Home Improvement Surprises

I don't know how many times I've watched, This Old House or any other home improvement show where the workers discover something funky during their demolition stage of a project. Typically it's something like extra wires that go nowhere, or pipes that shouldn't be in that part of the house, or a door or window that was plastered over, etc.

The Number One Rule

The number one rule is: Do it right the first time. That was the mantra that was recited to me over and over again when I worked for the State of Wisconsin at the Historic Villa Louis, by buildings and grounds director. At first I thought that was an excuse to work slowly on a project. Over time I realized that the number one rule was the best policy. The logic is this:

If you do not have enough time to do a project correctly, how are you going to find enough time to do it over again? Rushing through a project only makes mistakes that you'll have to find time later to fix.

After four summers working at the Villa Louis, I understood completely that the Number One Rule was the only way to do things. It's true for construction, and it also carries over into life in general. There's no reason to rush and do the job twice.

The Joys of Being a Home Owner

It's been seven years now that my wife and I purchased our little home. I've always liked construction projects (not too big mind you) so I wasn't afraid to get an older home and do some construction myself. In fact I like doing that, and it's a good way to increase the value of the home. My primary focus when we were looking for a home was the size of the lot and potential of the house.

Once you get settled there's always something that comes up. That's the joy of being a home owner. I'm fairly handy with projects and I'm not afraid to research "how to" fix something. We'll I'm in the middle of my exterior home improvement project and doing the work myself (with lots of expert advice from my buddy Tim!) I've already finished the rebuilding the retaining wall and stairs, and now I'm moving on to the reconstruction of the front porch.

I knew what to expect with the porch project so I wasn't too concerned. My goal for yesterday was: lift the roof, put up braces, rip out the posts, cut out space in the decking to put in footings for the new posts. With Tim's guidance (because I've never lifted a roof before) we got things well underway... Right down to the digging of the new footings. That's when Tim discovered a small hole.

Cistern?

The fist view of the cistern.

Tim was ripping out the corner decking when he just about stepped into a hole that was covered over with plastic weed barrier. After ripping the plastic back, he said the words I didn't want to hear. "You've got a cistern!"

What?!!! Doesn't that need to be discolsed when you purchase a house? In general, I was dazed and confused.

cistern

an artificial reservoir (as an underground tank) for storing liquids and especially water (as rainwater)

Tim continued with his analysis, "The approximate dimensions of the cistern under the porch is six feet in diameter by nine plus feet deep. Oh, and at the bottom of the cistern is two feet of water." More words I did not want to hear.

This is after 90 minutes of dumping rock.

Tim discussed options and we did some rough calculations on the size of the cistern. It had to be filled in. I knew that part, but I hate these unexpected things. I called a local company and they rushed out a dumptruck with clean rock... Ten cubic yards to be specific. Our calculations said that we'd need a little over seven yards, but I didn't want to run out, and with delivery charges, I would have paid for ten yards anyway. I don't know the exact price yet as the bill's not in the mail, but my rough guess is that it will cost about $150... possibly more.

Work Crew

I'm compacting the rock in the cister. We're almost done!

Tim had to get going back home, so I ordered the rock and then started to panic. I wanted to get more work done on the house, so I can't spend the whole weekend shoveling rock into a cistern. So I recruited three of my students to spend some time shoveling. I paid them in food and drinks, and gave them an experience that they'll not forget.

I had no idea how long it would take us to fill the cistern, so I had two more people who were going to come over later that night to continue the shoveling. Much to my surprise, after three hours of shoveling and hauling rock, the cistern was full! The down side is that I have almost four yards of rock left, but I'll find someplace to get rid of it.

Tim got the footings dug out and we had them poured by the end of the day. Somehow we achieved the goals that I had set for the day, but I'm sure everyone is exhausted today.

Oh well... time for coffee and back to work on the porch. Hopefully I won't find another suprise!