Continued progress

After cleaning out the sprinkler valves last week, I found that they were still leaking. Seemed like they held for a couple days but the other zones started spraying again, even though they are not set to turn on at all. I don't understand how that happens. So anywho, I got a filter meant for drip systems today that should filter the rusty particles out and keep this from happening, I just need a couple more parts to get it connected up.

On to what I did late last week ... I finished the connection from the west downspout in the back to the dry well on that side, got the trench filled in with gravel and started filling it back in with dirt. At the end the day I was planning what to do next and realized I needed to run the extra sprinkler line through that trench before I filled it in so the next day I dug the dirt back out of it. I hate rework!

Since I needed to get pvc pipe for the sprinkler run, I decided to go back out front to work on the driveway drain and connection to the west downspout. So Wed and Thurs, I got the trench for the downspout dug out, the hole for the driveway drain dug and connected up all the pipe from the downspout to the driveway drain to the drywell.

I had gotten a chiropractic adjustment Wed and although it went well it left me pretty sore in my lower back and between my shoulders. I worked through it but it got increasingly hard to ignore.

Even though it was getting hard to work, I was finally able to fill in the rest of the gravel in the front dry well, cover it over with landscape fabric and start covering it with dirt. I need to fix the sprinkler pipe there so I could only full it like halfway but at least it isn't a big gaping hole now; just like a foot deep hole.

Sarah was here with the kids on Friday so I spent most of the day outside trying to finish the east side downspout drain lines and found I had hit a pvc line that went from the known sprinklers under the grass area I removed and where I dug the trench and ended in an open threaded connection, I had dug out completely out before realizing it was just a three foot section I could have just capped off, so I will redo the line so I can put drip lines into the planting bed on that side.

The weekend hit and I was so sore from working on digging out that sprinkler line that I just had to take it easy.. I was thinking I may have pulled something but most likely that adjustment is just going to take some time to stop inflaming, cuz icing it really helps.

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Labor days - the next week

So far this week I have:

• raked out the dirt over the pond and tamped it down, with Sam's "help"
• cut the drainpipe in the front, on the east side of the garage, to length
• filled dirt and gravel in around the drain pipe and installed the connector for the downspout
• dug out the gravel from the driveway trench
• dug out halfway, another 4-6 inches of dirt from the driveway trench; to a total of about 12-16 inches
• dug out more on the west trench in the back to slope it down from the downspout to the drywell
• Connected the drainpipe on that back west trench to the drywell and filled it the rest of the way with gravel, covered the gravel with landscape fabric and then with some dirt, that Sam also helped with tonight even though he is kinda sick right now.
• cleaned out the valves for the front sprinklers so they wouldn't leak when I watered the new tree.

will update this post and add pictures as the week progresses...

Battle of the bees

I have been battling bees the past couple days. I had to hit one with my little trenching shovel three times before it either had enough or I knocked it out for good... the last hit was quite solid and made a ping sound. I don't know if they like my white shirt, my sweat, or my deodorant (since it is the only fragrance on me). I keep walking away but for some reason they keep showing back up as soon as I start working again. I am sure the lady walking down the street when I was sweeping the layer of dirt off the end of the driveway where I was going to be working got quite a laugh with me swatting at the bees and briskly walking away every couple minutes. 

That aside, this Saturday, I got the trench cut in the asphalt at the end of the driveway so that I can put a driveway drain and connect up the downspout on that side of the garage to the dry well. I got to use a new power tool too, a concrete saw. I started by putting one of the pieces of plywood down and measuring my cut width from the cement driveway and using spray paint along the edge of the plywood to make a line for me to follow.

When I first started sawing, I didn't have the water hooked up right and it wasn't flowing to the saw, so the saw was putting up this massive cloud of dust. With the water working right, it was relatively dustless and probably overkill for me to have the dust mask on; don't I look menacing.

I had to rent the saw for 4 hours even though it only took like a half hour to cut the driveway and another 10 to cut the slab of sidewalk in the back that I had to break to be able to lift. The slabs came out good and I will be able to use them as a transition through the gate on the east side of the house once I get the fence redone on that side. Here they are laid out end to end, cut ends to the outside since they didn't end up exactly square.



