For those who are not up to speed, our part of the world has been getting drenched in rain lately.
Which honestly, we needed it. We have been in a drought since 2011, but we seemed to have blown past getting enough water, and are now totally in the "way too much" stage
just to run through a few key points.
We have had almost 32 inches of rain since Jan 1. (last time we had that much rain in a year, was 2009)
It rained 24 out of 31 days in May. that would be the wettest may in 117 years.
over 35 trillion gallons of water fell on Texas in May. Enough to fill the entire state in 8.81 inches of water.
and let me tell you, my land has its 8" of water above grade...
so first thing, house is fine, family is fine, all good there.
The shop on the other hand, thats a different deal.
I have seen water build up on the back of the building before during a bad storm, but it hadnt been a big deal. With all this rain though it was building up a lot. After doing some digging (I mean digging, not searching, but shovel and mud kind of thing) I found out that it had been a problem before, because someone had buried weeping tile sometime in the past. Problem is the weeping tile is full of dirt so it doesnt flow anymore. (and who knows where it flows to) and I dont think it has enough of a pitch to move the water well enough.
you can see the PVC pipe with the holes in it in the above picture. The pipe is surround by rocks, as it is supposed to be, but so much dirt has run off into this that all the weeping tile is clogged
problem is, with that 35 trillion gallons of water coming down, it got inside the hanger, and flooded the workshop.
because even after digging out a trench, pumping water as far away as I could, and anything else I could come up with, the weeping tile and trench I dig, looks like this
you can see jake is very concerned. He knows this is not how this is supposed to look.
so as I couldnt keep the water away very easily (cant dig in the marsh very easily, and thats what all my land is, marsh) We setup every fan we own, plus bought a few more, to try and help keep the inside dry even when the water comes in.
many more than that, but you get the idea.
Problem was, it was too late. The crappy crap crap crap that someone used on the ceiling in the workshop was pressed and glued particle board. Well, it was too damp in there, it molded, and in no time.
so what to do?
and of course that much moisture in there is no good for tools and other things that have been in there. Cast Iron is rusting, wood is rotting, etc, etc.
I honestly have not done much with it, because, well, as of when I am writing this, it has only been a few days without rain. And as long as its still raining, it will still be a problem.
What to do now?
Well, first, going to have to let the ground dry, and then do some digging, well actually a lot of digging.
get that old weeping tile out, replace it with bigger and better and longer. Feed some of the downspouts into it, and dig a deep dry well to feed it into that is farther down hill
I know, that sounds like so much fun don't it....
After that is done, and I know I can keep the water out of the hanger, I can start dealing with what is damaged with the walls, and tools, and etc that were in there.
it will be a lot of work.
and Yes, its is depressing, but I am trying to be realistic about it. Its not our house, we didn't loose everything, and many people in our state were in that exact situation. so I should be thankful.
The thing this will do for sure, is slow down (stop) a lot of other projects, as any available time will be spent on this. Of course, I am already spending a lot of time out there digging and pumping and such to try and keep more water out, but hopefully one day I can be working on something that will be more productive
well, that is all for now. everyone try and stay dry and keep your head above water!
Cherry Pie!
DD
No comments:
Post a Comment