We’ve had more rain this winter than I can remember for many years. As I said the other day, I’ve got downpipe problems – that is, not the actual downpipes but a hopper that takes the rain from a roof and directs it into a downpipes. It abruptly turned into a colander. This is right by my big porch and the rain is wetting the wall and coming into the porch – not dripping, but wetting the wood and round the ceiling and also the wall behind the toilet in the cloakroom. When the guttering was replaced before we moved here, for reasons best known to himself, Russell replaced everything but this one cast iron hopper. He always liked to leave a job not quite done. Used to drive me nuts. He would deliberately leave everything with a small part imperfect and I like things to be completed. However, it lasted for decades without problems, admittedly. Now, it’s a disaster. I can’t shut the side door completely as it’s swelled and have to lock the inner door and not the outer one. It’s at times like this that I wish I’d dealt with all the house mending stuff, because Russell insisted on it and I don’t have the contacts that he did. He was very protective of his house – it was very much his. He was born here and he died here and I understood his protectiveness. Until the last few years, when things were neglected and I was very worried about the future, I loved living here and I do again now, but it was my home, not my house. I’ve sometimes felt that I should have argued more, but neither of us would have liked that.
This seems to be the year of rainfall problems EVERYWHERE! We’re dealing with leaks, wet walls, and probably needing a new roof! It seems that a small flooding issue (about 3 inches next to an exterior wall) caused water to wick up the exterior stucco wall and penetrate the interior wall! The MITM had to remove the carpeting in the room (thankfully it’s small) and seal off access to it to prevent mold spores from entering the rest of the house! YIKES! xoxo
I had the most appalling problems a few years ago at my London flat (which is instead of my pension). It was the fault of the builder who’d worked on the building next door, but I couldn’t prove it without going to court and I’d have been up against his insurance company. Cost me many thousands of pound in repairs, but it wasn’t worth fighting. But I know exactly what a worry for you it all is xoxo