Restoration is easy.

[Retired]

Hi,

Thanks Refugee and yes it would have been easy to run the rainwater directly away onto the street but not in this situation because the street is to the front of our bungalow and the flood defences needed installing to the rear. There is a 3' wide flagged path to the side of the bungalow nearest the job. Between path and bungalow wall is a narrow strip of garden and this is occupied by a large cotoneaster and to the front of the bungalow is a deck. When I started this job I didn't know how deep the foundations were either to the rear or side of the bungalow; was I in for a lot of digging because the bungalow is let into the valley side? I know its very difficult for anyone on the outside looking in to appreciate the many problems I encountered and of course it is much easier to be on the inside looking out once all the information is gathered so I really do appreciate everyone's input.

Many thanks Lawrence for quoting your gran with "quick's the word sharp's the action. Saying it like that would make this a simple job by just getting stuck in and ignoring the deluge. Unfortunately our bungalow is built into a steep valley side and although I tried to pick a rare dry spell I managed to pull up part of the patio and dig the trench whilst also exposing the foundation doing this by grafting on my own for four full days in brilliant weather.

On the fifth day down came the rain and plenty of it then it cleared a couple of days later; during the rain I kept using a bucket to empty the trench of rainwater. If the next couple of days were then dry I still could not do anything with the trench as the water from the rear garden was still seeping down the garden.

I couldn't sort out the run off into the soak way under the path at the start of the job because I didn't know how deep the foundation was to the rear of the bungalow and by the time I found out the trench was already filling with water. It wasn't easy getting the levels correct to ensure the water was discharged into the soak way so I was constantly doing my utmost to crack on with this unpleasant job the best way I could and yes I tried to be quick on decent dry days but by doing so I injured my back.

Rain was forecast for the day I laid the concrete but I know the weather forecast is usually inaccurate so I took a gamble and mixed and laid the concrete to the trench bottom and thankfully it didn't rain. I was also laying a row of engineering bricks to the mortar joint between bungalow rear wall and foundation to seal the faulty mortar joint once and for all so laid these bricks between showers.

Then of course being a sucker for punishment I replaced the old clay drains with new plastic; I thought why not whilst I have the patio up?

I've never done this kind of job before and whilst browsing the web have not seen it done the way I have done it; I installed a brick walled trench with thick concrete bottom whereas the method generally employed is to lay a French drain? I'm not a builder and until I started to dig I didn't even know what I was in for regarding finding the foundations; what the drains were like; how deep I would need to go and on top of this what would I find once had exposed the foundation? I could see major problems but only by doing the job would I find solutions so it was a case of get stuck in.

Adding to my misery the cement mixer was broken upon arrival so this took a few days to sort out. All during this time my back was hurting more each day; I'm built like a stick insect and a number of friends and relations quite openly informed me that they could not handle or lay the big flags because they had either bad backs or bad knees; I didn't ask them to help or touch the flags because this was after all my job and I had taken it on knowing I would be working in solitude.

This job was bad enough but the lousy weather as usual made it much worse as it does with many of my jobs and projects; I detest this climate and I've restored basket case radio's and a TV whilst working in dire conditions so I do crack on whenever possible as I hate a job half done. Add to the problems an exposed trench with exposed plastic drains running right up to the back door and temporary entrance to the door was via two scaffolding planks; I was worried in case someone had an accident; To the side of the bungalow where I had exposed the soak way I blocked the bottom of the path with a wheelie bin but this didn't stop a neighbour making her way to our back door?

With hindsight I would have had all the answers up front allowing me to plan the job and order materials having the materials all delivered in one load; I would also know the run of the drains and all the gradients; hindsight is such a wonderful skill I wish I could become proficient at it.

Many home owners tackle such projects all the time and I'm not unique but I won't ever take the soft option which I could have done after I located the faulty mortar joint; I could have simply made good the joint then put everything back without going to extreme lengths to do this job and do it once only; we also incurred some expense regarding buying the mixer and materials but even though I disliked doing this job I gave it my absolute best and can now walk away from it.

Not only did I have to sort out the flood defences from the outside but I was pestered by silly leaks from the washing machine and kitchen sink which really did wind up the key in my back.

Many thanks Colin for your kind words and support it's nice when someone appreciates a bit of grafting.

Kind regards, Col.