Striking gold!

Look! Look what my initial excavation has revealed

- the original granite airwell AND patterned cement tiles circa 1920 - 1940! All buried underneath a foot of construction rubble and concrete!

The entire floor had been raised previously in an attempt to prevent flood waters from entering the house and from this preliminary dig, it seems like at least some of the floor features are still in place. The tiles are a little caked with lime after being buried for so long, but that's a small matter. What matters is that the airwell is still there! Now, I hope and pray that the entire granite airwell at least, is still intact, but that will be another story for another time.

Accompanying the discovery of the existence of this airwell, was another big surprise - the realisation that the original position of the airwell was towards the centre of the house and not to the side, as it currently is. This was later confirmed by Dr Gwynn Jenkins (friend and cultural anthropologist) who very kindly sent me this interesting old plan from her collection. No. 105 is lot no.86 on the plan. This means that the corresponding space upwards all the way to the roof will now have to be reconfigured if I were to reclaim the original airwell.

And look at this. Look at the two little beams that cut across the other parallel beams in the picture below. This marks the original position of the staircase towards the back of the house rather than its current position at the side. The previous owner sure did some major reshuffling to create a warehouse-like space. Isn't this interesting?

For the past 3 days, I have been buzzing with excitement over these discoveries. I finally wound down yesterday evening, pleasantly walking around with Janet and getting caught in the rain. We passed the house occupied by some Indian old-timers - Janet's buddies, it seems. She chatted for a while and found out one of them has been hospitalized. He was a stevedore when he was young. They didn't drink much water working in the docks those days and his kidneys, after all these years, are suffering from the dehydration he must have endured back then. She'll visit him at the hospital.

And by the way, my aunt has been enjoying a winning streak at her mahjong sessions since that visit to the Tiger God. She's pleased.

Rehabilitation

One of the greatest tragedies that has befallen some of the pre-war shophouses in Georgetown has been the use of non-porous materials in later repair-works.

Because the water table is very high in the inner city, walls and floors have always suffered from rising damp. In the past, the use of porous terracotta tiles for the floors and lime plaster on the walls, coupled with sufficient ventilation from an unobstructed air-well and back-yard, allowed the damp to evaporate through the floor and walls. Besides keeping rising damp uner control, the process of evaporation kept the house cool. It was intelligent design; one that was sensitive to climate, geography and the laws of nature.


Later efforts at renovating and repairing pre-war houses had prioritized the use of harder and less porous materials to keep rising damp at bay, chief of which are concrete and stoneware or cement tiles. Unfortunately, this did not solve the problem of rising damp. By locking the damp in the walls, it was forced to creep further and further up the walls, sometimes even rising up to the first floor, magnifying the problem. This, and the reclamation of extra space by covering up the airwell, and building up the back-yard have compounded the damage to the houses by greatly obstructing air-flow and reducing ventilation.

Over the years, these houses became very, very sick and was thus primed for termite attacks, rotting timber beams and water and salt-damaged walls. Sadly, 105 Malay Street is one of them.

The Tiger-god protects against all evil-doers!

And so, I finally was able to collect the keys to 105 Malay Street from my lawyer, which I did this past Monday. Its now ... *ahem*... my house. Of course, I went over immediately to look it over. It was a complete mess. There was a termite infested ceiling, termite infested floorboards, slabs of plaster peeling off the water-damaged walls, rotting beams, leaks everywhere, a broken staircase, rotting food and piles of discarded shoes. But I loved it and I was happy and excited.

The next day I set about looking for a contractor to clear out the trash and to hack and remove all the unwanted additions. After talking to 2 prospectives, I settled for Lim, a contractor my new friend, Bernard, had recommended. Lim had worked on restoring a house on Chow Thye Road that Bernard was managing for a couple of his friends. Bernard had been pleased with Lim's work and attitude, and gave a strong recommendation. So Lim it was. He started work on Wed.

Meanwhile, I had sauntered over to Komtar nearby in search of some renovation guidelines. I thought I'd better be clear about regulations since Malay Street separates the Georgetown heritage core zone from the buffer zone. (On one side of the street, the houses are in the core zone and on the other, the buffer zone. No.105 lies in the buffer zone.)

After being re-directed a couple of times in the maze that is Komtar, I found my way to the Heritage Building Control Section of the MPPP Building Department, on the 11th Floor, where I spoke to Mr Tan. Mr. Tan was a friendly chap who assured me that I was free to seek his assistance anytime to discuss my plans with him. But he didn't give me any guidelines. I was a bit perplexed. (I did however, find out that I would be allowed to build a 3rd storey from the air-well to the back of the house. Janet Pillai - friend & responsible citizen - over a beer, was not amused)

Yesterday, the 9th day of the 2nd moon, all the animals in the forest opened their mouths for the first time after their hibernation. At 6.45pm, precisely the moment when their mouths opened, I was at the Goddess of Mercy temple on Pitt Street with my aunt, where we made offerings of lard to the tiger-god. I had also spat on the negative forces that would come my way and vigorously stomped on a little paper figurine of a man to ward off any future evil intentions from people I will encounter.

The stage is now set. I've had a wonderful start to the renovation process. But now, knowing the path is clear and with the tiger-god protecting me, I stride ever more confidently into this exciting and very educational journey of many, many months.