André

It's been a hectic day, which started before I'd even got changed from my pajamas. I went to put the kettle on, and found a sopping wet kitchen floor, and water dripping - a lot- from the ceiling. The water was being filtered through the overhead clothes drying rack, and water was drip dropping of the clothes (which were by now, wetter than when they got hoisted up there in the first place!) The first thought was that the roof was leaking, as it was really windy in the night, and we're getting the roof replaced in a few weeks.... but it turned out to be the boiler in the room above. A quick look in the bathroom cupboard revealed water pouring out of a small tank, wetting everything in it's path. A downstairs radiator was also leaking, and we were struggling to find the stop cock - argh!!!
Our lovely plasterers/builders were due, so when they arrived we asked them to help, and the amazing André managed to fix it eventually - phew! There's a floaty ball thing in the tank that's meant to tell the tank to stop refilling at a certain depth, but a tiny connecting piece had broken off, and so the water would have kept coming through indefinitely if we hadn't been there to see it and stop it. We reckon it must have broken about an hour or less before we discovered it, so we were really, really lucky. A lot of mopping later, and the only casualties were a few magazines and paperback books that had been just under the overflowing tank.
It ended up being a really productive day, despite the river in the house! Andre and Rob fitted the beam for the new fireplace, which looks brilliant!, and we painted the stairs and handrail and small hallway and looked through wallpaper samples for papering the risers on the stairs.