the battle of order vs chaos

[the_siobhan]

I have decided I do not like drywall.

It would probably be fine if I was just dealing with flat slabs, but corners are fiddly and a pain in the ass. At least now I can say I know how.

The sump pump is now sorted. The new unit is a completely different shape so the box the contractor built to cover it no longer fits and I'll have to get something else made. The pipe also now drains into the middle of the yard, which is kind of awkward because it's a buggering great pipe that is now very much just kind of - taking up space. I'm thinking I'll build some kind of containers to sit over / next to it but that's very much a project for next year.

Roofing guy showed up on Saturday and we went out onto the kitchen roof to have a look. It's the first time I've been out there. It turns out the kitchen leak is because the contractor put a bolt through the membrane to hold the floor of the deck in place. Right now there is a slab of wood over it so it can't be reached, but when the deck actually gets finished (Right now it's just a floor with no walls and I have to crawl out a window to get to it) I'll have to see if I can't make that last plank removable in some way.

Also it turns out that I don't even have a gutter on the back second floor roof so that explains why I see so much water pouring past my window when it rains. And we had what my friends are calling a "mini-hurricane" last week and that tore some of the flashing off the top of the wall, which is now just dangling outside my office window. Roof dude is going to put together a quote to send me.

Next on my list: Finding a contractor who can order my doors. I found a place that will make them, but they need a licensed contractor to put in the order. Which kind of makes sense, that way everybody can be assured they actually fit properly.

I have another week of vacation at the end of this month so I'm hoping to use it in getting the yard a bit sorted. That uses up the last of the PTO I've been saving up from previous years, so HR will stop pestering me about it.

When I dug out my cold room I found a bunch of old seeds I collected last time I grew tomatoes. I assumed most of them would be dead after all this time, so I threw them into some dirt to see if any of them were still alive.

I may have miscalculated slightly.



(Anybody need any tomato plants?)

The aloe pups you see in the background are because one of my aloe plants decided she really needs to make her mark on the world. Fortunately the neighbourhood yard sale is in late May and I always put a box of cuttings on my lawn for people to take for free. I am going to have several boxes to contribute this year.

Comments

[cornerofmadness]

good luck with all the tomatoes. I should be so lucky with mine

[china_shop]

Hee! That's a LOT of tomato plants! :D (I'd take some, but I suspect the shipping would be prohibitive. ;-)

[trobadora]

Yay tomatoes!

[doggiesushi]

yay tomatoes!
This was us last year. I had a whole pack of green bean seeds that were 7-8 years old that was tucked way back in our gardening bin. Instead of waste them, I decided to put them along the trellis since we didn't have any garden plans for the year. They all grew, and without inoculant. Every single one of them. We were _swimming_ in green beans last year. I learned a lesson.

[sushispook]

[imagining a wad of tomatoes you can pull apart like monkey bread]

As always, best wishes for good contractor luck!

[greylock]

The pipe also now drains into the middle of the yard, which is kind of awkward because it's a buggering great pipe that is now very much just kind of - taking up space.

Do Canadians not use soakwells? There are other options of dealing with excess water, I forget what the term is, and it's hella hippy, but soakwells are what we use. We have sand, so it drains okay.

It turns out the kitchen leak is because the contractor put a bolt through the membrane to hold the floor of the deck in place.

Too big to silicone?

The tomatoes are impressive. I reckon you split and harden any you have left, and try them in different microclimates. For science!

[the_siobhan]

I've never heard of soakwells, but I looked it up and they do sell them here. It looks like they are for sandy soil? Mine is clay, so it tends to hold onto water. I'll do some research on it, that might be a thing.

The problem with the bolt is that it is under the planks of the deck. When I get somebody in to finish the deck I'll get them to take that plank off and maybe set it up with something more easily removed for dealing with leaks etc. I'm not sure how decks normally deal with roofing, but I'm pretty sure my contractor just cowboyed everything so I'm going to get an actual expert to have a look at it.

[greylock]

Yeah, we live on an ancient flood plain, so we don't have "dirt" as I expect you know it. It's basically beach sand, so it may not be a good idea.
But, honestly, if you're going to that expense, rainwater tanks might be a better option.

Ah, I see. That does seem like a cowboy job if you've got a deck above a roof.
If I understand correctly, it might be a better idea to put in a waterproof membrane or something before you finish the deck.

Good luck!

[the_siobhan]

I did some preliminary reading on soakwells and they are very much recommended for sand. In clay they just fill up.

Recommended here is French drains, which are kinda the same thing TBH - a hole in the ground filled with rocks. I should probably put one around the base of the house as well, but first I need to get the yard properly graded so I'm not just storing water next to the house. (This Fucking House.)

[greylock]

French drains might me what the other thing I was thinking of are. I did a bit of googling but no succes.

(This Fucking House.

If T-Town is like here, better TFH than sleeping on the street (since, IRRC you don't have a car).