Disappointed but not surprised

We have had three “big” events with the house this week, one fun, one joyous and the other not so much. The not so much was failing the Code of Compliance Certificate inspection on Friday.

We have failed on two things, and possibly a third. One is that the wooden trim on each corner of the outside of the house needs to be painted at the bottom, underneath. As you can imagine this should be straight forward to fix. The second is that the two drains on the drive that lead to the sewer shouldn’t be flush with the surface of the concrete. They need to be raised by 25mm to prevent stormwater entering the sewer. We understand that this shouldn’t be too difficult to achieve. The third item relates to our request for access through all external doors to be wheel chair friendly, i.e.: flush with no step. This has been achieved by using a drainage system (which I think is plastic) between the concrete and the frames of the ranch sliders. The inspector said he would have liked to seen a 12mm gap between the plastic and the frame. He didn’t fail it outright because of the good camber on the concrete and because he wanted to talk the issue over with colleagues. He came back later in the afternoon to take more photos. We don’t yet know the outcome of his deliberations but assume Bert will find out via the official report. On the good side he said that when he did the pre-line inspection the insulation was very good, which we were pleased to hear. So, overall we were disappointed but not surprised. We had been warned that it’s not unusual to fail the first time. We don’t know quite what the plan and timescale is from here, but we should be seeing Bert next week.

The joyous event happened on Tuesday when Mary and Roger from Philp-Wright came and fitted our Roman blinds in the bedroom, wardrobe, shower room and downstairs loo. They are all really nice and finish the rooms off well:

The fun one was also on Tuesday afternoon (it was a very busy afternoon) when Ethan and a photographer from the Whanganui Chronicle called in to “profile” us for the most Beautiful House Exterior competition. Each of the six finalists have had a piece in the paper, and our’s appeared on Friday. I will be surprised if we win because I don’t feel that our house is beautiful, but it is dramatic. It might also be a little too contemporary for most of the locals participating in the Public Vote.

We are now at the point where we are nearly finished. The only things left to be fitted are the grab rail and accessory basket in the shower. Bert is going to fix a small hole in the concrete caused by last weeks’ digger, and seal the external vent for the range hood. I have painted over the filler which he applied in the bathroom, and have also painted the areas round the spotlights outside where the new ones didn’t cover the same bits of wall cladding as the old ones. With the blinds having arrived we have put up more pictures (whose positioning was influenced by the blinds) and hooks in the laundry for brooms etc. We are almost finished on the inside and it both looks and feels more like home. I also moved the sofa on Tuesday, putting it at the north end of the room. It only obscures one of the ranch sliders, and with the Barlow Recliners either outside or in the sewing room, it really opens up the living area. It also means we have somewhere comfortable to sit and enjoy the view through the house and to the hills on the other side of the river:

The beginning of the week was also busy with two more contractors coming to look at the section to provide fencing quotes, and Kerry from Wanganui Plumbing to quote for a water softener. I am concerned that our hard water will not be doing our appliances (water heater, dish washer, washing machine and instant hot water tap) any favours, though we don’t have the hardest water in Whanganui.

Nicky has had some more time with Valda this week, who is still here because her husband Tom had hurt his back. He couldn’t drive, and Valda can’t drive his manual gearbox Riley from the 1960’s. They had morning tea together on Tuesday at the Yellow House Café while I was working there, and then on Wednesday went up to Bushy Park for a walk in the wetlands and another pot of tea with a late lunch. They were enjoyed.

Ros called in on Friday on her way down to another “musical break” south of here, so we had a catch up and she left us a small, picture-less and incomplete jigsaw. We did most of it.

This weekend has been the second of the Artists Open Studios weekends so we have availed ourselves of the offerings. Yesterday we went into town to see the completed street art and had late morning tea, before heading off to the first of the studios on our list in Castlecliffe. We called in at The Citadel afterwards for a very late lunch of chicken salad with bacon, poached pears and maple walnuts. It was delightful and just what we needed. We continued calling into artist’s studios on our way home until we could take no more, and then did the last five on our list today. The highlights were a glass maker, a furniture maker from Chester, and a sculptor from Switzerland. We also really enjoyed some round table tops which had been painted with bright colours and interesting patterns and that slowly rotated. Only one of our visits was disappointing, so we will be putting the Open Artists Studios in our diary for next year.

The rest of the week has been the usual routine of household chores, except for Monday morning when I took Nicky to the hospital for her annual eye clinic appointment. This was our first experience of our local hospital. It was positive and the parking is free! The weather has been very settled with warm sunny afternoons, clear skies and no rain. We are expecting things to change in the run up to Easter, so I will need to procure many more hots cross buns to get us through it.

Take care, Rick