Land Lubbers

West Charlton, NY

 

(6/29/05)  I wish I was back on the boat.  We drove up here on Monday.  Since then I did new gutters, additional gutters, some landscape work, and installed a sump pump.  All this is directed at keeping water out of the crawl space under the house.   

 

We’ll never know for sure what caused the water to come in while we were gone, but I have my suspicions.  There are several vents into the crawl space at ground level.  Each vent is surrounded by a semicircular well lined with galvanized metal.  The purpose of the well is to keep water out of the vents.   Well, the wells were all filled with dirt nearly to the vent level.  I think the excavator for the masonry work must have filled them in accidentally or via ignorance.  With a big rain event, surface water would run right over that dirt and into the vents. 

 

Oh well, on Friday we’ll head back down to the boat.  It will be good to get back.  Our house no longer feels like home to me.  The boat is home.