GIVING UP HEAD BANGING

You might recall that I've mentioned having to crawl under the house on occasion to fix plumbing or wiring problems.

Our basement starts off at a reasonable head height but progressively gets lower and more cramped as I have to move to the furthest reaches. Standing becomes hunching, then kneeling, then crawling and, at worst, slithering on back or front. That odd photograph of me that Richard likes to use in his posts is of me on my back, in a very cramped position trying to plug a leak in a downpipe.

Here's another one, previously unpublished of me at another (roomier) point that is equally odd.

The strained expression is due to having to reach up, from a very cramped position to use  pliers, spanners or other tools on the particular problem. Anyone who knows what it's like painting a ceiling will know that after a while your arms get sore and begin to shake.

Anyway.

The low head height and myriad beams mean that I'm forever banging my head which isn't as well upholstered as it once was and I end up bruising, cutting and dizzying myself which is why I wear those old caps when I go under the house. The caps though don't offer much protection when I walk full on into a beam or if a beam has a protruding nail. Note to self: I really should carry a hammer and see to those protruding nails.

Today I went under the house again to check to see whether the water that's trickling down the drive and emanating from under the house is a result of run-off from the heavy rain we've had or from yet another water leak from the plumbing. I posted earlier about run-off problems from the farmland behind us and that I will have to get a drain layer in to install drainage: HERE. It is run-off and I must prioritise this job in the new year and yes, I bashed my head on a beam.

After doing this I  was looking for a bit of hosepipe for another job and looked under the shed. There I saw a hard hat. I don't know where it came from or who it belongs to and I guess that it's been there ever since we bought the place 13 years ago. I got a garden hoe and hooked it out. Beauty. This will solve the head banging problem.