This is one of the pieces after I broke it, before cutting it off



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I tried to borrow a sledge from the neighbor directly across the street from me, but he didn't have one. So when his next door neighbor, the guy who helped me shovel gravel for a little bit during the week, was out getting his mail, I borrowed one from him. It took forever to break and pry up that 6 inch section of asphalt. I finally got it all up and realized there was a lot of digging to make room for the drainage pipe and culvert I was putting in, not to mention the trench needing to be dug in the gravel on the west side of the driveway to the west garage downspout. I dug out all the asphalt and loaded it in the trailer, but left the rest of it since it was really getting hot.

I really didn't do much on Sunday, cuz I was mighty sore and needed a little break.  I think I ended up digging in the trench a little bit out front Sunday night when it got cool, but for the most part, I took it easy.

Here is a video of me cutting the trench, in case you wanted to see it in action:

Labor Days, the rest of the week

So for the rest of the week after Labor Day I worked on:

• digging the rest of the trench to the downspout on the east of the garage including tunneling under the front sidewalk
• filling up the hole in the front with gravel to the drain ports
• installing the drain pipe from the east garage downspout to the drywell and filling in the trench
• capping off the sprinkler lines I hit so I could still water the tree in the front
• digging out the rest of the trench to the downspout on the west side in the back, including tunneling under the sidewalk
• breaking up the sidewalk over my tunnel in the back and removing the cement pieces (I was able to break them by putting a broken piece of cement under one corner after prying it up with the pick axe, then when I found I didn't have a sledge, I jumped on it and it broke)

It was pretty hot that week so I really only worked in the mornings when it was cool and picked Sam up early from the babysitter and had him nap at home. I got to spend a little more time with him once he got home, before his nap, got to put him down for a nap by reading a book to him and got to play and hang out with him when he got up from his nap, when he woke up before Aimee got home that is. On Thursday, he had fallen at the library with the babysitter and had a pretty big goose egg on his forhead, so he slept really good that afternoon. The pictures don't do it justice, especially when the babysitter, Sarah, said it was at least twice as big right after he did it, prompting them to go home and ice it.

Here are some pictures from the week:

Front drywell filled to ports with gravel and trench extended to the sidewalk

Front drywell drain line in, under sidewalk

before I started extending the trench, but after removing some of the loose dirt from the machined trench.

trench under sidewalk

removed sidewalk

Trench under the sidewalk with sidewalk removed

Labor Day #3, Sept 2011

We had a quick breakfast on Labor Day morning, day 3 of the work weekend. Aimee's dad got started doing the hole for the sump pump and I went and got another load of gravel I was thinking I would need for the holes and trenches, hopefully another 2 yards isn't going to be too much.

Dad worked with a short shovel I had and that 5 gallon bucket on it's side cuz it barely fit under the floor joists when upright. I emptied the first couple buckets for him, but Aimee helped out the rest of the day so I could work in the holes in the yard. Is it just me or does he not look too amused I took his picture?

He got quite dusty working under the house and crawling around to run the electrical line and the garden hose out the vent at the other end of the house.I am kinda excited about this being done, but kinda not looking forward to running the electrical line over to the panel in the garage and snaking it down to hook it up.

Dusty Bob.

Anywho, I dropped off the trailer at the rental place after I dumped the gravel in the driveway and then proceeded to dig out the end of the trench going to the east side drywell, wrap the hole and container with landscape fabric, insert the drainage pipe coming from the downspouts, fill the hole with gravel, put an extra piece of landscape fabric on top and start filling the remaining 12 inch deep hole with dirt. By about noon, I had gotten all the loose dirt around the hole scraped back into the hole, about half filled. I will have to move more from the other pile in the back, but after I get the other holes buttoned up to at least this stage.

Hole with gravel in the bottom and well container



Well and hole wrapped in landscape fabric



fabric folded over and dirt starting to fill rest of hole

After filling the east hole with dirt about half way, which is when I ran out of loose dirt by the hole, I think I had lunch and then started on the west side drywell. We hit some gravel which looked like some kind of drainage field, which would have been under the grass; maybe something left over from a septic system, I don't know. It will help disperse the water though so we left it alone.

It didn't seem like it took that long, but I got it wrapped and filled with gravel to the drainage pipe holes. I will need to empty the trench and grade it to the hole and fix the sprinkler lines I hit with the trencher before I can put the pipe in. I did realize that working in the full sun was really hot and put the canopy over the hole. It was hot that day, like close to 90 I think, but this made it at least manageable. Now I know why Dad wanted to work under the house instead of outside; much cooler, but more dusty I think.

