So, we can add one (and later another) septic tank pump to the list of new equipment we’ve had to buy for the house. On Saturday we suddenly had a power failure affecting all the power outlets, crucially, especially the water pump and the fridge. Without water, we couldn’t continue finishing up the cleaning or anything else, so we packed up in a hurry and drove back to Brisbane (which I didn’t enjoy in the dark or while very tired.) Fortunately the lovely Jenepher at the Bunya Mountains Accommodation Centre was able to hook me up with Peter Elliot, who had a look at it on Tuesday. He reported that one pump had failed, the other is close to failing, and was able to replace the first, and get us our power and water back so we could finish up and clear out.
Even now we are still waiting for Kingaroy Joinery to replace the lock in the new laundry screen door for the second time!
Two things are good about all this though. One, that these problems occurred while we were still up there, and not while we had our first guests after renovation, and two, that they are fixable. We’ve ended up with quite a few unexpected expenses with the house – all of them pretty major, like the water tanks needing replacing, the driveway needing to be concreted, the front balustrade needing to be completely replaced and so on – adding at least $30,000 to what we’d budgeted. It’s not what we wanted, but in the end we have a house we are proud to let out to people, one which we believe is comfortable and safe, and hopefully there won’t be any more enormous expenses while we own the place (for many years, we’d like!).
Anyway, now we’re home and taking a well-earned break from being in our holiday home (oh the irony :)!)