Completing repairs

Just a little over four months after the weatherbomb that blew a tree onto our house, the repairs are nearly complete. Finally.

A couple weeks ago, a company came and erected scaffolding (pictured—it's about three storeys high at the far end). And there it sat.

Last week, the plasterer came to repair the damage from when the tree fell and scraped down the back of the house. A few days later, the painter came to paint the repaired plaster (if you look under the window toward the middle of the photo, you may see a shiny, lighter area; that's the new paint, which the painter said will fade to match the look of the existing paint. The colour is a great match, despite what the photo makes it look like).

Today, the roofers came and replaced the damaged bits of roofing iron (which is actually steel, but that's another story). The roofing material has been sitting in the little courtyard next to the garage (intended for additional parking or for a boat or something) for the better part of a month. It was delivered by a big truck with a crane to lift it off and lay it on the ground.

On Wednesday, another contractor (the fifth, if you count the scaffolding company) is due to come and install the spouting (what we called “guttering” in America). And then, the repairs will be complete. The scaffolding will be removed soon after that and then, finally, it'll all be done.

Four months later.

Jake's pleased to get that courtyard back, unobstructed. Okay, so I have no idea if he's pleased or not, but I would be if I were him. Or, maybe not.

The main thing is that these repairs are nearly done. I'd be quite happy if this was our once-in-a-lifetime encounter with storm damage, but somehow I doubt we'll be that lucky.