A River Ran Through It
// June 3rd, 2009 // General Stuff
Two years in the making, but FINALLY…
Late last week the good people at Holmes Homes arrived to start removing plants, trees, shrubs, flowers and everything else growing along the side and back of our house and on early Monday, they showed up with their excavation team to start the digging. Goodbye landscaping!!! Goodbye river!!! Kind of sad, but out of the sadness comes one GOODbye – goodbye basement flooding!. A T-shaped trench is being dug parallel with the alley behind our house and perpendicular to the alley in between our house and our neighbor’s. Drains and pumps will be installed in the trenches and everything will be tied together and routed out under the street in front of our house. Once the repairs are completed, we’ll re-landscape, sans-river. The final plans are still TBD, but we’re thinking of putting a concrete pad off our back steps for a patio, then laying sod where most of the flagstone used to be. Mix in a few small gardens and we’ll be all set. We’re thinking about possibly stealing….errr…borrowing an idea from a neighboring house where they’ve fashioned some planters out of flagstone with tall shrubs growing off the top to create a pseudo-fence. We’ll see.
The repair work is to be completed by the weekend and the landscaping started next week. Based on how hard the crew has been working, it all looks likely.
For anyone looking for a home builder, Holmes Homes is highly recommended. They’re going above and beyond the call of duty and fixing a problem that’s really not theirs (insert not-so- subliminal blast of Kennecott Land here).
Anyway, pictures are more fun than words. Take a look at the best mess a Mustard House could ask for:
Say Hello To Our Little Friend - the Hitachi Zaxis 75 Excavator!!!
We're thinking of keeping the dump truck but don't know if we'll get approval from the HOA. Kind of a nice addition, don't you think?
And so it begins...
Trenched below the footing and a water repellant material fastened to the foundation
Materials for the drain, eventually covered with gravel and back-filled
The neighbors are in on the fun too!
Our house is back there...somewhere.
This is actually a really pretty site to us.
The Foreman. Every job needs supervision.
Comic relief. Hard hats are required on-site at all times.
3 Responses to “A River Ran Through It”
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I am contacting the “New Yorker” magazine to see if they need a new writer. You are too funny. Wow, on the dirt hill in the back. That must have been done after I left. It will be nice to have this all done. Your supervisor kinda loses some of her credibility — doesn’t look tough enough — hint, the pacifier.
Love, Grandma B
Oh yes, that all looks too familiar…!
Aghh! Brings back bad memories.
Mark
What is really amazing is the tiny space they had to work in and the agility they had while maneuvering between our houses. Truly impressive. The weather has delayed the landscaping, but with all the bad weather, we didn’t get a drop of water in our basement. There’s hope that all of this actually worked!