What home improvement work did you do today?

Graded a new driveway entrance with my compact tractor. 10 triaxle loads of crusher run fun... roughly 600,000 pounds. Guy dumping it was laughing at me... a dozer would’ve been faster but not nearly as satisfying. Lol Now we can pull straight in to the garages and we have parking for 5 on the concrete and 9 more on the stone. Because who doesn’t need to park 14 cars in their back yard?

 

Installed some handrails around the boat dock this evening.

 

I was thinking $750 around here LOL

 

What a beautiful house Dave.

 

WOW!!!!

 

My 100’x200’ covered arena building is getting closer to being done.

 

Wow that is impressive and massive. Those people have some serious cash. Can't wait to see the barn

 

Started looking at drainage for my sump hose. The hose drains out to beside the house as the first pic shows. The grass in that area is super soggy and nasty, even though I move the gose every couple days.

I'm thinking of making a decorative gravel over drainrock edging down the side of the driveway that has some form of gutter or waterproof layer to channel the sump water out to the sidewalk. From there, the natural drainage will take it into the gutter and storm drain.

I'm not exactly sure what to line the bottom with though. Biggest concern is eroding the earth below my walkway and driveway.

Thoughts?

 

I’m really stressed for time, but I did manage to mount my mini split outside unit on the wall this afternoon.

 

French Drain, I did it with the AC condensation run off.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_drain

 

Landscaping looks nice. hey if you want to get rid of the black streaks on your roof spray wet & forget it may take for five months to completely work but it will totally clean your roof and not hurt it.

 

Looking good.

 

My first thought was a French drain but I’m also concerned about snow and freezing in the winter months. How much water and how often does it pump water out?

 

Thank you!

 

Looking great Tim!

 

Thanks Bryan. Finishing touches this weekend. Paint brush and roller only, takes time. And I am trying to be a perfectionist about it.

 

It shows it looks really good!

 

Freezing is definitely a concern since it drops to -40 here in winter. That said, we normally disconnect the sump pump hose in winter. Not much water to pump out when everything's frozen right?

It seems to pump a gallon, maybe two, probably half a dozen times a day. That's a rpugh guesstimate though.

 

My concern is when it starts to thaw and your sump pump is filling with water again and then you get another freeze outside. Then you will have an issue. What’s your ground soil like? More dirt, clay or rock?

 

Oh, but you should see summer here. It'll blow you away.

Yeah, that makes sense. The ground is mostly dirt, some rock mixed in. Not much clay.

 

They make different styles of French drains. I would probably do a 4” pre-slotted French drain that will be buried below the ground level. I would install some gravel material below the french drain to help with drainage. I would also make sure the drain have the sock or sleeve over it to prevent dirt from clogging the holes in it over time. The other thing you need to plan out is where you plan to have the pipe let the water discharge. My preferred method would be to have the curb cored out by a concrete coring company, then have a trench done under the sidewalk and have a solid scheduled 40 conduit sleeve run from the sump pump to the street. It’s definitely a lot more work and cost but long term it would be a lot cleaner and reliable. In a perfect would this would have been done before sidewalks and landscaping were done.

 

If you already have a sump pump... and it was installed when the house was built you probably already have a French drain that drains around and under your foundation in to the sump pit. It looks like you just have a problem with getting the water away from your foundation once the sump pump cycles. If that’s the case, you can just install drain tile /French drain outside from where the sump drains to the storm sewer or as close to the storm sewer as you can get. You can run the sump outlet directly to the drain tile trench. You want to install a bubbler/vent at the end of the system. You don’t have a long way to go... you could dig that by hand if you had to... doesn’t sound like you have really tough soil conditions... just fill the trench a bit with stone... install the PVC and back fill the rest of the trench with stone yourself. About 6” of top soil on top and some grass seed and you’ll be all set. It’ll save you a lot of money... and you could do it in a weekend. Probably run you about $500 in materials. Make sure you call and have utilities marked before you dig. Cable lines and fiber optic cables can be disturbingly close to the surface.

 

I appreciate the compliments! You sir are an honorable and stand up guy.

 

Yes sir. I’m still available if you need help or advice. I love to help out good people.

 

Nice, thanks! This is the type of pipe I'll be needing for the french drain right?

https://www.homedepot.ca/product/mole-pipe-20-feet-expandable-corrugated-sock-pipe/1000751769

Absolutey. If I was rich, I'd fly him up here to do it for me.

 

Started building a front deck. Eventually it will be two story.

 

X2.