight stretch of road, I was very easily able to bring the car to a halt. However, we were both quite shaken up by the experience. I was also covered with numerous small shards of glass from the broken windscreen. I thought that I had brushed or shaken them all off me, but then found one sticking out of my left index finger when I woke up in my bed the following morning!

Several people who have already heard this story have asked, ‘What about the deer?’ The answer is that I do not know. Once I had stopped the car and looked in my rear-view mirror, I expected to see a dead body lying in the road. But there wasn’t one. The deer had run off into the forest on the other side of the road from whence it had come. But at around midnight and very shaken by what had happened, I wasn’t prepared to walk into a dark Czech forest to make further enquiries.

Although the windscreen was smashed, the bodywork damaged and my driver’s side door would not open properly, the car was still just mobile. So I eventually decided that the best thing to do was to drive on, very carefully. I could still just about see where I was going and I drove quite slowly to ensure the windscreen didn’t implode any further. Fortunately, it being so late at night, there was very little traffic on the roads and I safely delivered Kát’a to her flat and then drove back to my own home in Stará Oleška. Climbing out of the car via the front passenger-side door, was an ‘interesting’ exercise 😉

The following day was a public holiday so I could do nothing to start the process of getting the car repaired. That evening, I went for a drink at Bar Restaurace U Soni and was greeted on my arrival by Libor, (husband of Sona, the boss of U Soni), and by Karel, (father of a young lady who I have helped with her school English). They both gave me a knowing look and said, ‘Jelen‘, which is Czech for deer. Living in this heavily forested area, what had happened to me is a well-known local hazard.

After conversations with my insurers, much aided by Kát’a, my car was eventually collected and taken to a repair shop in Ústí nad Labem. This was one of three possible repairers recommended by my insurers. The Ústí repairer promised to start work on Monday 11^th October. The other two could only offer a start date later in October.

After much toing and froing with paperwork between my insurers, the repair shop and me, including the demand for a scan of the medical certificate that says I’m fit to drive as I’m over sixty-five, finally on Wednesday 27^th October, I got a text message to say I could collect my car. A journey by bus, train and another bus, got me there. I was required to pay 5808 Kc / £191.00 / €227.00 being 5% of the total repair cost. Insurance has fortunately covered the other 95% – a not inconsiderable sum!

Golf Carly dva duly repaired © Ricky Yates

Being without a car for a whole month was very frustrating. It was also a little expensive as I decided that to get to certain appointments and complete tasks, I needed a car. So I hired one for several days, a Škoda Fabia which, as I said at the time, made me completely Czech 🙂

Once I got my car back, I then had another expense, one that I was expecting. As I explained in my previous post about buying the car in March this year, it came fitted with Summer tyres. As it is a legal requirement here to have Winter tyres with at least 4mm of tread, when driving between 1^st November and 31^st March, on Thursday 4^th November, I drove down to my good friend Adrian Blank in Nepomuk, to have four brand new Winter tyres fitted. Now I’m ready to face the coming Winter, hopefully without any further altercations with deer.

A climb to Mariina skála

The new gazebo on the summit of Mariina skála © Ricky Yates

Mariina skála is a prominent rock outcrop, 428 metres above sea level, located north of the village of Jetrichovice, which is in turn, around 12km north of Stará Oleška, the village where I live. Perched on top of the rock is a gazebo forming a viewing platform, with spectacular views across the surrounding area.

Back in late March 2016, I did climb up to Mariina skála as I describe and illustrate in the latter part of this post. But more recently, I have wanted to return for two reasons. Firstly, the weather on that previous visit was somewhat misty, which restricted the views. Secondly, I had seen in local news reports, that a brand new gazebo had been erected earlier this year, replacing its predecessor which had become unsafe.

Therefore, when Monday 6^th September dawned fine and sunny, I drove to Jetrichovice and then set out on the red waymarked route, to climb up to the top of Mariina skála. Jetrichovice is around 230 metres above sea level meaning a fairly steep climb of about 200 metres or 650 feet.

