Late June, R. decided to do a major reorganizing of the computer room. The "computer room" is essentially a jam-packed, catch-all storage room for R's modelling and terrain supplies, paints, books, knick-knacks, papers, filing cabinets, etc. As he began looking through his things, a corner of the room, in his words, "sank in a disturbing way" under his foot. He peeled back the carpet (and several layers of lino, padding, and assorted weird liners) to discover the floor there was rotten. He pulled back more carpet to discover more rotten floor. The smell of must/mould in the house, which had been a constant and troublesome presence (to me) for some time, became even more intense.
He moved everything in the room to other parts of the house and out to the lawn at the side of the house. Two friends of his who do construction/carpentry work came in to deal with the floor and one of the walls during the last week of June. They took out the floor and there was an immediate improvement in the air quality in the house. The mould had been on the wood. We had a fan in the window almost constantly to get some of the moisture, heat, and the smell of must/mould out of that room while they worked (they wisely wore face masks).
Taking out the floor revealed that the dirt "crawl space" (which often becomes wet when it rains or there is snow melt, due to the poor condition of the house's foundation) was only a few inches below the floor, rather than the 2+ feet it should have been. The room had basically been built over the lawn, held up with a few cement blocks and planks of wood. Whoever built it was either lazy, cheap, profoundly stupid, or some combination of the three.
The guys dug the crawl space down another foot or so, laid down a heavy plastc barrier, put in the floor, and replaced a section of drywall. More work of a similar nature will have to be done in the living room near the front door, but that will have to wait until later this summer.
On the last day (the 28th or 29th - I can't remember), one of the guys put down the lino R bought. R. primed and painted the room. On Saturday, he started putting together the plastic shelving units, putting up a some wall shelves, and moving some of his storage cabinets back into the room.
By that evening, his left knee was tight, swollen, and stiff. By the next morning, it was worse and he could barely walk. As of today, it is still causing him pain and he has been camped out on the couch pretty much 24/7 and walking with canes to get to and from the bathroom. Two nights ago, the pain was intense and he wondered if gout had set in at the knee, as he thought he had strained it when he moved a (full) plastic storage unit back into the computer room. He took some of his gout meds from the last flare-up. While it didn't completely relieve the pain, it reduced it - and the inflammation - somewhat.
Time will tell how long he will be laid up with his knee. In the meantime, I am doing deep-breathing exercises and going out for coffee with friends so I don't lose it from the claustrophobia of living in a house that is beginning to resemble something from the show, Hoarders, while the lawn and raspberry patches become hayfields. I have health concerns of my own and there is only so much I can do.
It will be interesting to see where things stand next summer. I think the writing is on the wall, and, unfortunately, without yard help, a plan, or a dramatic improvement in our health and fitness levels, it is time to cut back. As much as I love and live for gardening, apartment living is starting to look good to me.
Update: R. woke up to find that the gout has moved into his foot and ankle in addition to being in the knee.
Ow.
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