Work on the en-suite shower/toilet in what will be the "Family Guestroom" has progressed well. The walls were constructed and plastered and septic tanks lowered into a 3x2x2 metre hole by October 2nd. Then I had a couple of days respite from all the mud and dust until Viorel the plumber arrived to install water supply and drain pipes and connect up to the septic tanks. Viorel is also an electrician so after going to fetch some more drainpipes last Thursday afternoon, he came back with two mates and we went through the whole house noting my requirements so they could give me a quote. They left at 6pm and half an hour later Cole, who has been co-ordinating everything for me, rang to say the materials would be 1000 lei and the labour 900 lei. If this price was OK they would come and do the job on Saturday. This equates to £395 so of course I said "Yes, please carry on" straight away! Included in the quote was changing the rather thin wires supplying the house so they won't get fried when the 5kW instant electric shower is used. I might, on the other hand, make the lights in the rest of the village go dim if shower and kitchen water heater are in use at same time!
At lunchtime on Friday, Viorel finished his plumbing work for the time being and arrived with his two mates at 9am on Saturday wearing his electricians hat. They worked through the house room by room and only briefly interrupted the supply three of four times. Amazingly some switches, sockets and light fittings were connected while circuits were "live" but of course an electrician knows to only work on one wire at a time and uses insulated tools. All the cables for the instant shower heater and en-suite lights were channelled into the wall, new power sockets fitted in all rooms and new lighting fitted in kitchen to replace the non-functioning light which had forced me to cook by the light of a plug-in desklamp for the last few months! Power outlets were all replaced and most now have UK 13 amp double sockets I brought with me from England fitted alongside the Romanian type (see photo). This allows me to plug in my UK electrical items without an adaptor or having to change the plug and will also benefit any guests who arrive with a plethora of phone/iPod chargers, shavers, laptops and hair straighteners/curling tongs but only one Continental adaptor between them! To cope with all this new wiring, the main supply to the house was upgraded and as one of the electricians works for the electricity supply company, he had the equipment and skills to go up the pole (see photo) and carry out the work without me having to apply to the electricity company and then wait two or three weeks! The ancient screw-in ceramic fuse holders have been replaced with a master trip outside the house in a new meter box and five circuit breakers inside the house. They finished the installation around 6:15pm but then found that the new spotlights and power sockets in the kitchen were not working so they spent the next hour tracking down and rectifying the problem. When they left at 7:30pm, clutching their well-earned 1900 lei, I cooked my dinner by the light of four spotlamps instead of one desklamp! Oh joy! And the cooker hood I had installed myself was plugged in and working!
Today (Monday) Cole the builder/project manager has been here with one young assistant backfilling the earth around the septic tanks and constructing a strong platform of oak boards over the top. This is so that the heavy layer of earth on top of the tanks does not bend the thin metal tops and crack the plastic tanks contained within the galvanized sheet and tube frames. It will also make access for any repairs easier and allow them to be dug up if and when Roandola is connected to mains drainage - supposed to happen within a couple of years but I'm not holding my breath!
Tomorrow the floor of the en-suite will be tiled by Cole (I'll leave this to him so they are level and flat!) and then I will follow up with doing the wall tiles, which is something I can do. Once that's done Viorel will return to install the shower, WC and wash basin, connect up the drains and complete the wiring to the shower heater and lights.
At last I shall be able to have a shower and do the washing in my new washer/dryer. And of course I shall no longer have to go down the garden to use the toilet (daytime) or use the Porta Potti (nighttime/wet weather) - or is that too much information!
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