Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Hello Builder, my old friend ....

The saga of the builder continues. Years ago now, we had a leak on the roof. Builder (eventually) got it fixed. Except it wasn't. So he fixed it again. Except he didn't. Thus began a pattern of trouble and frustration that's now been going on for two years. It all finally came to a head a while back when builder said he wasn't going to do any more because he'd had to lay his men off. We got the NHBC involved and before Christmas they finally give him his very last chance. Then they gave him another. And another. And another. You get the idea.

And still the rain came down. And the towels became a permanent addition to the insulation in the attic, only being taken out for a quick visit to the tumble-dryer, like prisoners on day release to some bizarre funfair.

Finally, no, really finally. No honestly. The NHBC get it together and he finally decides to do something about it. Which is why I was working from home today. Builder arrived at 9am. By midday they'd moved some bricks, cement and sand into the garage and set up the scaffolding on the driveway. They'd also had a couple of cups of tea and buggered off twice to get whatever it is builders get when they bugger off.

The work this week is three fold. Part one is drilling out a line of brickwork and reinstalling the driptrays (this time in the right place). Part two is looking under the tiles on the back roof to work out where that leak's coming from. Part three is sealing the gas fire flue vent in the main roof. All three get done and the leaks stop. In theory. But I've heard that before. Many times before. I'll only actually believe it's finally finished and fixed when the first really bad lot of rain doesn't end up in the house. Then I may start relaxing when the rain starts.

Okay, back to the builder. At 12:09pm the drilling started. No warning. Just heart attack inducing suddeness. I'm sat at the computer working on the school website and suddenly my heart tries to jump out of my throat as this horrible noisee goes through every wall in the house.

Luckily I didn't have to suffer it for long. 12:25pm. Lunch. Builder naffs off, gets chips, reads paper and sits in the car.
1:30pm. Work starts again. Heart nearly stops again.
3:30pm. I fetch Molly from school. Builder takes this as sign that working day is over.
4:00pm. Builder leaves. Having replaced 6 whole bricks on roof line. 6. I counted them.

Hopefully tomorrow he'll be a little faster of the mark and maybe get into double figures.

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