Let’s take a trip back in time a few months, back to May. You might recall that we had the front sidewalk all torn up. The guys had leveled it, added the 2B stones, the wire grid, and had the frame in place, ready for the cement to be poured. Then the sky opened up and dumped more than 4 inches of rain on us in May. Then another 4 inches in June. We just couldn’t keep up.
It rained buckets almost every day for weeks, and every time I came home I had to check on the basement, mop up as much water as I could, put the fans on the water to dry it out. I even had my two little space heaters running down there. Of course, none of these fans could be left running when Oliver was home alone. I’m too afraid of something happening. I’m also very afraid of mold, so it was a major effort to get the house dry. Every. Single. Day.
Exhausting.
We think the reason we had so much water in the basement was because of the gaping hole where there should be sidewalk. Which was prepped and ready, but of course cement could not be poured in that kind of weather. Couple that hole with the fact that we had much more rainfall than normal. The water table was saturated. I know I shouldn’t complain, really, because there was so much flooding in the area, many people were far worse off. But still, it was a pain.
You see, normally the rainwater runs down the street past the house, the low spot being between my property and the factory. But with the sidewalk unfinished, well, the water had a new low spot. And it could hold lots more water!
As you see, when we finally figured out this connection (geniuses that we are) we made effort to create a mini sand wall, to encourage the water to flow right past the inviting hole in our sidewalk. These pictures were taken during a “light” shower.
Eventually, more than two months after this project began, the weather cooperated for a few days, and we were able to finally pour the cement.
Then Lewis borrowed the camera, so I don’t have any pictures of the finished product right now! I’ll take some tonight and post them tomorrow.
The guys put a shiny 2009 quarter into the cement before it set. See that little smear on the right there? That was supposed to be an imprint of Oliver’s paw, but they waited a little too long and Oli was slightly less than co-operative.
More tomorrow. Promise.
Green Bungalow Craftworks 