UNIT
14
-
LEKOA
14
DOING
REPAIRS
AND
RENOVATIONS
Cultural Notes
Repairs
and
renovations are never fun,
but
in Poland
they
are an abso/ute
nightmare.
New
houses are very
poor/y
built
and
problems start practically
the
moment
you
move in. O/d houses which resisted
wear
and
tear
for
years begin
to
fali apart. Breaking pipes, leaking roofs, doors
and
windows
that
won't
close
properly, continuous breakdowns in centra/ heating
systems,
and
power
failures are
some
of
the
things occur
all
the time. Repairs are
slow
to come
and
not
very
well
done,
to
put
it
mi/d/y. Shortages
and
poor
se/ection
of
many things, ranging from
kitchen
or
bathroom ti/es
to
faucets, paint, tapes, etc., are another
big
problem.
On
the
brighter
side, Polish workers, when
they
are
good
(and
properly
paid),
are very, very
good
and
not
as
narrow/y
specialized
as
in the
U.
S.. A graduate
of
Technikum Budowlane*
will
know
just
about
everything,
not
on/y
when
it
comes
to
building a house,
but
a/so
about
installing p/umbing, e/ectricity, etc. Long years
of
shortages have
provided
Poles
with
p/enty
of
inventiveness and,
more
often
than
not, when
a spare
part
is
impossible
to
find,
they
will
make one
or
figure
out
some
other
so/ution.
* Technikum
is
not
a vocational school. It takes 5 years to graduate.
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