My experiences of house construction III

August 2, 2011

I moved to the new house on Thursday. Mazda truck made two trips and rest of the stuff was moved in various car trips and one Suzuki van. Monday night moved the last tranche of stuff, mostly fragile crockery via car and the other stuff via a hired Suzuki van. The premises was cleared by 10 pm. Now the packets are lying all over the house and once cupboards are cleaned, start putting things in order.

 

The gas stove I bought the other day was leaking gas even when it was switched off. Had to return home from Islamabad highway as LPG guy arrived at our house. There was massive traffic on the highway. The LPG guy checked the stove and said that its knob was leaking and it should be taken back to Minhas Corporation for fixing or replacement.

Minhas corporation employee said he will give me a new stove after replacing jets in the morning. I brought that stove home and it was also leaking. It burned my fingers after I touched the hot metal. Took it back and he gave me another stove and when I came back and checked it, there was also a leak in one of the burners. So I returned the stove and got refund for my money and I asked the owner not to keep low quality stuff at his shop. Now finding another stove is a big challenge. Before leaving for office I called the LPG guy to find a solution and he said that the cooking range could be hooked to the LPG cylinder as a stop-gap arrangement. We could bake our bread but it will blacken the utensils.

I had to go to the SNGPL (natural gas utility) or Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Limited to meet an official to expedite the natural gas connection, but the time was wasted by the useless stuff bought from Minhas Corporation. There is hardly any good store in the area selling good quality stuff.

Last night bought food from Peshawar Morr Sufi and Stadium Road Savour. Another worry is the interruption in the daily piped water supply. The underground tank is about to finish. Also I have to make a power point for the washing machine. In previous houses we had washing machine in the bathrooms, but there the taps shape is not suitable for hooking plastic pipe.

There is no cable television in the area yet, so television is a big boring affair now. Only PTV news and PTV home can be viewed. I have applied for PTCL Smart TV, broadband and landline package. Let's see if their cable is available nearby.

About the waste, there is no garbage collection system yet because there are few houses, about four which have been occupied. I asked a guy living there for the past two months and he said that they dump the waste on the empty plots and then burn it after a few days Osama bin Laden style :-).

There are problems, but problems are everywhere and they are not going to last forever and I hope to overcome these soon InshaAllah.

Previous post: http://wp.me/pgnDB-dQ

August 3, 2011

 

Today I went to SNGPL with my application dated 1-10-2010 and met some officials, one of the officials said connections were stopped in that area, but the other official accepted the application after seeing the application date and wrote on it "On Merit Case, must be accommodated according to company policy" then I had to get it signed from two officials of sales department and the last official asked me to contact him on Monday. Have found another source. Let's hope that I get it before winters.

Today borrowed another LPG cylinder from a relative who uses LPG in satellite town rwp in winters. Got it filled as back up. Also got a nice NasGas autopilot dedicated LPG stove from near Chandni Chowk and thanks to Allah kitchen is operational again.

Also visited the previous landlord for formal handing over of the rented house. As usual the owner was annoyed over the state of the house and I told him that I warned him about the seepage and termite and sorry state of baths and he did not get them repaired. But overall I was able to convince of "Wear and Tear" clause in the agreement. He said that he wants the house paint in the same state in which he handed over to me in March 2008 and told him that usually the paints are redone after two three years, so while I was there he did not do it and for the next tenant he had to it himself anyways. I hope to get back my security.

PS: I've got it.

 

August 27, 2012

Resumption of limited construction activity

As there was no slope on any of the three roofs, rain water gets accummulated at several places causing seepage and porch roof was particularly in danger so mustered my strenght and embarked upon getting the concrete work at roof tops.Aiming at finishing them with mosaic and marble. Work in progress again, but very expensive.