Contrary to what many people would think, it is never easy to turn a newly-bought house into a comofartable, cosy home
HAVE you ever purchased a property that needed a thorough renovation? If not, you can’t understand what a trying experience it is.
It all began when my husband and I started looking for our own flat after two years of Susrali Sukh (residing at my in-law’s house). Our adventure for an ideal flat located in Gulshan-e-Iqbal, offering all the luxuries of life, seemed hopeless bearing a limited budget in mind. These days, when property prices are rocketing sky-high with easy instalment house loans, it’s worth a fortune for a salaried person to own property.
After three months’ search, when we had almost given up, we found our dream flat through a newspaper advertisement. It seemed to offer all we wanted. Situated in a good locality, it had all the required facilities, and the apartment’s owner demanded an amount that was readily affordable.
Though the flat needed some renovation, because ever since it was built it had not been inhabited by anyone, we finalized the deal instantly considering other plus points.
“You have got the best deal and can refurnish the flat according to your wishes,” the agent ensured.
However, the next six months proved that one needed iron nerves, loads of money and plenty of time and patience to turn a vacant house into an ideal home.
Dealing with labourers is no mean feat. We planned to finish repair work before shifting; but it carried on for six months after we had moved into the flat.
The first person we hired was a Pathan mason. “Saib um ar cheese chutki bajatee tur sakti ai,” he claimed while directing his hammer towards our head. He did what he said and smashed down the two walls where we had planned to have windows. Without bothering to take any measurements, he plastered the window boxes. Later on, we found out that they were uneven from every angle. The loquacious mason refused to accept any flaw in his work and insisted that it was as smooth as Badar Munir’s dance act in a Pustho films — we couldn’t understand the analogy.
Next was an iron steel worker who promised to deliver grills and gates before we painted the flat. However, he bluntly refused to accept any deadline after taking money in advance. The six feet 200kg Delhi ka Jawan had a fierce fight with my husband when he tried to fine him for late delivery and shoddy work. Ultimately, I had to interfere because I did not want to see my husband chewed up as Banaras ka paan. Luckily after so many bad experiences I found a better kitchen-maker who turned a deserted cubical into a modern kitchen. Though he charged a hefty amount, I did not mind as I had learnt from my experiences in the past, “Sasta roi bar bar, Mehanga roi aik bar.”
Perhaps nature wanted to test us more. So when our painter abandoned us for a bigger contract, we hired the services of a team of painters working on daily wages. They proved to be the worst of the lot and polished the entire flat in less than two days without properly scrubbing it. Since they had vanished with a huge amount of dehari, we tried our own skills to give our sweet home the final touch up.
By that time we were so much exhausted that we shifted without any further delay. Once the hectic period of shifting and settling was over, numerous repair projects reared their heads. Electricity and sanitary fittings were at the top on the priority list as every second day the tube lights would turn off or sewage line would choke up.
However, the biggest blow was the realization that the flat had severe seepage problem thanks to saline water and substandard construction. The distemper on every wall of the flat came off and was also a cleaning hassle, especially when it directly fell on our faces from the bedroom roof. After thorough investigation, we found out that chemical treatment was the best answer to the problem. Therefore we contacted a reputable company and once again the revamp process began in the house. This time dozens of sheets were spread on carpets and furniture to save it from dust and dirt, but, again, in vain. We finally took a sigh of relief when the patchwork finished. Now our flat looked much better with a two-year guarantee letter issued by the company concerned. But only after two months, freshly painted walls started losing their polish again. Desperately, I called the chemical company to register a complaint. They turned a deaf ear to our complaint and sent a new surveyor after a month’s follow up.
The new agent blamed the previous agent for keeping us in the dark. “We can guarantee that the grey chemical would take care of the leakage, not the paint. You must try mat or plastic finish for better results,” he left us with a nice advice, big estimate and colourful brochure for the next paint.
By that time we had realized that the only solution to all the existing problems was to demolish the flat and rebuild it from scratch.
Nowadays, a plumber is working in the flat to mend the chocked lines. We have also hired a mason to cover the ugly walls of the lounge and drawing room with tiles.
In short, a relentless effort to turn my newly-bought house into a comfortable home is still on.
Contrary to what many people would think, it is never easy to turn a newly-bought house into a comofartable, cosy home 
