Lost Post 2: veden varaan

Veden Varaan was the no.1 platinum album by PMMP (2009)

Still waiting for a review from Breaking More Waves though...

 
It seems to me that the Finns have the same wary relationship to water (vesi, vetä, veden) and damp in the home as the Brits do to electricity (sähkö) - treat as a potential hazard (varaa).

In Britain we have fuses on everything, ring mains, plugs the size of a brick, and are (apparently) terrified of the thought of light switches without pull cords in our bathrooms, let alone power sockets or appliances - or at least the people who wrote our regulations were. Meanwhile we Brits seem to accept a bit of damp in our walls and when was the last time anyone in UK switched the water off to their washing machine or dishwasher between uses? And do we put our washing machine in our bathroom (with a power socket next to the shower) with a fully 'wet' i.e. tiled and drained floor just in case there is an overflow? Or on a special plastic tray for the same purpose? Back Suomessa while you can't wire a switch to a two pin plug and know which pole will be live or neutral, every kitchen sink in Finland has an extra tap or two for the washing appliances.

Anyway that is all a bit of an aside to the continuation of the first Lost Post, but does relate to our problems.

So when we moved in (back in super hot June if you remember) we only need to do some bare minimum decorating - repainting walls and doors - before raiding Ikea for furniture. However we were a bit puzzled by the ceiling in the kitchen - had it been so bad when we viewed the flat? The answer was ei as it turned out a few days later. The day before we moved in the washing machine in the flat upstairs had leaked water, after taking moisture readings and pictures the patch of plaster was removed over the kitchen to let the concrete dry out, due to be fixed up while we were on holiday in a month's time. They also looked at an area above where I was going to set up my 'office' but decided it was okay...

1928 archive drawing: From Kesä10 - lost postcards

I should explain (for all you architects and engineers) our building has an interesting but typical floor structure (for Helsinki in that period, 1928 in our case). Thin reinforced concrete U shaped channels with timber boarding on top, filled with 'insulation' (i.e. any crap, fluff, dust that gets under the floorboards). This is an efficient structure (saves on concrete) but is problematic for water leaks, and is also quite fragile (the bottom shouldn't be walked on or drilled). If only the repair people were so knowledgeable.

So a couple of days before our cycle touring holiday around the Saimaa area (more on that in future Lost Posts) they start (or rather return) to ripping out the kitchen and floor upstairs, and it transpires drilling holes to take moisture samples/readings. This as you can imagine is rather loud when you are trying to eat your breakfast or work (I work from home - more on that another time too) so I closed the doors and retreated to the lounge.

So the noise abates and I go back for a coffee refill and discover the kitchen covered in dust from the unplastered part of the ceiling (and from the first time round I know the extract hood is now full of dust again). Just great - now I need to clean up. My eyes scan round the room and stop at my desk.

My glass topped desk, newly put up glossy white shelves, office paperwork, new computer, external drives, printer... all also now covered in dust, with a large chunk of concrete sitting on the keyboard. I look up at the plum sized crater in the ceiling with a neat hole at it's centre. As the Estonia contractor says a few minutes later when I hand him a piece of his handiwork: Oh shiiit!

Hole: from Kesä10 - lost postcards