Will it leak?

Last Thursday night it rained. "Cats and dogs" as my students used to say in Japan back when I taught English for a living. (Yes, I know it is a perfectly good English expression, but who ever uses it except in jest?)

Anyway, the cats and dogs came down horizontally all night and into the morning. Later on Friday, up at the house, the workers showed us the huge wet patches on the inside of the west wall (which is the 'weather' side of the house). "Problem" they said, and left us to worry about it. As a result, we've spent the weekend thinking up possible solutions. There are three main ones -- as they told us on Friday: render the wall, seal the wall (on the outside), or build a waterproofing wall inside. The only attractive option, we thought, was the second. But do sealants really work? How long will they last? What kind of nasty chemicals are involved? And finally, can we afford that kind of process?

Well, today (Monday) we were up at the house early. Met our builder there -- he was waiting for his monthly payment cheque -- and he was almost put out that we should ask about it. The job included spraying on a penetrating sealant, and that work will be done soon. Evidently quite a common procedure here -- as we'd expect because there are a lot of exposed-stone houses! Depending on who we ask, it seems the seal will be good for anything from five to twenty years, which seems reasonable.

So that's one less thing to worry about. Next? Getting the patterns right for the kitchen and bathroom tiling -- which is supposed to start tomorrow or the next day. So progress is being made -- even though the December 23 handover date is looking a bit unlikely.