Day: April 19, 2018

Turkey Tracks:  April 19, 2018

Drainage Project

I had a major drainage project going on all last week.

My garage sits below a rather steep hill that discards both surface and underground water–much of which goes right into the garage.  Or goes under the garage foundation.

There have been times when I’ve had 6 to 8 inches of water inside that garage–which happens when the ground is frozen and we get rain rather than snow.  This year we had bitter cold early on, and all this moisture froze and settled on the inside roof of the garage.  At first I thought my new roof was leaking, but Horch Roofing came out and got me going in the right direction toward fixing the problem.  They installed a ridge vent which will work to let any moisture out of the garage.  It is not a building that will ever be heated I don’t think.

Evergreen Home Performance very kindly came out and helped me figure out what else to do and who might do that work.  In the back of my mind was Stephen Pennoyer, who is now in Florida, telling me that I really should put in French drains around the garage.  Evergreen thought so as well.  The question was what kind of French drains.  Also, the garage faces north, so the front drive holds snow for a long time.

After getting some consults and bids, I settled on Tom Jackson, who has always “done right” by me.  He has solved several major property problems for me over the years.

Tom thought French drains in key places, yes, but also more work on the ditch on the other side of the driveway, which was not functioning properly.

The ditches around the garage are over three feet deep and are now, filled with pipes and gravel.

The “kabota” lived up here this week:

Doesn’t it look nice.  There was NO WATER in this garage after a really heavy rain a few days ago.

The far side of the garage does not have ditches, but has been shored up as it was eroding and the back corner foundation was out of the earth.  Tom added a gravel drip line to help prevent erosion.  What you see piled up are the boardwalk sections, which the men very kindly took up and stacked for the summer.

The drainage ditch on the other side of the drive has been dug out again and filled with gravel.  In the process, Tom discovered a pipe way to the left of where the well overflow is that was pouring water down the drive.  That pipe has been redirected into the ditch.

I think this work will solve this thorny drainage problem that has plagued us for years and years.  No more worries about the garage rotting out now.  No more sheets of ice on the driveway.  It’s all good!