bostaurus
Well-Known Member
We are still slugging away at getting the 'home' place in order. It was neglected for so long that the 'to-do' list is very long. As with most old homes, once we get to fixing one thing you find another problem.
Most of the time has been spent on fixing the old workshop and making it my son's bedroom/man cave. In it's original state it was just a frame and clapboard building. The lady that renovated the house put in a bathroom, kitchenette and covered the wall with pecky cypress.
We pulled out the kitchen and pulled down the cypress so we could insulate. The walls were filled with rat's nests and squirrel nests...it was quite disgusting. That was all cleaned, foam insulation applied, walls put back up and sanded (pecky cypress is splinter city), and bathroom re-done. Started on staining the outside of the building today...the part I though would be the easiest. Oh my goodness. Staining the outside of an old clapboard building, reaching the upper parts, and trying to be neat with it is so much harder than I thought it would be. God bless professional painters!
If you spend anytime out near this building the presence of the septic tank will make it self known before long. We had an guy out here to take a look and figure out the problem. He dug around the air pump in a couple places and then told me that there should be two access points one to the north and one to south of the air pump. I assumed that the large round concrete slab about 10 feet behind him and the large PVC pipe with the cap 3 feet from it must not be what he was looking for. He told me that the ground was too hard for him to dig any more, the azaleas were in the way, and he could hire a small digger at some expense and come back. I told him my son and I would be happy to dig around and find the access points and then call him back...he seemed happy with that. We dug and dug that evening, removing the azaleas, finding the electric wire and the air feed tube...which we broke. We dug enough to realize that there was no septic tank around there. The air pipe doesn't go down but out about 5 feet, makes 90 degree bend and then 10 feet to the tank...right near that big, round slab of concrete. My father in law was out the next day and confirmed that those were the access points. He confessed that he knew because he had already had to repair the air pipe when cracked it putting in the new sewage pipe to the workshop. New plumber time...God bless professional plumbers!!
Now I have to go and fill in a very big hole by the air pump. All that digging and not even a shard to show for it.
Most of the time has been spent on fixing the old workshop and making it my son's bedroom/man cave. In it's original state it was just a frame and clapboard building. The lady that renovated the house put in a bathroom, kitchenette and covered the wall with pecky cypress.
We pulled out the kitchen and pulled down the cypress so we could insulate. The walls were filled with rat's nests and squirrel nests...it was quite disgusting. That was all cleaned, foam insulation applied, walls put back up and sanded (pecky cypress is splinter city), and bathroom re-done. Started on staining the outside of the building today...the part I though would be the easiest. Oh my goodness. Staining the outside of an old clapboard building, reaching the upper parts, and trying to be neat with it is so much harder than I thought it would be. God bless professional painters!
If you spend anytime out near this building the presence of the septic tank will make it self known before long. We had an guy out here to take a look and figure out the problem. He dug around the air pump in a couple places and then told me that there should be two access points one to the north and one to south of the air pump. I assumed that the large round concrete slab about 10 feet behind him and the large PVC pipe with the cap 3 feet from it must not be what he was looking for. He told me that the ground was too hard for him to dig any more, the azaleas were in the way, and he could hire a small digger at some expense and come back. I told him my son and I would be happy to dig around and find the access points and then call him back...he seemed happy with that. We dug and dug that evening, removing the azaleas, finding the electric wire and the air feed tube...which we broke. We dug enough to realize that there was no septic tank around there. The air pipe doesn't go down but out about 5 feet, makes 90 degree bend and then 10 feet to the tank...right near that big, round slab of concrete. My father in law was out the next day and confirmed that those were the access points. He confessed that he knew because he had already had to repair the air pipe when cracked it putting in the new sewage pipe to the workshop. New plumber time...God bless professional plumbers!!
Now I have to go and fill in a very big hole by the air pump. All that digging and not even a shard to show for it.
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