The ups and downs of owning a home…

As part of the new and improved water service, we had to abandon our septic system and hook up to a new sewage line.  The new line went through the back of our property which “they” cleared for us.  I don’t know how many trees were cut down but new ones were planted during the hottest and driest part of the summer so far.

Abandoning a septic doesn’t mean one just walks away from it.  Oh no, it involves having the tank drained (by a professional company that specializes in doing that), then crushed. The now crushed tank, rock fill, pipe connection to the tap, and under fill of said pipe have to be inspected by the water company.

Only then can one abandon the septic system.  And all that work gets covered up with dirt, dirt, and more dirt.  Or in our case, shale. This was an all day project beginning around 7:00 am.

But wait.  There’s more.

Since heavy equipment was already involved, we decided to have some drainage issues resolved.  Our basement would flood during heavy rains.  Not often but more than once is one time too many.  The rain couldn’t get away from the house fast enough so it backed up through the basement floor drains.  One thousand square feet of floor space six inches deep of water.  500 cubic feet = 3740.25974026 gallons of water.  (I cheated and got that number from here.) That’s a lot of water!

So we had our downspouts diverted from the French drains that are deep down around our foundation away from the house.

One goes out towards the back yard and the other hides behind the lilac bush in the front.

That process also involved increasing the height of the window wells and additional soil around the foundation so the ground sloped away from the house.

And raising the heat pumps about eight to ten inches.

Nothing is easy.

But wait…there’s still more!!!

Part II tomorrow.