Oh goddddddd...

[byslantedlight]

I think I must have done something terrible to someone's house in a previous life, because I seem destined not to have a nice comfortable home of my own... Granted, this one is too small for me, and cold and expensive to heat (cos it has no efficient heaters, just stand-alone electric ones) and there are rats (or summat!) in the roof, but... it was basically sound and I was getting on with it and quite glad not to have to pack up and move again within a year. Plus lovely walk down the long garden, and view over to the hills...

So I thought...

So today I decided to be very good and take my Christmas decorations down early - I usually wait until after twelfth night and take them down on the 6th January, but today being Sunday and all, and tomorrow a work day - I decided to be good. I undressed the tree and got everything put away, and the tree into the car for the tree-recycling place, and hoovered up all the needles (well, lots of them - it's never all, is it...) and paused for lunch. Then I went to move the shelves back into where the tree'd been, from their emergency-space in the bedroom, and had a quick dust... and thought huh, that looks like damp behind the bed... So I moved the bed, and sure enough - damp along the wall. Gaaah! Not lots and not too nasty, but needing dealt with, so I trotted over to Landlord who brought his special mould cleaning stuff and even cleaned it for me, bless him. And okay, this has happened before on the same wall.

And as I did it, I thought well I hope it's not gone further along, but I know I checked behind the bookcases not long ago and they were fine... So I shone a torch behind them, just to be on the safe side - and there's big spodges of damp. Waaaah! Landlord offers to clean it for me tomorrow, but I'd rather do it tonight, so I just ask him to leave me the stuff. So I move all the books off the first bookcase (about six long shelves full), and pile them precariously around the bed, and clean the wall. And the back of the bookcase, which is, of course, also somewhat fluffy with damp mould. And then I shine my light behind the next bookcase, expecting to see perhaps a little bit more of the same, and sure enough there are patches. So I sigh (okay, I swear long and loudly), and start removing books and teetering them up between doorways, and then I move the bookcase out properly, and...

Gaaaaaaah! It would be less scary if it hadn't infiltrated that electricity socket, but... *sighs more* So I moved my books even further away, and here now is my Mount To-Be-Rescued, where my Christmas tree was just this morning...

And I moved the Paper Circuit Library folders that I'd brought inside cos they'd be drier/safer inside than down in the Slaughterhouse, where the ivy is winning, and ow-my-back, and then I realised I didn't really want to sleep in the room with the nasty chemical mould-remover smell, or the Big Bad Damp patches (waiting so the electrician can see what's going on, hopefully tomorrow), so here's my new bedroom...

I'm not convinced that my sofa bed is terribly comfortable, though to be fair I always meant to try it before subjecting guests to it...
Although, with interesting timing, I'm sort-of house-sitting for my friend who's off on another cruise with her lecturing partner (forensics, well-cool, I've been a test-audience for him recently *g*) for the next three weeks, and so if Landlord does find that he needs to take off the entire bedroom wall and re-do it then if he does it in the next three weeks, I at least have somewhere else I can sleep... *sigh*

But did you notice that bit of the sentence? He might have to have the entire back wall of my house taken off and sorted out! And electricity turned off, and general uninhabitable-ness... *sigh* I'd almost be better off putting everything back in storage and moving onto the next thing now - but it's complicated by food-saving-in-process and lovely-landlords, and... you know. Stuff. But here I am again, having to move my stuff out of the bedroom and living in chaos rather than in a real grown-up house.

See what I mean? I've only been here a year! Clearly Not. Meant. To. Have. A Home. Of. My. Own...

And of course what I'd meant to do after taking the tree to the recycling-mulch place, was catch up on all my replies, and ci5hq, and... *sighs* And this is all after a hospital check-up appointment last Thursday (basically fine) and tax due at the end of the month... nothing like starting the new year with a whoo-hoo...

And I still have to be grateful that my house is not (yet) on fire, or surrounded by smoke. My nearest are on the outskirts of Melbourne, and had a slight scare the other day (hmmn, and actually the same area's apparently burning again now, 11 vehicles attending...) but are okay, but my new second-cousin and his new wee family are far too close to some of the north Gippsland fires for my liking... Just erk. Looking at the Cfa/Vic emergency site (and the Rfs site for NSW mates) makes me realise I can live with damp and mould...

And yet again I'm late with replies and catching-up and all, but hopefully tomorrow...

Comments

[siskiou.livejournal.com]

You shouldn't have to live with mold! Especially, since it seems to be a known problem.
A rent reduction should be the least!

We are renting out my mother-in-laws house in California for her, and had to let the tenant live rent free, while the heat was fixed. Even though we bought him space heaters for the interim, too. Apparently space heaters don't count.

I hope 2020 brings you the home you are looking for!
And all the best wishes to Australia! It's so awful!

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

I agree - definitely no mould! *g*

All I have are little space heaters - I wish this place had central heating, I reckon that would help the problem no end... No laws here about living rent free while there are problems, as far as I know... If it was really bad I'd definitely push that though.