In many places, the route is a series of steps cut out of the surrounding sandstone rock as in the two photographs above.

Just occasionally, the path is a little less steep which allowed me to catch my breath 🙂

Here is the first view I got of the new gazebo….

…..just before the point where I needed to detour from the red waymarked route, in order to reach the summit.

This photograph, taken standing on the first section of the viewing platform, shows some of the steps I had to climb to get there. But the spectacular views made the effort in climbing more than worthwhile as I hope the following photographs illustrate.

View from Mariina skála looking towards the border with Germany © Ricky Yates

View from Mariina skála with the conical hill Ružovský vrch © Ricky Yates

Jetrichovice from Mariina skála using the zoom function on my camera © Ricky Yates

My house is now connected to mains water – update

The front lawn of Stará Oleška 44 on 13th December 2020 © Ricky Yates

As is illustrated in my previous post about how, on Sunday 25^th October 2020, my house was connected to mains water, part of the work involved digging a deep trench right across the front lawn. Because late October is the end of the growing season here, I realised that I wouldn’t be able to do anything to repair the grass, until the Spring of 2021. The photograph above, taken on 13^th December 2020, after I had finished severely pruning all the bushes down the right-hand side of the lawn, shows the extent of the damage.

Excess earth from digging the ‘shaft’ © Ricky Yates

As I wrote in that previous post, there was also excess earth that needed to be taken away from where the contractors had dug the hole for the ‘shaft’.

Strip of public land in front of my front hedge on 6th November 2020 © Ricky Yates

And the strip of public land between the concrete gully and my front hedge still needed to be made good, which also involved removing excess earth and rubble.

Earlier this year, I decided that I would use the need to repair the damage done to the grass, as an opportunity to make other improvements to the front garden. I wanted to get rid of two unsightly trees, a half-dead bush and a shrub. I also wanted to remove three lumps of concrete near the house, two of which I believe were the base of steps up to the original front door, which was on the far side of the now enclosed verandah.

Believing that some of these tasks were beyond my capabilities, my friend Kát’a kindly found me a landscape gardener, Mr Bezdekovský, and in mid-April, he came to look at what I wanted doing. He gave me a very reasonable quotation and promised start work on Wednesday 5^th May, providing it wasn’t raining heavily 😉

The front garden before work commenced © Ricky Yates

This is how the front garden looked on the morning of Wednesday 5^th May, before Mr Bezdekovský and his colleague started work.

The front garden a few hours later © Ricky Yates

And this is how it looked a few hours later, after the unwanted trees, bush and shrub had been removed, together with the addition of a pile of fresh earth to help with reseeding all the bare patches.

Concrete block refusing to move © Ricky Yates

But what I and Mr Bezdekovský had not realised was how deeply embedded two of the three lumps of concrete were. Here is the first one that they tried, and failed 🙁 to remove, using a pickaxe and spade.

Part of a concrete block after being extracted © Ricky Yates

So the following day, they returned with a pneumatic drill/jack-hammer and eventually managed to extract all three concrete lumps. Here is part of the first one.

And here is the resultant hole! However, the excess earth that the contractors never came back to take away in October/November 2020, proved highly beneficial, as Mr Bezdekovský was able to use most of it to fill three large holes 🙂 The remainder, he loaded onto his trailer, along with the lumps of concrete, and took it all away for disposal.

Front lawn on 6th May 2021 © Ricky Yates

At the end of day two, this was how the front lawn looked with all holes filled and the bare earth seeded.

Area around the shaft seeded © Ricky Yates

The area around the shaft seeded with excess soil removed.

Public strip of land levelled © Ricky Yates

The strip of public land cleared of excess earth and rubble and levelled.

Front lawn on 31st May 2021 © Ricky Yates

Fast forward three and a half weeks and this is what the front lawn looked like after I mowed it for the first time in 2021.

Front lawn on 20th July 2021 © Ricky Yates

And here is a more recent photograph, taken on Tuesday 20^th July 2021.