Second drywell on west side of back yard, there was some kind of pre-existing drainage field that we hit, maybe from an old septic system?

West drywell filled to the drainage pipe connections, .

Labor Day #2

Day two started with a quick breakfast and trenching... lots of trenching. It took a long time cuz it again kept locking up on rocks and was a little underpowered for the depth and type of soil.

I decided to keep the loader past the 8am return time; for $35/hour. I was hoping to get it done in the 4 hour timeline, so it wouldn't get too expensive. It was well worth the extra time we had the loader and I was almost sorry I didn't keep it for the rest of the day. Anywho...
We got the trench along the back side of the house for the new sprinkler run that will water the new grass I will be putting in later this fall. Then we moved to the west side trench that goes to the first dry well we dug. I hit just about every existing sprinkler line in that area, sometimes in multiple spots... I will have a lot of repairs to do but it really wasn't that bad considering. I finished with the trench for the front yard hole but couldn't do more than like 4 feet due to not being able to back the machine through he side of the garage.


I was happy when it was finally finished and we were ready to unload the trencher back on the trailer.

East side - first trench

South Side of house

West side of house, with busted lines




Another on the West that I nicked

 

After trenching I decided to run as much gravel as I could to tarps in the backyard next to the two holes. I got a good pile next to each of them, hoping that I didn't do too little and praying I didn't do too much to have to move it back.

We took the loader back about 11:30 and paid for a day plus the 4 extra hours. It was some of the best rental money I have spent. We took a break and went to lunch when we got back; Dad took us out to Mexican and we started talking about what else needed to get done. The sump pump came up and Dad was eager to volunteer to get out of working in the heat on Monday; smart man.

I went and got another load of gravel that afternoon before the landscape supply place closed. Then I think I messed around outside but didn't seem to really get all that much done for the rest of the day... it was too hot. The front of the house looked like this at the end of the day.

[Next: Labor Day #3: "Labor Day"]

Labor Day #1, Sept 2011

We started early with a big breakfast that Aimee and her Dad made: Cabbage, eggs, ham and bananas.

We started right off with finishing the hole we started the night before and cleaned it out as best we could with the auger before putting another hole right next to the other one.


The first hole



The second hole



Sam and Aimee came out about then to see what was up and Sam wanted to see the machine but got really timid after stepping onto it, then didn't want to be near it any more. Aimee got this pic just as he was stepping on:

Sam inspecting the holes



Sam on the loader

So while Bob, Aimee's Dad, cleaned out the remaining dirt in those holes, I went and started on the other location in the back. The dirt on that side of the yard was quite a bit wetter down about a foot so it clung to the auger bit pretty well and I was able to clean that hole out more than the first one. Bob then started cleaning out that one while I went to do the hole in the front.

Second location, first hole of 3

Cleaning out what the loader left

I made quite a mess in the front yard since I was planning on putting two of the 50 gallon dry well containers in the ground right next to each other to handle the front gutter and the runoff from the street that collects in our driveway. I ended up deciding that was way overkill and just put one in. It will have a lot of extra capacity with the extra gravel that got put around it anyways.

5 holes later



Note the flying dirt clump.



About the time I started digging out the left over dirt from drilling 5 holes, Aimee and Sam came back from doing a project at the home store; a dry erase board. I was kinda sad I missed doing the project with Sam, but it gave Aimee a chance to do one with him.

And of course Sam wanted to get in the hole with me; it was deeper than he is tall at 38" and ended up about 50-54 inches deep when I was done cleaning it out.

I think it was after lunch that I was done with the hole clean out and Bob had finished the ones in the back, so I started hauling the dirt from the back yard to the pile I had started in the front until it was time to go get the dump trailer I had reserved. I got the majority of the extra dirt moved and was just piddling around with the loader, leveling off the side of the driveway and digging a little in the lawn area in the back yard.

We went over to pick up the trailer at about 3 and got a bit of a break in the heat until we got back and started loading and hauling the extra dirt.





We got the trailer fully loaded, dumped at the landscape place, refilled with the rest of the pile, dumped, and came back with a full load of 3/4 open gravel before 5:30. It was well worth the rental fee to have the dump trailer so we wouldn't be killing ourselves with unloading my little utility trailer and making about 6 trips for every full load of the dumping trailer. It would have taken a full day just to get rid of all that dirt the other way.