Someone came to look today - but it wasn't the electrician or a damp expert of any kind, it was Landlord's mate who does various useful jobs. I've met him before, and he's a nice guy, and worked on this house with Landlord, I'm just not sure how far I can rely on his advice (and he was the first to say that he was no expert, it's not like he's trying to con anyone!). He reckoned it looked like the damp was on the wall rather than in it, and that the room just needed better ventilation and heating. Which if I had either of those things, I'd give it! I open the window every day for an hour or so (and longer when it's not cold), and the door's always open all day, but there just isn't any other outside ventilation. I've not put a heater on there, admittedly, cos electric space heaters are so expensive, and I've only been heating the rooms I'm in (and using hot water bottles in bed *g*) If it turns out that my electricity bill goes way up, I'll talk to landlord about a rent reduction to make it up, cos I should be able to live mould-free in a bedroom, just from correct structural/ventilation build! Sorry - waffling on, now!

Thanks for the best wishes - and right back to you, because I think you guys deserve a much nicer 2020!

[siskiou.livejournal.com]

Thanks! We could sure use a more cheerful year!

With the mold, it could be due to not heating in that room, and having too much stuff along the walls.
We had a problem like that in our bedroom, and started running a dehumidifier in there. It also warms things up.
And we had to move out most of our shelves, as they just didn't let the air circulate properly behind them.
The books smelled a little musty, too!
I hope yours are ok and that it works out with the little heater, without getting too expensive!

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Trouble is, I don't have anywhere to move my bookcases to... I do keep them off the walls - in fact it's not possible for them to be right up against the walls, because either the wall or floor slopes enough that there's an inch or so gap by the time you get to the top! Even at the bottom the skirting board stops them being flat up against the wall. I open the window for at least an hour every day, to try and help air circulate, but the way the house is designed (windows on one side, door through to bedroom/kitchen on the other) means that you can't really get a through draft, which would help the air to move. There's perhaps something of a through draft (though barely) if I open the front door too, but only because of the size of gap that makes! But it opens onto the street, so I don't really want to do that all the time. And not in winter, either!

Trouble with a dehumidifier is that it uses even more electricity, and I'm already paying an awfully high bill - and the house isn't even warm as a result! Plus the noise would drive me batty... I'm going to try and find some dehumidifying plants - apparently things like English ivy, cacti and spider plants are good at sucking moisture out of the air to use themselves. Not that there's an awful lot of room to put them!

I've had my bookcases in every house I've lived in though, and I know other people have them too (!) - I should be able to have stuff along the walls without them becoming covered in mould, if there was proper ventilation and heating in the room. I don't think there'd be a problem if there was better air flow in the house, or a better heating system... I just can't afford to be spending £200 a month (cUS$260) on electricity because the landlord didn't want to pay out for a heating system... *sighs*

[siskiou.livejournal.com]

It does sound like looking for another place might be the best option, since your landlord is not planning on (or can't afford to) making any changes or include the electric usage into the rent.
Is there anything suitable available in your village, or is it as bad as here, with rent prices?

We had no choice but to move out any shelves that were on the two outer walls in our bedroom. It's okay along the one "inside" wall. The other "inside" wall is taken up by the inbuilt closet.
We had trouble finding new spaces for the book shelves and our living room is now very cluttered! And the hallway, too!

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Oh, I wish I had a hallway! I miss having a hallway! I lined it with shelves... *g*

It's hard to say about the village. Things come up occasionally, but I'm fussy about not wanting to use estate agents who're trying to take advantage of renters (via excessive fees) rather than just do their job, which narrows it down a bit too! But there's something now and then. If I can hold out for the rest of winter... which granted is at least another three months!

I think Landlord probably could fford to put in decent heating/sort out the wall (and to be fair, he said he'd look into damp courses if the problem came back - it's not like he's a horrid man or anything, just... old, and hoping and not to have to spend more than he can help. (Which also explains the bathroom wallpaper, and, I suspect, the lack of a freezer...!)

In fact, it's because they're nice people and because I like the garden and outdoor space that finding somewhere new in the village would be difficult too... I dunno. We'll see, I guess. There's also a bit of me that wonders whether I should move back to Australia for a bit, while my mum still remembers who I am... and the odds are fairly high that if I do have to move out of here again, that I'll take the opportunity to go to Australia again for a few months or so... Might depend what else happens here I guess, and how far Johnson decides to sell out to Trump... scary times...

[siskiou.livejournal.com]

Oh, going back to Australia!
Would you be able to live with family there, or rent something?
How is the leadership in Australia? I've heard grumbles about Morrison, too, but have to admit to not
being well informed.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Well, I don't know if I really would, it still feels like the wrong side of the world to me, but... I wouldn't live with family, though I'd probably live near to them (which would also be weird, cos they're on the edge of the city rather than anywhere we grew up)

I've never been convinced about Morrison, though to be fair I've not followed him closely. He's leader of the Liberal Party though (read Tories/Republicans-type politics) and I don't like his stance on immigration or asylum seekers one bit. He opposed same-sex marriage. So... he's probably not the leader I'd like to see there...