Thursday

Get home from work to find Chemdry there (Louis had got home before me to meet them). There are two of them and one is walking round with a little gadget to detect moisture (plenty of that here). He does not look too happy. He checks every room. It is worse than we thought - one wall in Kumari's bedroom is 'soaking wet'. He goes up into the loft (not a place for the faint hearted) and it gets worse. He tells us that the boards in the loft will have to be taken up so the lagging can be removed and replaced. He says the ceiling will probably have to come down, maybe the plaster from the walls and most of the woodwork has been damaged. He says this is a major job and asks if anyone knows how bad this is. We tell him of our efforts to get help and he tells us he has taken photographs and a video to confirm the amount of damage. He also points out that there will be asbestos in the ceilings as it is such an old house and the fact that we have had mouse poison in the loft in the past also makes it a health hazard.
He says that when they have the go-ahead they will have to come in with drying equipment to try and dry out the walls - they will have to strip the paper for this. They put a dehumidifier on the landing to try and reduce the humidity - currently 74% - it needs to get to 28%.
We mention Kumari has asthma - they tell us that she cannot stay in the house while the drying is going on - this is not something that we had thought of, but apparently the drying process and dust (and there is always plenty of that at the best of times here - I'm not a natural housewife) will affect her asthma.
After they leave I feel really depressed - up till now I have naively imagined that all we would need would be a decorator and some new carpets and furniture, not major re-building.