Sunday 25 February 2018

Never mind "Back to the Future" ...

Well the saga of our house, and the builder, continues. Work was done, but not finished, and the builder was sacked for being an ar****le (I can't spell the Greek version) and so Savvas came to continue with the work. I felt that he was not doing what the structural engineer had advised and - sure enough - in the areas where the new work had been done, the damp and the mould returned with a vengeance. All work stopped and then a phone call that Savvas was going to arrive with a new builder.

A Bulgarian builder (with a very expensive liveried van) arrived and there was a site inspection and a lengthy conference. The end result is that, apparently, this builder recommended doing what the structural engineer told us all six months ago. And so, he will remove all the work already done, come out three tiles all around the house, dig down (which was never done previously) so that the saturated ground underneath the tiles can dry. He will then remove the plaster and some brickwork from the house (a metre or more up the walls), and apply the magic formula which will insulate the ground and the walls. Ye Gods! It is apparently going to take a fortnight. After that the outside of the house will need to be repainted (as it was last year), and the interior will need to be made good and touched up by the decorators.

After that we have to hope for a prolonged wet spell to see whether this has cured the problem. If so, great celebrations. But how much money has been wasted on "cheap" options? Why employ a structural engineer and then disregard his opinion? No doubt Savvas lights his big cigars with €50 notes.

Watch this space. But not in the next few days. My 65th birthday is on Wednesday and I intend to celebrate in style so that both Ann and I have a great few days. My old friend Mikkis used to refer to himself as a "Pensioneer" (to rhyme with Musketeer) and that is what I shall be. Who said life was dull?

Wednesday 7 February 2018

"I see no skip ..."

Despite my blog yesterday, some materials arrived later on in the day and the builder turned up a few minutes ago with his pneumatic drill. And so - and no doubt the arrival of headaches later today - the next stage of the great work begins. Contrary to what the civil engineer said, the tiles are being removed and a magic chemical is to be sprayed, before a membrane is put in place. I can remember him saying that the sand underneath the tiled area would be saturated and would need to be allowed to dry for three or four days. This now appears to be not the case.

A lot of money had been spent in the last couple of years (and not our money I am glad to say) and the work seems to have been done in the wrong order. Surely solving the damp and mould problem (caused by the fact that "damp proof courses" do not appear to exist in Cyprus) should have been the first step. But no ... remove the mould and redecorate inside and out at a considerable expense. Another winter and more mould ... and so decorate the interior of the house with an anti-fungal paint. Six days later the first signs of mould reappear. And so ... a builder is called in but is not appearing to be following the advice of the civil engineer. So "quo vadis?" No doubt the affected areas will be rubbed down and treated again with the anti-fungal paint. And then ... wait to see if the mould reappears.

Some people appear to have more money than sense. But what do I know? You cannot seal the house from rising damp. You must eradicate it and then treat it.

Daisy was not amused at the sound of the pneumatic drill but seems to have settled down now. Mister Sprout is making his feelings felt from the laundry room. Ann and I will no doubt be reaching for the paracetamol if the drilling goes on all day. But the sun is shining, the sky is blue and already there are signs of Spring in the air.

Sunday 4 February 2018

"Hey, presto!" as Plato might have said.

Plato is reported to have said "As the builders say, the larger stones do not lie well without the lesser". Well he is probably right. And Craig Martin, in more recent days, commented "The first sign builders are on the way is when - hey, presto! - a skip appears outside your house".

Well we would give our eye teeth to see a skip appear outside of the house. A builder appeared, disappeared, and a week later there is no sign of the work starting. I know this is Cyprus, and I know the value of patience, but we have had structural engineers, architects, builders, decorators - experts of all kinds - to advise on the problem of continuing damp. And still the damp appears, and still we wait for it to be sorted. By the time the builder arrives, it will be Spring, the damp will disappear and then we shall only find out next winter whether the work has been successful.

In the depths of winter there is always one series of events that lifts the spirits - the Six Nations' Rugby Championship. Yesterday afternoon, tucked up in front of the fire, Ann and I watched the Welsh humiliate the Scots (who had promised so much last Autumn) and the Irish dispatch the cheating French with a drop goal which almost (but not quite) ranked with the great Jonny Wilkinson effort in the World Cup final in 2003. I hate to see cheating in rugby and the latest scandal about mythical Head Injury Assessments was instigated by the French last year. They got away with it, and almost got away with it yesterday. Roll on today's match when, I trust, England will put Italy to the sword. My forecast is 12 - 40. If I'm right, remember that you read it here first.

My 65th birthday approaches fast, and I have received confirmation of my State Pension. It would appear that "they" have decided that I am eligible to receive this "benefit". Well that's all right then. It would appear that paying National Insurance for every day of my working life was not entirely wasted. BENEFIT, my goodness me. How very gracious of them to allow me to be paid what I had contributed for years and years and years.