Draining and Raining

This morning I saw two not so inconspicuous chaps sitting in a van outside our house. I was not told they were coming but they got a full, happy family welcome when they knocked on the front door.

For almost ten months we have been waiting for them to arrive to fix our broken drain and leaky cellar. It has been a stuggle and a massive stress so it was nice to see them start work even if they were smashing through our victorian tiles.

It was not long till they were not happy. As I expected their brief for the job was incorrect. They were thinking they would only need to dig down half a metre as per their camera mans instruction. As I expected due to other reports and the actual leak, it was a lot further down.

Only one of the workmen was small enough to fit in the hole to dig it out and he had to contort himself to get the mud and rubble up and into his wheelbarrow. Along their dig they found three pieces of broken waste pipe, one right down at the mains. In the end to get to the actual pipes we have had to lose our old coal shoot which is a bit sad but I am more worried that they are not really sure how to fix the problem.

They had to stop for the day leaving a big hole and a temporary pipe that does not keep the water in at all but then I do not envy the work that they did today, especially given the weather. So it was a bedtime without baths for the little ones tonight.

Hopefully tomorrow they will work out how to fix the pipes and then they are planning to fix up a ventilation to the old coal shoot and then will basically fill the rest of the hole with cement to ensure no further leakage is a problem. I am not a fan of this much cement as I worry about what will happen if there are future problems, but then I am not the expert.

I am just pleased that work has started on it after all this time. Hopefully it will be sorted tomorrow and one less thing to worry about.

Backblipped for yesterday