It has been raining non stop for 6 days! Now you might be wondering, ‘hey you harvest rain water as your main source, tanks to fill and a garden to water, so whats the big deal?’ Sadly while your thoughts may be correct, our situation here is anything but fun and joy!
When we bought our place, we knew there was some drainage issue. Oh we were so naive in thinking that it was an easy fix, and that we would just get someone to come and take a look at it. When we first moved in, it hadn’t rained all that much so the priority fell a little lower down on the list. Another rookie mistake!
We had our first heavy rain at the beginning of October 2022 and this highlighted some of our major issues. You can watch the video on our YouTube channel.
Fast forward a few weeks and we had our biggest rain storm to date! We had 200mls in less than 24 hours. It was the most stressful time. We have a corrugated roof, so naturally it sounds terrifying and really loud!
I felt really guilty as there were massive floods all around the country at the time, and our one didn’t even come close. The thing is, this was our issue at the time and it was really scary. We are first time home owners and felt very overwhelmed and out of depth with this.
We knew we needed to take action once the storms had calmed down. We decided to dig around the yard to see what was going on, as we had already found one mysterious drain that had completely grown over. We found two more! One was our overflow for the tanks and the other was a little more complicated.
We ended up digging a huge hole with mere spades to reveal two large pieces of corrugated plastic. This had us completely stumped! A bit of googling, and we came to the conclusion that this was a poor attempt at trying to fix the drainage issue. You see, the corrugated plastic was hooked up to the ‘complicated’ drain, and the idea is that it collects water and slowly releases it.
After noticing that the plastic had in fact buckled under the weight of our clay/loam like soil, we decided to dig it out. It was some serious effort but we got there in the end. Google also tells us that this particular system is not meant for clay soil! Imagine that….
The hole that was meant to house water, was completely filled with thick mud. Not very effective and not what you want near your house foundation! Sven had to buy a pump to get the last of the water out of the hole, as the removal didn’t happen in one day, so each time it rained, the hole would fill up. Believe it or not, we still had not called in the professionals…
Oh we have made some mistakes I tell you. It took us so long to make the decision to dig out the plastic. Can you tell we are not big risk takers?
In December we eventually decided it was time to at least get a quote form the experts. The problem was, we had no idea who to call. We are new to the town, the state as well as the problem. We settled for a landscaper who specialises in drainage. Long story short, he never arrived! We called our septic tank guy as he claimed to do the work too, he too never arrived. We were losing hope fast! In late December we were given a reputable lead. We called, he came, all seemed well….It is now January and still no quote!
So here we sit, 6 days of non stop rain and not any closer to fixing the problem. The tanks are full, and the grass is really long. Oh the joys of living in a tropical climate and owning a home. Would I move back to the city? No way!