We took a break for dinner and then went back out, put the trencher on and did the trench along the east side of the house, from the second hole in the back yard. It took a long time cuz the machine seemed to be a little under powered for a foot deep trench and it kept getting bound up on rocks. I had to keep raising the trencher, reversing it to kick out the rock and then try to lower it to the same depth again. Needless to say the trench was not too consistent. It got dark before we finished, so we left the other trenches for the next morning.

[Next: Labor Day #2 and cost vs effort decisions]

Labor Day Prep, Sept 2011

So now that you know the back story of the issues we are having with water under the house, etc. The in-laws showed up about 5pm on Friday, Pre-Labor Day #1. We had dinner and I made sure I had an alarm set so I would remember to go get the utility loader after 7pm but before they closed at 8pm, so that I could skirt their open hours and have the loader until Sunday morning at 8am for a 1 Day rate.

I borrowed the neighbors truck and took off for the store and found that the loader was still there, which was a concern. I got it rented and as we were hooking it up realized they didn't have an adapter for the round 6wire terminal on the truck to go to the 4wire connection for the trailer lights. So I called up a couple local auto supply stores using my phones google maps to search for near ones and found one at a store back by the house... so I got the keys for the loader, went and got the adapter, then came back to hook up the trailer with the adapter and got it home about 8:00.

I unloaded the loader and got the auger bit attached and it died; out of gas. So I put the gallon or so of gas I had in the can for the lawn mover and got the thing to the back yard. I was eager to try it out, but it took us almost another half hour to get the hydraulic connections for the auger connected since one of them was sticking and wouldn't lock on.

It was probably about 9pm or later when I got the thing fired up and started digging the first hole.  The auger went through the dirt with little effort and I had the thing buried to the full depth in no time. I backed it out and pulled the auger back a little so we could check out the hole and it was awesome. The bit took a lot of the dirt out with it so the hole was really pretty clean; we were going to be able to do these holes with only some clean out.

Wish we would have gotten pictures of that night, but didn't think of it. Sam and Aimee came out at that point for Sam to say goodnight and we all went inside for the night.

[Next: Labor Day #1]

Labor Day backstory and planning

For Labor Day this year, Aimee's Parents drove down for the weekend to help me with some of my ongoing projects, in fact two of the most daunting ones I have been planning for awhile.

When we bought our house 6 years ago, the inspection report identified that there was standing water under the house. In the months that followed, I realized that there were probably a couple things that may be contributing to it:

1. the plugged downspout drian by the garage that was pouring water right next to the garage foundation
2. the downspout drain that runs from the other side of the garage across the front of the house and somewhere to the backyard could have a break, hole or simply just be clogged and leaking out a seam
3. the 300-400 gallon pond by the front door which may have a leak
4. and possibly the fact that our groundwater is probably not far below surface since we live within a half mile to a major river running through town and it is just finding it's way into our house when it rains a lot.

I decided to have the downspout drains scoped with a camera to find out if they were clogged and where they drained.  It was almost a waste of money since they found that both of them were completely clogged and nothing else since the service guy was not able to get the camera past the debri. So...

Phase 2 of the plan was to take the downspout water out of the equation by diverting it to drywells that I would dig at the corners of the property to help dispell the water from around the house. I was not looking forward to this due to digging a 3 foot in diameter 4 foot deep hole by hand or at least with limited help of an auger.Hand opperated ones only get up to about 12-16 iunches and you still have to dig out the rest of the hole and loose dirt. But when I was at the big box store, I was talking to the tool rental mechanic and discovered that they rent a utility loader that has a 24 inch auger bit, a scoop bucket, and a trencher; all the things I would need for digging out the holes and trenches and moving the dirt and gravel around. So that solved a lot of the issues with digging holes that big.

Phase 3 was going to be regrading the ground around the house to help runoff go away from the house. There is a general bowl shaped grade to the ground around the house, so this would help direct any surface water away from the foundation.

The last phase was to eventually put in a sump pump under the house and move any water that may collect under there. This was going to be the last effort after the other phases were unsuccessful in removing enough water from around the house. I had looked into having a the crawlspace enclosed, but when that was not cost effective for our already upside down house, I looked into other contracted foundation draining systems. These were less expensive but still not very cost effective for our situation.

So the work began...

[to be continued...]