I do decorating: painting and wall-papering as any good housewife. But I’m also obsessed with insulation: I put radiator insulation behind radiators on external walls, but also anywhere else that I could put it.
My sitting room is insulated with foil-backed radiator insulation ceiling to floor, covered over with natural-wood plywood panels screwed to the walls. It is very effective to keep the heat in, and I like the way it looks. I’ve hung paintings over the joins. This was my invention in 2024.
In my previous house I put up Recticel and Celotex foam panels on all external walls between studding, and wall-papered over it. This was very effective too. (Though I never told the lodgers you could throw darts at it and they’d stick). It cost me £2500 instead of £20 000 back in 2013-2014.
When I moved in May 2024, I laid laminate immitation-wood floors in the bedrooms, landing and sitting room of my new house. I’m very proud of managing this on my own. I obviously put laminate insulation underneath it. But underneath this there are the old carpets. I coped with the situation by using double-sided tape to stick the insulation to the carpet. It worked! Though any man will tell you it won’t work. I did it my way – cost-effective and no fuss.
To lay a laminate floor you need a circular saw. This brings me on to power tools. It was not the first power tool I’d possessed. When I lived in Chile, I think I was the only woman in the country to own her own belt-sander power tool. That is because when I had a house built there, I bought antique doors and windows, and used the belt-sander to clean off the old paint.
Power tools make for an exciting life. I also bought a mini chain-saw to cut up logs in the garden here – but I don’t talk about it too often.
Property is my line – I formerly earned my living with renting rooms. I now rent two properties and in my own house have private guests. That’s how I stay afloat.
Science Makes Sense Creationism 