Garden watering system

Garden with drip lines
Garden with drip lines

Over the Memorial Holiday, I finished installing an automatic watering system for the new garden. I planted Indian corn in the back row, and Cindy will be sowing some seeds in the other rows (hopefully today). I mixed in some garden soil into the rather clay-like soil, so we shall see if things actually grow. The most difficult part was digging the trench from the back of the house over to the wall.  It is only about 25 feet, but the ground is so hard that it takes a lot of effort to dig.  I had to presoak the ground which helped, but it was still hard.

Finished trench
Finished trench

This is the finished trench where it meets the house.  Luckly for me, there was a previous sprinkler from a time long past, so I was able to just use the outlet from the existing gate valve and run that over into the trench.  It is only a matter of time before the kids somehow manage to break that PVC pipe, so I want to put some backing underneath it.  On the other hand, maybe they will not mess with it.  Lucky thinking.

Supply side
Supply side

The next picture is a close up of the supply line from the hose outlet. There is a few inches of clearance below the pipe.  I also need to do something to prevent the sunlight from damaging the pipe.  I think a nice paint job of the sage house color should help.

Fixed Slab Leak

I finally got the leak contained by sealing off both ends of the pipes that used to go into the slab. Here’s the manifold near the front door where the water was being run from the slab back down in the slab to the kitchen.

front door manifold
front door manifold

I had to do the second smaller cutout to get more room for the soldering.front door manifold closeup You can see the cut and capped off pipe in the second picture below. I was lucky to find the supply line was a 3/4 inch pipe, and then a 1/2 inch teed off and went back down.  Since there was a 1/2 inch in the kitchen, then that was the one.  I would have had to guess otherwise.

The next set is where the pipe comes up for the kitchen and upstairs bathroom supply. kitchen manifoldkitchen manifold closeup The pipes on the left are cold water, and the hot water is on the right.  There is a previous cap from an earlier slab leak a few years ago, so now both pipes are capped. My job is the left solder work, which I think is a better job!

The next sequence of pictures is where I dug into the backside of the upstairs bathroom and teed in the hot water supply line.

Back of upstairs water lines behind sink
Back of upstairs water lines behind sink

It was kind of a tricky job getting the copper tee just right.  Basically you have to cut enough to be able to slide the thing in, but then slide if half a length up the other way and solder it.  I chose to connect this pipe to the upstairs bathroom lines with PEX tubing.  It’s a whole lot simpler than sweating copper pipes together.  You can see my wonderful amateur plumber work up close.

 

bathroom line after tee installation
bathroom line after tee installation

 

PEX tubing attached
PEX tubing attached
Close-up of the PEX tubing
Close-up of the PEX tubing

So that’s about it.  I still want to put up a picture of the  other side of the PEX tubing.  I just hacked into the existing hot line and even installed a ball valve!

Hot Water Pipe Slab Leak

It’s 3 days before Aidan’s First Communion, and reception afterwards at our house.  Last night I was hearing a water sound from the pipes, and yes, it’s a slab leak!  The hot water pipe under the entryway area seems to have a leak.  I still have to call the insurance and see what they can do. I expect nothing, so I think it will be time to dig into some walls and reroute the water pipes.  Conveniently, there were some water pipes run through the upstairs attic when the new bathroom was added during the addition.  I’m thinking those pipes are going to be supplying water to other areas of the house. Continue reading “Hot Water Pipe Slab Leak”

Front Yard Finished

Front YardWell, I finally got the sod in.  This picture was taken Dec 5, 2008. It’s Marathon II.

The lower picture is from July 24, 2005, and gives an idea of what the house looked like before the addition.
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