We stopped off at our Durban house this morning to see how far they are and what still needs to be completed. They have had rain for the last 4 days and today they are back on the roof preparing it for painting. This will be done by Friday and will make such a difference.
I have been trying to work out which window frames were damaged by termites and it turns out these were on the granny flat where the old aunt used to live so no wonder we were never told. She was 92 when she passed away recently and would never have known.
The window frames have been ordered and will be replaced shortly when they arrive. These were never going to be fixable as epoxy resins were mentioned, but these are too far gone. We are having the garden and house treated and sprayed in case there are any termites still around.
The boundary wall needs to be painted and the test patch which i never photographed came out well and will revisit the house again later in the week. The list of things to do is still quite extensive and we expect another 2 weeks to get the jobs completed.
The back garden still looks like a jungle and we warned our team to be very careful when clearing this area as we know there is a large Forest Cobra living nearby and why it has been left to grow as my aunt called it one of her pets. Snakes are very common in Natal and we have had plenty found in the garden in the past.
This Paw Paw (Papaya) tree must be 12 months old and is already full of fruit and if not picked will topple over when the tree breaks in half due to the weight. You can see it leaning to one side already and do not think this tree will survive as the fruit grows bigger. These are the easiest fruit trees to grow as they are like weeds popping up.
The roots you see in the back ground is a wild fig tree indigenous to Natal and also protected so I will leave the cutting of the roots to the garden team. The tree is massive so I do not see this damaging the tree in any shape or form.
We have realised our tenant has no clue about the pool or really cares so we shall be getting in garden and pool cleaning services to manage the property whilst the house is on the market. I spoke to him about all the dog poop around the driveway and garden which looks terrible and has never been picked up in years a the piles tell you the true story. Garden services will visit weekly as I cannot rely on anything being done here.
Keeping a pool blue is just a simple chore that takes less than 5 minutes daily and even when it turns green like this can be blue in a couple of hours with the correct treatment. I do not think he has the money to buy the chemicals and is to proud to say. I will employ a swimming pool company because a house on show needs a sparkling blue pool at all tiems.
I am hoping by this time next week when I leave back to Johannesburg you will be able to see a big difference. We are thankfully still in budget by about $400 and with 2 weeks to still go expect to run over slightly. The budget can always stretch, but not when you find surprises like what we have found. Once completed it will be the best looking home in the area.