Damp men

Dlf 4, August 2020

It seems I've done quite a lot of stuff since the last update - been on a train, borrowed a library book, met the new pub landlord (or tenant), spent time with Buddhists on Zoom, spent time with family and friends in real life... and a whole lot more LTRP activities.

The train experience was not too bad, except that about half the people on each train were not wearing masks - at one point I moved away from a particularly rowdy group. Borrowing the library book involved browsing the catalog online, choosing the book and then being telephoned by someone from the library to arrange a time for collection, when it was there waiting for me. The pub landlord, or possibly tenant, seemed like a nice chap and was happy to talk but there has been no visible activity since we spoke, so the pub remains closed.

I drove over to see mum and dad and set up a computer for dad to use, and then drove on to Cambridge with Lola II and Mr M and we camped in the garden of our friends. The weather was very wet and windy on the first night - my tent was fine but Lola II and Mr M's tent is poorly designed and some water got in, making the night a little uncomfortable. The second night was better. We did a lot of walking and had lunch outside a pub and played board games and watched a film, and it was nice to see friends again even if we had to bend the rules with four households sitting indoors.

The LTRP is not going all that well. The front door replacement was fine though, and I now have a doorbell again, a fancy door number attached to the wall, a chain, and a spyhole at a height that allows me to look through it without having to jump. They also replaced a broken hinge on a different window, and were generally a delight to work with.

Less delightful has been the water-based activity. Dlf 4 applied the damp-proof membrane to the inside of the walls and then came and rendered on top of it, which produced a powerful and obnoxious smell in the porch for days. He was back a week later to skim the final plaster surface, and then Dlf 5 was the last damp man to turn up to replace the skirting on the newly plastered and skimmed wall in the porch.

The plumbers are having a more difficult time, what with the lack of any straight edges or right angles, and accidentally running into a gas pipe, and getting some decorative tiles that are not the ones I asked for, and having to find a different electrician when the first one disappeared on holiday. Then they peeled back a little of the damp-proof membrane in the wet room and found that the bricks behind it are saturated - not just the sort of damp that you suspect so you check using a damp meter, more the sort of damp that fish enjoy. So the Flfs aren't happy applying plasterboard over the top of it, and so far the damp men have not called me back to arrange to come and take a look, and Flf 1 has had to put off the tiler twice so far, and I am still showering in the bath.