Getting Started

We haven't been back to Bagni di Lucca since we completed the purchase, but things have been happening nonetheless. The plumber, the electrician and the carpenter have all provided estimates for various pieces of work. Of course, we need to do a little more than we thought, but we kind of expected that.

Mostly it's the plumbing: we knew that we needed a new boiler, but the plumber says that we should probably replace the pipes that supply steam to the radiators as they are old and not in very good shape. This is one of those situations where everything is OK now, and could remain so for some time (maybe even for years). Conversely, the pipes could start cracking and leaking tomorrow.

In the end, we decided to go ahead and replace the pipes. It's more work and expense now, but much more peace of mind. Besides, the work involves trenching into the walls, so we would rather do it concurrently with the other work and while the house remains unoccupied.

Luckily, the old cast iron radiators are in great shape, and only need stripping and refinishing. These not only give character to the house, they also do a great job heating it. Apparently they are highly sought after and hard to find, so we're fortunate to have them.

Hopefully the plumbing work on can begin soon, and we're putting together the overall plan for everything else.

At this point we hope to be ready for late summer, but that may be optimistic!