The past revisited in Red Lake

This is a photo of our home in Red Lake in 1975. We purchased the land it was built on, almost one acre of rock and bush, from the school board. The contractor who built it agreed to provide the 200 foot driveway in return for my labour in constructing the home during my summer holidays. I was also to be responsible for providing the hook-up to the water and sewer lines.

Red Lake is solidly located within the Canadian Shield. Bedrock is either very close to the surface or at the surface. The cost of blasting a trench to a minimum of six feet in depth for a distance of 200 feet was astronomical. So I resorted to the tried and true Northern solution. Dig to bedrock and then encase the pipes in a wooden box filled with sawdust. bury this as deeply as you can. Add heat lines to the water pipe too.

For several years this was successful, especially if we had a "bleeder" line going too. A "bleeder" is where a toilet is allowed to overflow all winter so that the water line has continuous flowing and does not freeze. Then, one winter, despite all precautions, the line did freeze. Northern ingenuity came to the fore again. We connected a 200 foot hosepipe to our nearest neighbour's outside tap to our outside tap, and we had water. That hose was kept running until deep in the spring.

Our next solution was to install an "aquaflow" unit in our crawl space beneath the house. This unit had a 50 gallon tank into which water flowed. When it became full, a pump then started up and expelled the water directly back into the water line. Flow was maintained, and no water was lost to the town.

That was the end of any water problems until Adrian dropped a bunch of shower curtain hooks down the toilet causing a sewer back-up. But that's another story.

The Big Dig: Day 2.

This is my garden at Day 2 of the Big Dig. Yesterday, at around
3 00 pm we were advised not to let any water from the toilet, bath or sinks into the drains.
"Do not flush!" Sometime today, that order will be rescinded.





The Dig is extended to more than halfway across the road. Our across-the-road neighbour was able to get out of her driveway even so.






At least it keeps our neighbour's daughter (and us) entertained. She is off school today, under the weather.

The Big Dig: Oh, my front yard!

This morning, just before 8 00 am the Big Dig started. Lots of construction vehicles and men arrived to close off the road and begin excavating. The plan is to replace the collapsed sanitary sewer lines from my home and from my neighbours. Both lines go under our beautiful front yard where our perennials were to be found.



This is the beginning of the excavation. At the far end of the trench are the remains of the storm sewer. The men in the trench are hand digging to find the sanitary sewers. The water line is exposed and the sanitary sewers are beneath that.






The plumbers also arrived but major disagreements arose as to whether or not the trench should be extended to the footings of the house so as to enable pipes to be installed for a sump pump. The engineer's description of what is needed for this does not make sense to the crew here. And to excavate there would mean removing the air conditioner unit for which other crews would be needed. One job leads to another, and another, and another.....

Another busy day

The day started at 8 00 am when the contractor who is to start the excavating on Monday arrived to give us an estimate about the extra costs of excavating on our land to replace the storm sewer. My heart sank when he mentioned that since the storm sewer is located below the sanitary sewers so these would have to be replaced too. His estimate, of just over $3000 including replacing the pipes, was a very pleasant surprise. Later in the day he emailed the contract to us. He estimates the total job will take two days only.

Most of the rest of the morning was spent in readying the Studio for Sunday's teaching class and for Adrian's 40th birthday party on Saturday.

At tea-break time, Anne pointed out an article in the local weekly newspaper that said the Ottawa City Council had approved increasing the plumbing grant to $7500 so that sump pumps could be installed where needed in areas with a high flood risk. We are in such an area. We had received a letter approving the installation of such a pump, but we had balked at it because the expense was not covered. Now we needed to revise our thoughts.

As it happened, the Dennis, the plumber from Plumbing Now was scheduled to come at 1 00 pm to finalise his bill for work done on the back-up valves and to receive payment. I contacted the engineer who had recommended that the sump pump be installed and discussed where it should be located. We already had approval for the cost estimate from Plunbing Now.

When Dennis arrived I was able to discuss the locating of the pump with some understanding. Dennis will contact the excavation company and be here at 8 00 am on Monday morning. In that way the external excavation needed for the sump pump and its ancillary pipes will be done when all the other excavation takes place. Dennis even thinks his crew could finish the installation inside on Tuesday. (Given his timelines in the past, we will be pleasnatly surprised if this happens.)

