About Me

My name is Jules and I am a wife, mum and nanna. I have recently taken early retirement from Special Education which was a job that i really loved. I am loving life and fully intend to make the most of it making some fantastic memories along the way. Family and friends are very important to me and I enjoy spending time with them. I love socialising and having a laugh.

Tuesday 14 August 2018

Bats in the roof space

Evening Everyone.
I'm sitting in my lounge, blinds open, waiting for the bats to appear.  We have noticed that they have been very active the past few nights. It's a wonderful sight each evening and it absolutely fascinates me. I'd take a photo or video but they are just too fast. I am not really sure how many are actually living in the roof space, or indeed, if they are even coming from ours or next doors house as they come out at such speed. With it being dusk too, it makes it difficult to see properly. I have done some research today about uk bats living in houses. It looks like they may be long eared bats.  Here is the link to it if anyone is interested. Bats
It's absolutely pitch dark now and it is only 9.15, the nights are really drawing in. I love summer, but, I am not one of those people who hates winter. I actually like being wrapped up in a warm coat and going out for a walk, or, tucked up all cosy, in the lounge under a blanket.
We are toying with the idea of having a log burner put in at some point.
Something similar to this.
There was one in the lounge originally but it wasn't efficient so we had it removed. It is going to be quite expensive as we will have to have the chimney checked, swept and lined and also a new hearth put in but we do still have the chimney and the oak shelf left intact. I will get some rough quotes and then save towards it. I think it will probably be a project for next summer now, I'd of loved it up and running before Christmas as I think they look so cosy but realistically it will be next year. I'm not prepared to have it done until I have enough money to pay for it and the redecoration of the lounge after.
Do you save for large items or home improvements? Doe's anyone have a log burner and thinks they are efficient and cost effective?
Until tomorrow
Jules x




I will try to read all comments and reply. Please be polite and kind. Thanks :)

13 comments:

  1. I had a multi fuel burner installed last year. They're more expensive than log burners but I can burn anything (scrap wood, coal, smokeless fuel, paper bricks etc) Total cost of installation was just over the £4,000 mark as I needed to line my chimney (legal requirement here) and re plaster 2 walls as I ripped out a large 80s stone fireplace. Then there was the extra costs of new carpet and decoration. I did save up for it as I always do for my big purchases.

    I've not had it long enough to say if it has saved me any money yet but instead of over riding the heating timer on really cold nights I kept the burner topped up to stay cosy.

    I love them. I had one installed in my previous house and will probably have one in my next house too!

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    1. Hi Ali, that's a good idea about the multi fuel burner. I will check out how much more one would be against a log burner. That's a very good recommendation if you've had one before too. Thank you x

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  2. We love our wood burner, saves on our oil. We too have bats, pipestrelle I believe. Can’t find them in our roof so think they live just at the top of the internal gap in the brickwork. Our roost is just a nursery as they are only here for a couple of months. We once counted 120!

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    1. We only see them at this time of year too so maybe we could have a nursery? I don't know enough about them really. 120!! My goodness that is a lot x

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  3. I have a small wood burner, Chesney with the clean air flow system. It backs up my oil heating, logs about £300 a year. Must start looking out for bats here in the SW. Sarah D.

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    1. £300 sounds quite reasonable for logs Sarah. My sons friend is a joiner and has said that he will bring me some off cuts of wood too which will help. Where in the South West are you Sarah? x

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  4. Love my wood burner, and have a good stock for winter thanks to having some trees down last year and brother-in-law with his log splitter.

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    1. Hi Sue, how lucky to have all that wood free of charge. It's good to be able to make some use of it too. x

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  5. Hi, I'm a new reader. We have a multi fuel burner and it's our main souce of heating as we don't have central heating. However it does keep our home lovely and warm all winter. We don't have to pay for our wood as our friends give us lots of wood from their gardens of home renovations etc. But we do buy coal and use just less than 1 bag a week.
    Carolx

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    1. Hi Carol, do you find that it heats the whole house? We have a small cottage and with the layout we have, if we left open the doors the warm air would go into each room. Maybe we needn't have the central heating on which is so expensive.That's kind of your neighbours to give you wood. How much is coal Carol? We do have a coal man locally x

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  7. We have a multi fuel stove.Cost £340 for stove and £700 to have the chimney lined,plus £45 a year for power sweep and certificate.Logs cost us £70 for a pick up load and smokeless coal around £9.00 a bag.We have a large 5 bed 1970s house,gas central heating,and if I keep it lit,then it does heat most of downstairs,especially with an eco fan which pushes the warm air around.I can’t wait for the cooler nights so I can light it and watch the flames.Also can boil a kettle and cook on it,and it’s only a tiny 4kw.If you can get hold of free wood,then it’s a winner.We do chop up free pallets for kindling,also heat logs are about £5.00 a pack,Hotties are the best we’ve found,they give a higher heat output .If you want to keep the fire in overnight,then use coal,but we try to limit this as it’s not eco friendly,With all the recent energy increases,I’m pretty sure it will pay for itself in a couple of years,but you need to be home to keep re fuelling.
    We also saved for solar panels,best investment yet,had them installed 3 years ago and already had over £1000 F.I.T payment,plus I run all big appliances when the sun shines for ‘free’Also provides all our hot water in summer.So,go for the stove,you won’t regret it,and it makes great overnight porridge 😉

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I look forward to receiving your messages will try to read and reply to them all. Please be patient and kind.

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