Tardiness explained!

We went to France very early on 2 May - we had a meeting on the Bank Holiday Monday (a rarity: we got a Bank Hol & they didn't!), and wanted to do some weeding before the garden got completely out of control...

Also we wanted to drop off the freebie sink...

[Note to self: remember to post about how Ikea's inefficiency saved us quite a bit of money!]

Just before we went, I'd received a letter saying a surveyor would be in our area to conduct pre-works inspections before Thames Water dig a big tunnel right underneath our house...

This would happen the week commencing 11 May - which gave me the kick up the bum I needed to finish off the decorating at home!

There was only the shelves in the dining room, the bathroom door and the inside of the flat door and stripping the lacquer off the door handles & relacquering to do.

Plus Spring cleaning and reassambling the flat [nice to have the sofa no longer on its side in the bedroom!], obviously!

So how come I managed to work over 12 hours a day for 9 days (quite often doing 15, 17 or 18 hours!), and only stopping on day 9 for a break to go to the pharmacist to get myself patched up?

Top Tip: when you're REALLY tired, don't use a razor-sharp pointy knife to slit open packaging without giving it 110% attention!

The cut was only about 1cm wide, but judging by the blood I found on the knife when I remembered to clean it up, about 1.5cm deep...

Gaped nastily & I couldn't work out how to close the gap without growing a third hand!

It's healing nicely, but for a couple of days, I could type or use my hand, so took a [well-earned?] rest. So lucky not to hit a tendon or nerve!!

[Oh, and the surveyor was really complimentary about the cleanliness/tidiness of the flat (all the effort was worth it!), and highly praised my decorating. Thank You! ]

Anyway, to get back to the point of the blog: the latest builder had been at work just over a week, and at the meeting on the Monday M. Boyer asked him to re-do the pipework for the VMC air inlet (including all the concrete and work in the cellar), and alter the groundworks at the rear of the house...

100% rate of "not-quite-getting-there"!!

Trying so hard not to become stressed by the process, and constantly reminding myself that it must end one day...

Won't it?

Whilst we were there, the new builders were trying to find the drains that left the house put in place by builder number 2...

[M. Boyer very firmly pointed out that they were NOT to connect to the redundant (visible) drains installed by builder 1!]

After an hour or so of chipping away at the subsoil with a pick-axe, and a 'phone call to M. Smail, M. Amin finally found the pipe (which only went halfway through the wall) about 2' away from where it should have been, and about 8" lower!

Not delighted: the pipe comes out at an acute angle, and we are left with a worryingly shallow fall to the sewer (less than 4" over 35-40').

Because the pipe leaving the house is at less than right angles, the elbow to the drain run at the back will also have to be less than 90° - creating a "z" formation; NOT ideal!

The builders and M. Boyer assure us it will work, but if I'm out there with the drain rods more than once in the next year I'm seriously tempted to go to the tribunal this time!

The only thing stopping me getting them to re-route the drains is the fact that all the work in the back hall has been finished, and it would ALL have to be pulled out and started again!

Can't face that, so am opting to keep my fingers crossed instead...

We had discussions with M. Baty [the damp in the house is undoing his work as fast as he corrects the new window sills & vaulting], and M. Roncari [he stuck a damp-meter in the walls in several rooms - off the scale in every room, apart from the one untouched wall, which is merely 'damp' (as opposed to "wringing") - it would be madness to finish the walls and ceilings that we are having painted with that much moisture still around].

The short of it is that we will get the ceilings finished & painted & the warped woodwork corrected when the house has dried out.

Realistically, this could be next year.

But we'll see what a summer of opening doors & windows can achieve...

We've got our horrible old doors mounted on beautiful new frames in the loo, shower room & boiler room - all we need are door handles, and then we will have some privacy for the first time in nearly 5 years!

Mind you, my mum has only recently fitted a latch to her bathroom door (after almost 30 years), so it's not like I'm not used to lock-free bathing... It was lovely when they replaced the curtain to the bathroom with a door!!

The correct tap has been fitted in the laundry, and the tiling done around the sink, and all the pipework finished off; it looks great.

M. Huguenot [Schwartz] didn't make a fuss about our reclaimed sink, so we're hopeful to have water in the kitchen by the time we can stay there...

Was not looking forward to carting all the washing up to the laundry & back; bad enough having to do it!

Little niggles: the housing for the entrance to the small cave is still too big, but M. Baty thinks he can channel into it to get the bedroom door to fit; the loo leaks (we only found out when they poured water down to try & trace the drains; we can't use it because it's not connected at the "other" end); the cap on the well is really high.

But small points, easily fixed (well, can't change the well-cap, but I can plant around it to hide it somewhat).

The huge bonus was arriving at the house and being able to see out of the back door - the tarpaulin has gone and our decision to glaze the back door was definitely the right one!