Sunday, August 21, 2011

N/A Home Repairs

Due to the recent heavy rains our basement got wet. Mary and I decided that we would install gutter guards to keep the leaves out from our two large trees out front and a large river birch out back. Mary was the ground team and I did the ladder work. I had many thoughts as to how we could be better spending this day instead of being responsible homeowners. About the time I had thoughts of us flying to the beach to enjoy a weekend get-away, I was jerked back to reality with immediate flashbacks of "piloting" the wet/dry vac (emphasize WET) in the early morning hours. UGhhhhh.....yes hottie hand me up a few more sections of the guards.


I also required new gutter clips to replace the few that had broken due to last winters ice storms. The guards were installed with only one whacked finger due to me trying to swing a hammer left handed instead of getting down and relocating the ladder for a new clip install with my right hand swing. Looking at that finger this morning I clearly see my badge of stupidity glowing in purple and dark red colors.


To cap my day of home chores I decided to add drainage collectors and pop up drains to the back two downspouts with the thought of getting the water farther away from the house. It's been many years since I had to wield a shovel to such an extent but at least I didn't turn any fingers or toes funny colors. Drains are installed but I don't think they are far enough away so I did not glue the PVC at the pop ups. I am going to add another eight to ten feet then make the pop up connection permanent.  I'm ready to fly now!

5 comments:

CheesyOne said...

Sounds fun. NOT. Those pop-ups don't work here in Cheesy country. They freeze in November and don't thaw until after the first spring rains have caused the drainpipes to back up :-( Maybe they will work okay for you since you live in the banana belt.

Gary said...

:) Well, I'm hoping they work and if they freeze there is plenty of room in the 4" PVC. I think we'll be fine here in the "banana" belt.

Geezzz the end of August is here, you'll be shoveling snow soon and I will be following suit soon enough. I'm ready to pack up and move south!

Steve said...

I installed those exact pop-up emitters for our gutters last year. Combined with a catch basin under each downspot they do a pretty good job. Just make sure you have enough rock/gravel underneath so the water can drain out once it stops raining!

Wish we could've flown this weekend to a wedding in MI but have to watch the $$... so I also spent plenty of time looking at the blue sky, wishing we were up there.

Gary said...

Steve,

I didn't add the stone under or beyond the pop up's since I am going to extend the trench and PVC another ten feet. I'll add the stone base and drain field, maybe three feet, once I install the last section of PVC. Glad to hear they work ok, now if the heavy rains don't blow the tops off and send them down stream!

Steve said...

Sounds like a good plan. One word of advice - REMOVE THE TOPS BEFORE YOU MOW!

Don't ask how I know. Oh, you're curious? Let's just say I've had to buy two more emitters to replace chewed-up tops... ;-)