Concrete Works

Now that our autumn events are over, it is time for lots of home projects. We have been having continuous problems with water coming in our cellar from the side of the house. A few years ago, we made a drainage trench, but when it rains really hard, it overflows into the window well and through the concrete blocks and window. Gutters won't work on this concrete house because of the way it was built, there is nothing to attach them to. Dave devised a plan to fill in the window and window well and then concrete over the entire area, angling the drainage to the lawn and the drywell drain in the middle of our driveway. There is no way water can get in now. You can see in the last photo why there was a problem with that huge steep sloping roof.

If you are wondering why a concrete house, it's because that's what Dave's father and grandfather's business was. They made all sorts of concrete items including wells and septic tanks. It was only logical for them to build Dave's parents' house in concrete. The panels were poured concrete in trough molds and they were individually troweled with the rough finish...almost like icing on a cake. That took a lot of work. I don't think they considered how difficult it would be to paint this textured siding. The concrete holds in the cold and no matter what kind of paint I use, it still peels off to the point that I have to redo portions every year....and it takes a lot of time and paint to get in all those crevices.

They also made the kids castle that still sits in our yard and Dave's cousins had one too.

Even more interesting is the fact that they also made a bomb shelter back in the 1960's. It was situated between this house and Dave's aunt and uncle's house so if need be, both families could live in it. It was always stocked with food, had running water, a heating system, and air filtration. It even had a second floor for sleeping. Since this was back in the sand pit where my in-laws did their work, eventually neighborhood kids started going in it for parties and graffiti was prevalent, so the entrance was covered up. When we sold that piece of land, the developers unearthed it, and we got to go back in it before it was demolished (I think it would have made a good selling point for one of the houses being built). Of course Dave had seen it before, but I was amazed! 

You could see the heating elements at the base and the water faucet still worked. There was albino fungus growing from the ceiling so we didn't stay too long, but it sure was interesting.

I know Dave's ingenuity certainly was inherited from his father and grandfather. Hopefully the concrete talent was inherited too and that our basement water issue is solved!