St. Michael's Day Dig

Several weeks ago the Church celebrated the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels. On that day our family was blessed by a flesh and blood earthly band of angels who, armed not with harps and cymbals but with shovels and wheelbarrows, came to our assistance in a monumental way.

We have lived in our current home for almost eight years now. During that time, we have experienced flooding of our ground-level "rec room" (not basement) approximately two-three times per year. The water is not below ground or foundation seepage but above ground rainwater that will not drain from our lawn and upon reaching a certain level simply enters the house. We have come to realize that the problem pre-dated our purchase of this house, but due to the dishonesty of the previous owners as well as our own inexperience as buyers, we were not properly apprised of the situation.

Within several months of moving in we experienced a big, big rain--what in my home state of Texas we used to call a "gully-washer." It was one of those rains where you just sit and stare unbelieving out the window and count yourself blessed to be inside, warm and dry.

Or maybe just warm. I can still recall the horror of going down the three or four steps to the "rec room" (which was at that time functioning as my mother's bedroom) just in time to see a virtual wave of water come pouring under the baseboard along one of the outside walls. It wasn't a little trickle, but a flood, and within seconds the floor was covered in water, anywhere from 40-50 gallons of it.We cleaned it up. And over the years we have tried various measures to solve the problem. The dilemma is that everyone has a different theory about what ought to be done. We rejected the company that told us our house was like a boat and we needed to spend thousands of dollars making it watertight. Somehow, our gut told us that houses and boats are intrinsically two different things. Instead, we decided that it made more sense to get the water away from the house. So we extended and re-routed downspouts. Then we hired Perma-Seal to install a drain in the part of the yard that was not emptying properly. That seemed to help slightly. But each year we have experienced at least one big rain that was more than our boat--er, house--could take.

Since paying someone to fix this problem had not met with the desired level of success, we finally decided to tackle it on our own. So we talked to neighbors (turns out we are not the only ones around here with drainage issues), did some research, and enlisted the aid of caring friends. What follows is a photo-documentary of our "St. Michael's Day Dig."

We started at 7:00 a.m. But of course, first we fueled up for the day:




Then the digging began! You can see what a great team we had. (And this is not all of them--just the early birds.)


In the background of the photo above you can see our neighbor's house. Note also the slope of the land that allows water from their downspouts to flow toward our house. Go figure. This neighbor, concerned for our well-being, took part in the day's labour with all our other angels, thereby helping us to "improve and protect our possessions and income" (from Martin Luther's Small Catechism, Meaning of the 7th Commandment).



It wasn't long before we had to run to our neighborhood home improvement store for more supplies. I drove, and a couple of the younger members of the team did the heavy lifting.


Pictured below are two catch-basins strategically placed to catch accumulated rainwater. Attached to the catch-basins are perforated tubes that will carry the water underground to a disposal point.

Phil is working on a third catch-basin.

The photo below shows the perforated tubing in a bed of river rocks (for greater water capacity) atop landscape fabric that will eventually be wrapped around the entirety of the tubes (to keep soil out of the tubing). I understand that this is known as a French drain (or French trench).


The soil has been replaced, covering the tubes so that only the catch basins are visible. (Later grass will be laid.)

In addition to the three catch-basins we installed, there was a fourth one previously installed by the waterproofing company. All of them, as well as the neighbor's downspout, feed into an underground tube that runs around the corner from our back yard and down the side of our house between us and our neighbor. The tube previously emptied above ground, which is why we think we have had problems in the winter with it freezing. So one of our "angels" suggested digging a dry well at the end of the tube. This was not part of the original plan, but he offered to spearhead and oversee the effort, so we told him to go to it. The idea is to dig a deep hole that will direct the water below the clay level of the soil and closer to the water table. (The top level of our soil is high in clay, which is notoriously non-absorbent.)

The well is in progress, almost as deep as Evan is tall.

Big brother gets into the picture.
The photo shows the drainage tube covered with rock and leading to the dry well, which ultimately consisted of a perforated plastic trash can, also filled with rock, and covered with the trash can lid.

Time to cover it all up again!

The day ended at about 3:30, just in time for my husband to shower and play organ for Saturday night worship. Time will tell if we have finally solved this problem (I'll let you know next spring!). Until then, thank you to all of our digging angels: Fred, Paul, Rob, Patrick, Chris, Trevor, Dennis, Exaud, Keith, Brian, Walt, and of course, Phil. We are humbled and touched by your care and love.