Tuesday, January 27, 2009
The hole in the kitchen floor
"Stop, Bill" I pleaded "how big is the hole in the kitchen floor going to be?"
Today Bill decided that he should make a start on re-doing our kitchen floor covering. After all, it is over 2 months since the new kitchen was installed.
But it was not just a matter of fitting the carpet tiles.
We have a strip of wood across the base of each door frame - I am sure there is a proper word for it.
Now, we removed the door between the kitchen and the small space by the back door very soon after we moved in - so, almost 40 years ago.
Bill thought it would be best to remove the bit of wood and carpet tile right through.
The wood has got damp in its time. There is a cold water pipe running somewhere underneath it and I guess there has been condensation.
It was not just the wood that was damp, but also the concrete base of the house and it was quite crumbly and Bill started to scrape it out.
That's when I got worried.
I envisaged the concrete having to be renewed over a large area. But, in fact, Bill has now filled the hole he made with quick drying cement and I think all will be well. But we will have to buy some cheap vinyl floor tiles to replace some that had perished with the damp.
And then the carpet tiles can go down.
So at the moment there are hints of chaos in our homely room.
As he got busy I walked to the post office in lovely sunshine. Bright sunshine and my SAD lamp today must be a bonus for my brain.
This afternoon Isobel came round with her new camera, which is a combination still photo and video machine. Well, of course Isobel can't understand the manual - stupid manuals are written in some language not familiar to ordinary folks. I can't make head nor tail of them. I hope Bill has helped a bit.
I felt reasonably optimistic about my sinus condition today - I haven't been feeling too bad. But I have heard of a couple of folks who have had better days and then felt really bad again not long after. And by about 5 o'clock I did feel my chest tighten up and I feel weary now.
But I wasn't too tired to cook some lovely sausages and mash.
Well, that's it for today.
We are off to Guildford tomorrow to take Jane for her radiotherapy once again. She has just over a week to go.
Goodnight.
Today Bill decided that he should make a start on re-doing our kitchen floor covering. After all, it is over 2 months since the new kitchen was installed.
But it was not just a matter of fitting the carpet tiles.
We have a strip of wood across the base of each door frame - I am sure there is a proper word for it.
Now, we removed the door between the kitchen and the small space by the back door very soon after we moved in - so, almost 40 years ago.
Bill thought it would be best to remove the bit of wood and carpet tile right through.
The wood has got damp in its time. There is a cold water pipe running somewhere underneath it and I guess there has been condensation.
It was not just the wood that was damp, but also the concrete base of the house and it was quite crumbly and Bill started to scrape it out.
That's when I got worried.
I envisaged the concrete having to be renewed over a large area. But, in fact, Bill has now filled the hole he made with quick drying cement and I think all will be well. But we will have to buy some cheap vinyl floor tiles to replace some that had perished with the damp.
And then the carpet tiles can go down.
So at the moment there are hints of chaos in our homely room.
As he got busy I walked to the post office in lovely sunshine. Bright sunshine and my SAD lamp today must be a bonus for my brain.
This afternoon Isobel came round with her new camera, which is a combination still photo and video machine. Well, of course Isobel can't understand the manual - stupid manuals are written in some language not familiar to ordinary folks. I can't make head nor tail of them. I hope Bill has helped a bit.
I felt reasonably optimistic about my sinus condition today - I haven't been feeling too bad. But I have heard of a couple of folks who have had better days and then felt really bad again not long after. And by about 5 o'clock I did feel my chest tighten up and I feel weary now.
But I wasn't too tired to cook some lovely sausages and mash.
Well, that's it for today.
We are off to Guildford tomorrow to take Jane for her radiotherapy once again. She has just over a week to go.
Goodnight.
