Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against water, in
fact I quite like it. But it is sneaky.
We would be a bit stuffed without water wouldn’t we?
For I start we would all be a bit smaller, about 90% smaller
in fact. We’d be a bit dirty as well without a shower
every now and then and we would certainly have dry mouths.
No cups of coffee to start the day, there would be a few dive
operators out of work and the beach would be rather boring.
Worse the underarm deodorant industry would struggle to survive.
So why is it sneaky? Well it has a way of finding every tiny
hole and crack and getting to places we don’t want it.
Eric knows about water. He had a bit of a problem. He is a
graphic artist with rather a nice studio at his house.
He called me one day. “Help” he said ”I’ve
got water coming out of my light fittings and dripping on
my work benches!” He went on to say that one light fitting
had set on fire.
What a mess! Above his benches were a series of lights fixed
into a concrete ceiling. Water was dripping from most of them.
In one corner black smoke marks trailed across the ceiling
from a melted blob of plastic. Rather frightening.
Eric’s concrete roof was flat. (Now why was it that
our ancestors in their wisdom decided that roofs should be
sloping, was it so they looked pretty? – I forget but
I do know that the sloping roof was the third great invention
after the wheel and the bottle opener).
Eric’s roof was leaking.
He called a Tukang, a man from Java who came to fix it.
Our Javanese waterpoofing “expert” decided to
put a layer of cement on top of the roof. It cracked and the
roof still leaked.
He then decided to put a corrugated plastic roof on top of
the concrete. It was too flat, water got under it and it didn’t
work.
Finally he put corrugated asbestos on top of the plastic which
broke, flattened the plastic and made things even worse.
Now Eric had been a good looking man with a fine head of dark
wavy hair (it’s true, he showed me the pictures), well
he was till his roof started leaking. As attempt after attempt
failed he steadily became a shadow of his former self. He
aged, his eyes stared vacantly and his fine head of hair was
gone, torn out in desperate frustration. He twitched and mumbled
incoherently about the days of his youth when roofs were sloping
and didn’t leak.
Sneaky stuff that water.
We all know that it likes to go downhill and find the lowest
place it can but it also likes to get blown sideways by strong
winds and, even worse, believe it or not it likes to go uphill
if it can find a narrow crack or something porous through
that strange phenomenon capillary action.
Capillary action is the really sneaky bit that allows water
to climb from the ground up your living room walls. These
days houses in many countries have a damp proof course to
stop the water rising. But water is very clever and a damp
proof course must be well designed and properly installed
if it is going to work. But more of this another time.
Eric’s roof had only one small drain and overhanging
branches dropped leaves and blocked it frequently leaving
a nice place for mosquitoes to breed. The concrete roof looked
like it had been put in place by a drunken baker who couldn’t
find his rolling pin. Worse, it had holes drilled through
it to put the wiring through. Not a good idea on a flat roof.
Capillary action was sucking the water from the roof and into
cracks and wiring ducts.
Waterproofing is a surprisingly difficult skill. Simply squirting
a bit of silicone into any orifice you can find might stop
a noisy dog from barking but fixing a leaky flat concrete
roof requires far more subtlety. Also, as our muddy friends
in Java have found out, it is also not very effective trying
to block where it is coming out - it is important to find
out where and how water is getting in in the first place.
Finally it is important to get the right materials and have
them properly applied.
Eric is a happier man now. His hair is growing back and the
eyes don’t stare as much. He has been attending a self
help program called “Drips Anonymous” where leaky
roof victims meet to support each other. He is getting better
each day and if all goes well he may soon be able to face
a glass of water again without going into spasms.
Phil Wilson
Phil Wilson a project director for Focus Indonesia and a partner
of MrFixit property maintenance services. Opinions expressed
are those of Phil Wilson. If you have any questions or comments
related to property maintenance he can be contacted at the
office on 0361 288 789 or through the website at www.mrfixitbali.com
Copyright@2007 Fixed Abode
You can read all past articles of Fixed Abode
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