Dominic Chinea, the beloved engineering expert from The Repair Shop, has issued a new update on the 'brutal' weather battering his new home in Cornwall. The star relocated his workshop and family from Kent to Cornwall last year, but has faced relentless storms that have caused significant damage.
Storms Return to Haunt Dominic
After a year of renovations, Dominic admitted that weatherproofing his converted workshop was a 'pressure'. In January, dramatic storms thrashed the county, leaving him struggling to make urgent repairs. He said at the time: 'The storm has caused a lot of damage, the workshop roof, various tiles and bits and bobs. I'm doing my best to deal with those, I've ordered more roof sheets and I've lined up roofers to try and fix the roof, but I'm also juggling trying to finish this kitchen.'
A month later, another violent storm caused a section of his workshop roof to collapse, damaging a nearly irreplaceable vehicle he was restoring underneath. Now, over a year on from the move, Dominic says it is happening again. 'All week there has been more crazy weather and there's now weather warnings for wind and it has been brutal,' he explained in a new video.
Worst Day Yet
'Today is probably one of the worst days,' Dominic said in the video update. 'There is sideways rain, crazy strong winds. It is really not looking good out there. I'm hiding at the top of the workshop because the roller shutter is rattling around and it is so loud down there.' He added: 'The last few weeks of beautiful sunshine have lulled me into a false sense of security that everything is all okay here. But actually the reality is my gutters are still leaking really badly. I have a plan, but I need bright sunny weather to be able to do that.'
The workshop's fragile roof has taken a battering, with Dominic noting: 'Some of the cracks and holes in the roof have got a little bit worse with the recent wind, which is letting in a lot of water. I've got water creeping in underneath the roller shutter at the front. I think that's because I need to put a bit of a sort of fall or a slope at the concrete in front of the roller shutter.' He added: 'We'll get to that later.'
Problems Beyond the Workshop
The punishing weather has also caused issues outside. 'I've planted a couple of trees in the field after all the ground works and the levelling has been done, and they are having a tough time. I've staked them, but they are flapping around in the wind. I don't know if they're going to survive or not, but we'll have to see,' Dominic said.
Dominic has previously spoken about how stressful the move from Kent to Cornwall was. 'It is completely life-changing. It really is. I'm never moving again. It was stressful, but it's like having that workshop and having that at home has been a dream for so long. And I'm very, very fortunate, very grateful that I've actually been able to do it, but it doesn't come easy.' He added: 'It has been a lot of work, a huge amount of work, and as I say, it is still very much derelict. I'm still shovelling cow poo out where all my tools are.'
Dominic is back on our screens tonight for the latest episode of The Repair Shop, airing at 8pm on BBC1.
