Surprised

Ever wondered what the self-employed get up to at home during the day? I know they work hard at the business and I've even had to chivvy H away from his office when I get home but today, today was unexpected.

I arrived home and noticed that somehow our lounge was different. Different in that way that only the presence of an extra 3 piece suite, a welsh dresser and several boxes of art materials can really produce. H had emptied the contents of our conservatory into our lounge.

Hmm - I opened the door to the conservatory expecting to see the lino and not much else. We've had a few problems with the floor feeling like we'd broken a board and some damp around the door so it made sense that he's had a look at it.

Had a look!! The lino and the floorboards (which turned out to be only sheets of MDF) and the joists were all outside on the patio and were all rotten through with damp. That broken floorboard, not so broken, just squishy with damp. Our conservatory now comprises a sand and earth floor with a few bricks which were being used for goodness knows what. There was not one salveagable timber in the whole thing. The floor in the conservatory has always been lower than the main house and it seems that the cheapo skinflint previous owner with a degree in botch-jobs hasn't laid the floor properly, and the ventilation bricks seem far too low to the ground to us. The structure of the conservatory is still pretty good so we just need to work out what best to do to reline the floor and re-set it and hope for the best.

This poor little house has been abused by the atrocious DIY done by our predecessors so it really should be no surprise that when we try to do one thing, we have to go back three layers and correct whatever they did in the first place. Still I suppose that it makes sense to catch it now and sort it out, rather than wait for the inevitable day when the whole thing falls down!