28-VII-2004.
Twentyfourth.
All day together. The main thing was the removal of half the kitchen furniture and floor tiles (two layers (!) of vinaz tiles, same as at home, somewhat better quality but all greasy and dirty), and cut the wall from the bar to the floor, so we'll have the big room connected to kitchen. Now we saw what these walls of theirs look inside, these are really cardboard boxes, and Grumf is the majstor of solid building. All the kitchen cabinets were screwed tight to the walls and glued for extra measure, to seal the contact. Behind the drawers we found handfuls of change, mostly cents and dimes, lottery tickets and photos from both previous owners. Some screws were so thoroughly baked in, that in the end it was easier to just break it away and fix the hole in the wood with glue.
Went to Lowe's again in the evening, and by the entrance the guy who mixes the paint said „you need some paint again?“... they already know us. This time we took the floor tiles for the kitchen, italian, terracotta, bricklike, square foot sized (we gave up on metric, everything is sold in imperial units of the republic).
Twentyfifth.
We tore the kitchen apart. Kicked out the fridge the day before - it may even be functional, who knows, but it was in such a state that we wouldn't think of eating anything from it. And the upper section door slipped, so when the lower is open, it opens too. The lower door has no handle, and the hinges are on the wrong side, so it opens towards the corner.
The horses who previously mounted the cabinets have thoroughly attached it to the walls, using both screws and glue, so I bore kittens detaching it; some bits broke. Anything that was in the corner next to the sink, we'll dump. The sink's syphon would perhaps be in good condition if its bottom stopper wasn't missing. The garbage shredder (what doubles as syphon on one side and chops what goes through the 4" wide drain) is completely rusty. Who knows for how long it all leaked, everything buckled up and the particle board is unboarding.
The door between the kitchen and the short hall we... closed. Took out the hinges, nailed the pane to the frame and just flattened with the gypsum filler, so they're flat to the wall now. When it's painted, it will have never existed. We took the rest of the (plastic) floor tiles, the microwave / aspirator combo, and most of the wall tiles. The tiles are some italian stuff, about one inch square, I guess it should have been some mosaic, but then someone painted it over. Three times, different paints. Behind the stove a slab of plywood was glued, with so much horsepower that when I removed it, it came off as pure smithereens.
Of course, lack of power made it all easier, so we can't unscrew with the new drill, and there's no AC so all the humidity from the outside comes in - presently above 90% because it's third day raining. Or fourth. It's not raining all the time, but not clearing either. The creek swelled up and there are puddles on the streets everywhere.
Now to chase the power meter.
Twonyseventh.
Today she was mostly alone on construction site; Lena had a break and I worked. While my boss is on vacation, but a workday is a workday, and there's a theoretical chance that office may call (which happened all of twice). I chased the electrician (... 5 words...). As for power... they'll see tomorrow, cross fingers for wednesday or thursday to have it working. (... 29 words...)
What did she do: removed all the wall tiles from the kitchen, filled and smoothed over the holes, cleaned completely and painted the hanging part of kitchen cabinets (the part above stove and sink, which we decided to leave there). She was almost finished when we came. Today she even had music, we took the speakers from the tiny walkman we bought for the hurricane Isabel last fall, and plugged them into the mrz CD player which is usually in the car. The batteries held for good five hours, and we charged spares for tomorrow.
Lena and I sanded the remaining doors of kitchen elements (still amazed that these are called elements back home, probably a bright idea of slovenian furniture makers, back in the sixties when they started making them, or they just stole the idea from Italians). We measured a bunch of things (them elements and the hose for vukašin), picked some grass for the guinea pigs and were done for the day.
Today my 2nd digital camera came, again from eBay, a Conica Mamiya zImage D1 or some such word salad, slightly refurbished... which I thought was the usual - bad contact which was a reason for recall, bulk sale at ridiculously low prices to guys who'd simply take them apart and put back together, and then sell at half the original price. And so it was, and it worked quite well, except the malfunction wasn't electric, it was mechanic, a slight misalignment of some part of the lens, so when you zoom, the right side of the image is out of focus. Perhaps it was the CCD that wasn't exactly flat or orthogonal to optical axis? Whatever... the first shot was, of course, Lena with Mrvica.
The electrician came and simply stated that we're missing the meter, which means the previous tennant was in the arrears so much that Virginia Power took it off and replaced it with a transparent plate, which was then locked and sealed. They don't have the lead seals like ours have; their meters are round and fit into a glass bell, which plugs onto that plate and is then locked in by a connecting ring, on which there's a lock and they have the key. Since the wiring was out of use more than 30 days, the regulation says to recheck before reestablishing service, which means calling a city inspector, then the guy from V.Power to plug the meter in. Don't know what can the inspector find before there's power, but okay.
She painted the kitchen, as far as she had paint. Not much is missing, but since the same paint goes for the cabinet doors and drawers, we left the rest of that for today. In the afternoon, when Lena and I joined her, I kept sanding the cabinets and Lena painted those doors and drawers. We took measurement of more things to buy (piece of hose for vukašin, some new kitchen cabinet pieces), so in the evening we went to Lowe's, new đubrožder (trashivore - the garbage grinder), that hose, new aspirator (the micro/aspirator combo is on the heap in the patio, just as grimy and unusable), more tools and paint.
Should have phone service turned on today.
As the electrician's secretary said, one can't ever wonder enough at what people are capable of doing to their houses. I can't even imagine what kinds of shit they find interevening in the field. What we saw is just unbelievable. Doesn't get into my head... and better that it stays so, I mean it's better not to know the state of mind of someone who drives into such a tight corner that they cut off his power and eventually reposess the house. An average Amer owse about 7000 bucks on credit cards alone, and credit card companies have charged 2,5 billion of interest - and that interest is not charged if you pay on time.
Since we're so running out of time, we decided to manage with house as it already is, and then fix things as we go, but to do it right rether than fast, so we don't complain about the majstors later. Our rent is expiring in three days, and I don't feel like seeing the rental office ever again, my buffer is full of them. They're in such a chaos - thrice they sent us a notice that they will be renovating our kitchen on 27th, despite our timely notice that we're moving out before 1st. So I walked over three times to intervene, and they still sent a lady to take measurements of our kitchen. At least, on our schedule we were due on 2nd, finally. I asked her why does she have to measure it, when all the apartments are identical. I wish, she said, this was built by four companies, and not even the plumbing was laid out the same way, let alone having standard sizes.
Mentions: Alan Ford, Jelena Sredljević (Lena), majstor, Mrvica, in serbian