September 4, 2009
More of my dodgy DIY
After every bank holiday nowadays my hands are covered in paint. Another T-shirt is ruined. My fading South-of-France tan is whitened by paint thinners. You guessed it, I have been doing some ham-fisted DIY again. Never buy a rendered house would be my advice. And never, ever buy a new house.
It seems to me that if a corner can be cut on a new house, builders will cut it – and then some. Bits keep dropping off which is bad enough, but it is the sheer shoddiness that gets me. As far as I can see all the woodwork in my house has received a token coat of cheap white gloss. No primer, no undercoat… not even any properly weatherproof paint on the acres of rendering.
Things get even worse in the bathrooms I have bathroom overkill in the form of three white bathroom suites. One is boring enough – especially as they are badly fitted, necessitating some careful remedial work. I also have white bathroom furniture stuck to my flimsy plasterboard walls. You know the sort of thing – cheap laminate cabinets that hold a couple of toilet rolls if you are lucky. Assuming the door doesn’t fall off.
And owning a new house has other things to worry about apart from cheapness and appalling workmanship. You see purely for political appeasement a new home has to be an ethical home. So the light fittings take those hideous expensive somehow green bulbs that give off appalling light and can’t be disposed of safely. You might even be lucky enough to have your roof blighted by a solar panel or two that occasionally delivers enough hot water for half a bath – at vast expense.
Now a house is for living in as well as endlessly doing up. But there will come a time when I have to sell this place. Will a coat of white paint indoors and out be enough to fool potential buyers? Or should I give up now and think about a cash for home organisation and spend spend spend? I’ll think about it while I put a second coat on the window frames
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