Definitely a cat-astrophe

The IdiotCat has managed to avoid walking in any more concrete, which is indubitably a Good Thing. The IdiotCat is, however, deeply suspicious of the entire building site now, and despite the lovely builders best and most determined efforts to ensure he always has a route out, he has decided that he doesn't like it, and that he would rather attempt to dig holes in the carpet and wee in the living room. This is indubitably a Bad Thing. (Not dissimilar to Mog's Bad Thing, for any aficionado's of Judith Kerr's work).

I have now had to clear up more of the IdiotCat's Bad Things than I ever had to clear up after LittleBear when he was moving out of nappies and into Big Boy Pants. And nobody built LittleBear his own special ramp so he could safely climb over a freshly poured set of concrete foundations to get to the toilet either.

And this is why I was late to work this morning after shampooing the carpet (again) and we now have a litter tray in the living room. Yay.

Meanwhile, I turned into my normal self last week and lay awake inhabiting the hamster wheel of my mind, wondering about as many different permutations of roof construction and ceiling-shape as I could think of, entirely pointlessly, and with no reference to any facts whatsoever. Ill-informed, exhaustion-fuelled speculation is always the best way to spend the nights. After a few days (and nights) of this, I decided that since I'd actually employed a competent, professional, friendly building firm, it would perhaps make more sense to furnish myself with some facts by asking questions instead of imagining what might be happening.

Fighting my own tiny battle against the stigma of mental ill-health, I sent an email confessing to MrsBuilder (who is also in charge of all their admin) that I suffer from anxiety and that it was getting on top of me, and that even though my anxiety issues aren't technically their problem, I'd really quite like to know some more of the details of what's planned for the structure of the roof. And then I spent several hours feeling even more anxious about having made a complete arse of myself. MrsBuilder, happily, didn't see it that way. Or, if she did, she was very diplomatic about it, as she immediately made an appointment to come round with MrBuilder and go through everything together, and assured me that I only ever had to ask if there was anything I wanted to know.

I'm so pleased I employed this company. As BigBear put it, they have empathy.

Having a meeting with Mr and MrsBuilder did provide me with plenty of facts, which has eased the sense of "Aaaaaghhhhh, I don't know what's going on." It hasn't done much to help with the sense of impending doom as I discovered they're going to have to remove the entire extension roof and rebuild it from scratch. Perhaps the volume of timber in the garden should have given it away.

And just when we thought we'd found all the most entertaining parts of the former construction, more came to light.

Do you remember the welded beam?

Top quality "welding"

It turns out that the blackened marks that I'd rashly assumed to be evidence of welding are soft. And sticky. Even those of you who are unfamiliar with welding are probably more-or-less aware that welds are rarely soft. Or sticky. So, yes, it does look as though that fish plate* is holding the two beams together with mastic.

Fortunately the new steel work that will replace the not-welded, not-bolted, not-set-in-foundations steel work arrived on Tuesday, ready to be fitted yesterday and today.

Unfortunately the new steel work hadn't been made right, so has had to go back. I'm currently working on the basis that since the house hasn't fallen down in the past twenty-five years, it's not likely to choose the next few days to do so merely because I now know that it's only staying up through pixie-dust and unicorn tears.

Stress? What stress?


* Another of my new discoveries, along with king trusses, queen trusses and purlins is that the slab of metal used to weld two beams together is a fish plate. Though if it's not actually welded, maybe it's not a fish plate?