Build Diary 35 – Moved in, but still building

Construction continues

We’ve moved into our home, but the construction continues. Everyday, there are teams of workers on site doing a variety of tasks, like moving pipes or painting walls, and installing power points. Progress is slow, but maybe that’s because time seems to have lost all meaning!

At the moment, they are focussing on getting the front of the project done. That’s the area between the front gate and the buildings. We need to level it, turn it into a car park on one side and garden on the other.

Our 1 year build in 2 minutes!

Our amazing landscaper Diane has been back and has transformed our courtyard into an oasis. She really does work miracles!

Stuck at home!

With all these workers here, 7 days a week, plus sleeping overnight in one of the empty rooms, we are – to a certain extent – trapped in our home. We can’t all leave at the same time because someone needs to take care of the house and keep the workers on task.

It’s not great as I’d love to get back into surfing with my kids. We started doing it last year and we all loved it.

Sheila the site forewoman

Our builder, Agus, is here for a few hours a day but he has to leave to go to another job to earn some money to pay for the rest of our build. Not a good sign. Clearly, he has mismanaged the payments we sent him. At this stage we are basically managing the project ourselves.

Finally…. some storage

Even though we’d incorporated lots of storage spaces into our home, they weren’t ready when we first moved in, so we had to pile up all our stuff in our main building – basically it was all in the living room. Finally, one of these storage rooms is done, so we can put a lot of our stuff in it, and start to clear out our living room. There’s a certain amount of clutter I can deal with (I have 2 messy kids) but it was starting to drive me crazy!

Puppy missing!

The newest – and most bitey – member of our family, Lucky the puppy, disappeared one day. There are lots of access points to get to the front gate and we thought that one of the workers may have left a door open and she got out.

It was all hands on deck as building on the site stopped and everyone started looking for her. The workers have taken a real shine to her and she’s part of the crew. Some explored the rice field below our home, others went onto the road and called for her. There was no response.

Then, my son who had already been tasked with looking for her in the living room, looked again, and found her curled up and sleeping under the sofa. Crisis averted! Peace was restored to the kingdom and everyone gave Lucky a friendly rub on the head.

Umi x Lucky

Our nanny Umi was particularly apprehensive about us getting a dog. As a religious Muslim, she tries to avoid dogs, and particularly being licked by one. Sadly, Lucky doesn’t really get this concept and all she wants to do is play with Umi as much as possible!

However, Umi who wears long pants and long sleeves everyday, added socks to her wardrobe and hey presto – Lucky can’t lick her. They play constantly, and even though she doesn’t want to be licked (hence the clothing), Umi has fallen for Lucky’s charms, just like the rest of us.

The wettest rainy season in a while

As the song goes “It’s been raining for so long” (Clearly, my husband’s love of 80s music has got to me). This has been one wet rainy season. Heavy rain everyday, often with a lot of wind, and the occasional torrential downpour that floods everything.

The back of our garden, which been raised previously dropped a few feet and had to be filled in. But we got off pretty lucky. Just down the road, one of the iconic Canggu businesses, Malamadre motorcycles, had their new workshop destroyed by a surging river.

Holes in our wall

One of the features I most wanted – my pride and joy – was my feature wall. About 7m by 4m, it really dominates the courtyard space and I love it……. until it starts raining.

Water can move through holes?

Who would have thought that a wall that is made of bricks (that each have a big hole in them) would not be waterproof? Apparently, I did! Perhaps not my wisest move! Reminds me of the time my husband and I budgeted 60 euros a day for both of us to travel around Spain. After struggling to spend Aud50 each day in South East Asia as backpackers on the same trip, we thought we’d be fine. Suffice to say, we were not!

Anyway, there are many many holes in the wall. When it rains and there’s minimal wind, it’s fine. But as soon as there’s some wind (which tends to happen in a storm!) the water comes through the holes like a fine mist. Landing on the floor, it soon forms small puddles and then leaks across our floor.

Waking up multiple times a night to check the floor isn’t flooded, wringing out soaked towels and mopping up water has been my daily reality for a while. So, a solution is required! The Aud3000 quote for the mechanical retractable waterproof tarpaulin doesn’t look so bad when you’re moping up water at 4am. However, there are so many other things we need to spend money on, so we just can’t afford it. Hopefully, we can survive this rainy season with our sanity, and install it before the next one!

A temporary, and rather unsightly option, would be to put plastic to cover the wall. If the rain keeps up, then that’s what we’ll have to do.

Sheila

The glamour!