And again

For the second Monday in a row I am at home.

Last week, I was getting over a horrible cold: I still can't quite believe that I took a day off because of a cold, but there you are. Today, I am here because the landlady is bringing a plumber/builder around to The Carpathia around lunchtime. Back during the big freeze in January, I wrote about the fact that the rear wall of the flat was covered in ice where the overflow from the gutter had run down the wall and frozen. Many of the outside pipes froze and water was beginning to seep back into the bathroom, causing a damp area on the ceiling.

We were told that once the thaw set in he would be back to sort the problem out, including fixing the extractor fan, which broke down - presumably because of the ice. Well, apart from the occasional very cold night, it has been ice-free around here for weeks now. The chap has never been back and over the weekend, the problem stepped up a level. On Saturday night a drip started above the bath. Annoyingly the most active leak is just above the edge of the bath rather than over the bath itself, so it hits and splatters everywhere. During Sunday and last night, a crack appeared in the ceiling and the dampness is spreading. It will soon be necessary to use an umbrella when availing oneself of the facilities as it were.

I don't think the ceiling is in immediate danger of dropping into the bathroom, but the plasterboard is now pretty saturated and the sooner the landlords fix the place the better.

And again

For the second Monday in a row I am at home.

Last week, I was getting over a horrible cold: I still can't quite believe that I took a day off because of a cold, but there you are. Today, I am here because the landlady is bringing a plumber/builder around to The Carpathia around lunchtime. Back during the big freeze in January, I wrote about the fact that the rear wall of the flat was covered in ice where the overflow from the gutter had run down the wall and frozen. Many of the outside pipes froze and water was beginning to seep back into the bathroom, causing a damp area on the ceiling.

We were told that once the thaw set in he would be back to sort the problem out, including fixing the extractor fan, which broke down - presumably because of the ice. Well, apart from the occasional very cold night, it has been ice-free around here for weeks now. The chap has never been back and over the weekend, the problem stepped up a level. On Saturday night a drip started above the bath. Annoyingly the most active leak is just above the edge of the bath rather than over the bath itself, so it hits and splatters everywhere. During Sunday and last night, a crack appeared in the ceiling and the dampness is spreading. It will soon be necessary to use an umbrella when availing oneself of the facilities as it were.

I don't think the ceiling is in immediate danger of dropping into the bathroom, but the plasterboard is now pretty saturated and the sooner the landlords fix the place the better.

Leaks

After much wandering up and down the stairs, nipping out to the street and to-ing and fro-ing up on to the rook by both the builder and the plumber, it seems that for now at least, the leak that was afflicting The Carpathia has been fixed. It was something to do with a water tank, a pool of water on what transpires is a flat roof (the obvious camber seen from the road telling but part of the architectural story) and a case of 'My Kingdom for a ballcock'. Anyway, the dripping, which seems to have stopped of its own volition during the day, has not come back, though it was worse at night (it's always worse at night), so that will be the acid test, I guess. Even one of the bulbs that I thought blown has started working again. Hopefully it will all dry out and the vague smell of must in the bathroom will go with it.

There remains, of course, the huge stain on the ceiling.

I believe that landlord approval forthcoming, the builder at least will return on Wednesday to do nefarious things to the roof to limit the potential for a recurrence. This means, most likely, that I shall have to take a further day off work, but this time I shall bring something home and include the log in name to the web based part of the system on my iPhone. The last upgrade to Firefox seems to have deleted it from my system, so I lost the chance to catch up on drab routine in the comfort of my own home. Shame. Not that I could have managed to concentrate on much with the dust brothers galumphing around the flat.

I am getting auditory hallucinations: I keep thinking that I can hear water dripping in the bathroom and yet it remains dry.

Leaks

After much wandering up and down the stairs, nipping out to the street and to-ing and fro-ing up on to the rook by both the builder and the plumber, it seems that for now at least, the leak that was afflicting The Carpathia has been fixed. It was something to do with a water tank, a pool of water on what transpires is a flat roof (the obvious camber seen from the road telling but part of the architectural story) and a case of 'My Kingdom for a ballcock'. Anyway, the dripping, which seems to have stopped of its own volition during the day, has not come back, though it was worse at night (it's always worse at night), so that will be the acid test, I guess. Even one of the bulbs that I thought blown has started working again. Hopefully it will all dry out and the vague smell of must in the bathroom will go with it.

There remains, of course, the huge stain on the ceiling.

I believe that landlord approval forthcoming, the builder at least will return on Wednesday to do nefarious things to the roof to limit the potential for a recurrence. This means, most likely, that I shall have to take a further day off work, but this time I shall bring something home and include the log in name to the web based part of the system on my iPhone. The last upgrade to Firefox seems to have deleted it from my system, so I lost the chance to catch up on drab routine in the comfort of my own home. Shame. Not that I could have managed to concentrate on much with the dust brothers galumphing around the flat.

I am getting auditory hallucinations: I keep thinking that I can hear water dripping in the bathroom and yet it remains dry.