Waterworking

Last night, without even picking up a tool, I felt like one of the most famous carpenters of all time: Noah.

OK, maybe that’s just a little bit of hyperbole, but I did have some flooding in the shop. And although there were no indications that I needed to go out and start rounding up various and sundry critters in matched pairs, I think I definitely could relate to Noah’s concerns as he watched the water rise.

We’ve always gotten a bit of leakage under the garage door during heavy rains. Just a little; you could easily sop it up with a single paper towel. But something changed over the last few months, and even a moderate rainfall has been sending a good bit of water inside. I figured something was up with a gutter or downspout, and put it on my list of things to do when the weather warms up.

Last evening an enormous storm blew through, and when I checked the shop there was a creeping tide of water coming in that would have made Noah nervous. Concrete floors are insidious; they’re not even close to level, ever, so the water flowed in a pattern approximating The Blob (from the 1958 Steve McQueen version, of course). It meandered in a looping path that took it into the storage space under my lumber rack. Sally grabbed towels, I grabbed a mop, and between us we managed to sop water up at about the same pace it was coming in.

The storm didn’t last long and we managed to win out over the incoming water, and I finished mopping up what was there as the weather returned to normal. I spread some newspaper and towels around to soak up anything else that came in overnight, and went to bed thinking I’d need to call a roofer or whoever it is who fixes gutters and downspouts.

This morning was bright and sunny, so I took a look outside where most of the water was coming in and found – I think – the source of the problem: a huge gob of leaves and twigs that I’m guessing was diverting the water from its normal path down the driveway. Problem solved. In the end, only a few things in that storage area were soaked enough that they had to be tossed; everything else should be fine.

On the plus side, my shop floor got a good cleaning.

Till next time,

A.J.