After Dennis left, Anne said, "You will be very happy about this email." I had an order for four baskets from a past customer of mine in Brooklyn, New York. After lunch I packed these baskets, took them to the mail, and returned to give the customer her 20% discount for sales made during my pre-Christmas sale. (That sale ends on November 30th.) This was a nice way to end the day.

Final preparations for the big dig?

Yesterday, Steve from the City called to say that the big dig to replace and repair the sanitary sewers would start on Monday, November 30th. He also said that the storm sewer on our property needed replacement. Then we received a flyer in our mail box advising us (and our neighbours for blocks) that because of the big dig the local bus service woulfd be re-routed off our street for three days.



Given all this I began what I hope is my final preparations for that dig. I removed the crazy paving pathway, more perennials and most of the bricks that formed a patio area. The bird feeder also had to be relocated. We anticipate that the section to the edge of the raised garden will be excavated.





The crazy paving forms a forlorn looking rubble mass on top of another stretch of crazy paving.







And the bricks form neat piles awaiting replacement, hopefully before the snow flies.

Where the next excavation will be.

This morning another City worker appeared at the front of the house armed with a digital camera. I asked him who he was and what he was doing. He was Steve, the person at the City who spotted the collapse of the sanitary sewer pipes on the videos taken several weeks back. He was waiting for a contractor to come to show him where to excavate to repair the sanitary sewer. The white pole marks one edge of the proposed excavation and the black pole the other edge. The excavation will go onto what I thought was my land as far as the spade. That is located at the curb stops, where the City turns of the water lines to the houses

As you can see from this photo a goodly section of my front yard will be dug up. The excavation will extend across the sidewalk and to the middle of the road and will be very deep. I will dig up as many perennials and bushes as I can in the eight foot swath and transplant them over winter to a section of my vegetable garden. The tree will be dug out by the contractors and replaced in its position as the work ends. Most plants are dormant at the moment and so most should survive.

The work is expected to begin the week after next. The storm sewer will be replaced too from the curb stop on and any water leakages from the water lines fixed too. Fun times ahead.

It never rains but it pours!

It has been a frustrating morning to say the least.

When we got up we saw that there was a bobcat style of back hoe parked at the bottom of our driveway. "Is that for the excavation for the sanitary sewer break or is it for the installation of the back-flow valve on the storm sewer line?" we wondered. The answers soon came as Fred the plumber arrived. It was for the excavation for the storm sewer. But where is that located was Fred's question. On Monday a City crew had marked the location of the sanitary sewer lines, but not the location of the storm sewer.


We waited until another plumber arrived with a video camera to put down the storm sewer line, and thus locate it.

Then the back hoe operator arrived, and eventually work on excavating the storm sewer line began.







What we were not prepared for was the discovery that the storm swer line was broken in several places in the first 50' of its path beneath my front garden. After the 50' mark, the camera became submersed in water.


My neighbour, Richard, and I viewed the video that shows the breaks. Much of the front garden will have to be excavated. And this is not covered by insurance. It is specifically excluded.

What is next?

Where to replace the sanitary sewer line

This morning a workman arrived to establish where the "dip" is in the saniatry sewer line at our house and next door. Once more the video camera was sent through the line. This time the results were that the line had collapsed 16 meters from our house beneath the sidewalk. The sidewalk in front of our house is now inscribed with graffitti: "collapse."




Green lines also go to the middle of the road at right angles to that evocative word.






Green lines also decorate my front garden. They compliment the red lines that show where there are buried hydro (electrical) cables.

When the workman finishes checking our neighbour's sanitary sewer line, we may have three excavation sites marked. One for the storm sewer and the needed back-up valve and two for the collapsed sanitary sewer lines. It will look like an archeological dig before it is all over!

One job leads to another: redux!

Yesterday I wrote about how this section of the front garden will be excavated to install a back-up valve on the storm sewer line. This morning I received a call from "Steve" of the City of Ottawa. There are two sanitary sewer lines in addition to the storm sewer line. Earlier, in October, back-up valves were placed on those lines, one in our half of the semi and one in our neighbour's half. Now Steve has had time to review the videos taken of these sanitary sewer lines after they were cleaned out. Each has a sag in it. Fortunately for us, these sags are on City property, not ours. The City will pay the costs of replacing the lines and eliminating the sags. It will entail digging up portions of our gardens and lawns since our yards do extend onto City property. At least we will find out where our property lines are!