It’s been a busy week at Purgatory, as a driveway repaving project has also become a let’s-replace-the-main-water-line-to-the-house project. This is currently day 2 without water, but thankfully I have bottled water to drink and a 44,000 gallon pool from which to draw for doing things like dishes or washing debris off the floor beneath the bird cages. Thankfully I also will be up north this weekend where I will have access to a shower (although one of our nearest neighbors graciously let me use their shower two days ago). Anyway, here are some images of the initial damage and what we uncovered:
1. First the broken metal pipe. It was just a few inches beneath the soil at this point…
2. …and it was located right in the middle of the courtyard…
3. …and as it approached the house, it rose up steeply instead of staying at a safer depth…
4. …and of course the pad of the garage was poured over the line.
5. So the solution? Abandon the old line and run a new main line from the junction behind the garage. Here’s a shot of the new trench out to the fire hydrant.
6. Notice that the line stays at a nice deep 18 inches, even as it approaches the house.
7. Panorama of the repaving.
Once the crew finishes, hopefully water service will be restored. They still need to trench alongside the garage to lay the second section of pipe (there will be two pipes in this section, one for the hydrant and one for main house line). Also, there are electrical connections in the ground that we need to keep intact; right now all power to the garage area is of course switched off at the main panel. Many, many things can still go lopsided at this point, so it’s best to just pack my overnight bag and make for that nice hot shower just across the Golden Gate.