Munch and Bolt and Guzzle

Yep, Norman Lindsay had it right:

Eat away, chew away, munch and bolt and guzzle
Never leave the table till you're full up to the muzzle!


What's that you say?

He was talking about the Magic Pudding, not the termites in my walls?

Well, how can I have termites in my concrete slab, concrete bunker, metal roofed house?

Perhaps the answer is: How can I not?

Well, it's two years since I went to the concrete bunker (yes, it's been a painfully slow renovation!!) and I walked in to find a half inch of water through three of the four rooms. It seems someone, at some time, had sawn off a pipe and so whenever next door let out the plug in the kitchen sink, there would be a few drips and drops sort of blow out the open pipe into the back of the brand new kitchen cabinets in my unit.

So even though I had a few windows open a crack there was not enough ventilation to dry out the drips, and it was not just the black mildew which settled in for the duration. In came the termites under the protection of the newly (well, six years ago) laid paving slabs in the courtyard and up through the weep holes in the brick work and yum, yum, into the skirting board conveniently close by and onwards, into the architraves and with all that lovely cool humidity they just had a field day.

It was like Picnic at Hanging Rock except it wasn't a picnic and the unit isn't at Hanging Rock.

But you get the idea.

So, enter Handyman Garry, at full speed, and he and Mr First Choice Pest Control have saved the day!

Amazing what an afternoon of ripping and spraying and lifting and spraying and injecting and spraying will do!

I think termites are just fabulous little critters and do a great job of cleaning up bushland.

But, I don't want them cleaning up dead timber in my house (the whole house is obviously, full of dead timber!) so sorry, folks, it's time to go.

And finally, Handyman Garry is actually renovating the unit, and getting it up to scratch so I really must go there one day and see what he has been doing ... apart from washing and scrubbing every square millimetre of every surface inside, and repainting where necessary, and removing the water damaged sections of the new kitchen and rebuilding the cabinets, this time on legs not kick boards, and removing and refitting shelving in the bathroom and once he has finished all this he will tile the wet areas and carpet the bedrooms and living areas and then do the gardens and then get it all ready for inspections. etc.

Funny how having a house empty for more than six years will feel like having a millstone around your neck!

But, not for much longer. The end, finally, is in sight.

Just thought I'd share. Australia is a termite zone and a damp house will attract termites like a moth to a flame.

Cheers
Kristine
 
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Kristine, I've heard you mention the 'concrete bunker' on more than one occasion, but why was it vacant? and why for so long? I'd hate to have an income stream not streaming income.
 
Then it's not yet the end!

G?Day Skater

Yeah, well, life is what happens when we?ve made other plans!

Everything will be all right in the end... if it's not all right then it's not yet the end. (Sonny, Best Exotic Marigold Hotel)

So, with the help of Handyman Garry, we are finally getting there.

And it will be a very splendid bunker when it is finally finished. Even without a tenant, it has more than doubled in value since I bought it in 2006. No: 2 Son owns the other side of the duplex and I have just done an Equity release against that, and the Bank had no quibbles about our Estimated Market Value at all.

But this is small beer, absolutely nothing compared to the folly of buying the house next door and expecting that someone, anyone, might have been interested in building a new house for us!

And now that we seem to have found a builder (yes, paid yet another deposit) he has gone off to have all his ribs replaced! No, don't ask.

So I look forward to having the bunker finished soon-ish and after that we are going to Tasmania on the Dawn Princess and will spend a day at MONA. They say that MONA has some rather strange exhibitions but nothing could be stranger than a builder with 14 titanium ribs!

Hope all is well with you!!

Cheers
Kristine
 
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