When we bought this property in August 2010 it had been abandoned for a couple of years and neglected for 30 years before that. It was bank owned but they were unable to sell it because no one could get financing due to all the problems. The bank decided to put $50,000.00 into repairs in order to sell it. These repairs included a new roof on half the house and repair of the other half of the roof. That was a selling feature for us. Not having to worry about water leaks was huge. Water wasn’t a problem in August and September. We had an inkling of things to come when a neighbor stopped by to tell us that our dining room would be flooded as soon as the rain came. We assured him that the roof had been repaired but he explained that this particular leak did not come from the roof. He also told us that we would have water half way into the garage as well as flooding on the patio up to the first step. What? Well, the rains came and so did the leaks. Water leaked from an upstairs bedroom, down the wall, through the window, onto the floor and across the room. I kept seven loaf pans in the window sill and emptied them all day and night when it rained. During a bad storm I set my alarm to go off every two hours to wake me up for loaf pan duty. See the water on the window? It is not coming from rain. This window is under a covered deck. This water is tracking down from the window upstairs.
We had water in the garage requiring the use of boots to unload groceries.
The front patio was a swamp all winter.
Water leaked into the new barn.
Water leaked into the chicken coop.
With lots and lots of water sealant, caulk, trenches, and contractors the water leaks are pretty much under control. The garage still floods but plans are in the works to fix that.
One day I was driving home and was around the corner from our house. It was raining and I noticed a river of water running down the side of the road. That river turned the corner when I did and to my surprise, also turned into our driveway and straight down to our patio and garage. What? Michael dug a trench to redirect the water but the efficacy of that was limited. We had our driveway re-paved and at that time we decided to have a speed bump installed near the road. We had it angled to direct the water away from our house and toward the orchard where it can do some good. Today i got to see the speed bump in action and made a little movie tribute.
Amy says
Oh Mary, you are too funny. You really do deserve an award for that vid! (nice job on the speed bump, too.)
Kathy says
YAY for speed bumps! Genius!
I hope your loaf pan duty days are over and you stay nice and dry.