I was pleased to see the rain. It hammered down from above and I could almost hear the joyous chorus of all the wilted green things as they revelled in the downpour, each heavy drop bringing new life to their thirsty leaves.
It felt good, standing on my front porch, watching the rain, almost a solid body of water, soaking the lawn and washing away the dust that had built up over everything throughout the last heat-spell...It was humid today, had been in the upper 30's (almost 100F) and it hadn't cooled yet, however I, much like the plants, felt good...We needed the rain.
I was smiling as went back inside and on my way to the back door, remarked to Faith that, "this is some legit rain," and then I saw it...
...Rain inside my house. Well, not so much rain as such, rain water to be exact.
Going from my feel-good rain is here vibe to what the fucking fuck, my house is leaking in about a nano-second, I sprang into action grabbing towels to contain the growing puddle. As I did this a glance upwards confirmed the worst...Wet ceiling...Yep, gutters are blocked and the volume of water had overflowed into that section of ceiling...It was streaming down the glass sliding door, the inside, like Niagara Falls to be honest. Swearing profusely I rallied the troops (my wife Faith) and headed outside. src
Three minutes later I was on the roof unblocking the down-pipe leading off that section of roof...In the pelting rain, in my boxer shorts, in my bare feet. A furtive glance at the heavens, and the lightening that the gods threw downwards, gave me little comfort and I whispered quietly asking Zeus not strike me down with a bolt of energy.
[I survived]
As the rain abated somewhat, not that it mattered as I was about as wet as a bloke could be already, I climbed down from the roof managing not to slip and break my neck on the ladder.
[Prognosis]
This section of roof has a down-pipe...But no water was making its way down the down-pipe. It wasn't blocked...There was no bloody hole in the gutter leading down into the down-pipe. So, the water was just building up and up until it reached over the facia-level and spilled over into the ceiling, and subsequently my house.
[Swearing ensued]
I stood below where the down-pipe married up to the underside of the gutter and scratched my noggin. What prick does this sort of work? Down-pipe with no inlet.
[More swearing]
[More head scratching]
Faith could see me working up a pretty good tirade so she left me to it to go and sort out the lake inside our house figuring I had to work some shit out with myself...I managed not to rant though...I don't know how...Just didn't seem any point.
Friday nights are for fish and chips, Netflix, reading books, Lego or some cuddlin' with Faith...WTF was going on with this one? Water in my house? Come on!
[Solution]
My initial solution has been to drill some holes in the gutter to exit the water and prevent it from overflowing back into my ceiling. I was loathe to do so but unfortunately had little choice.
Tomorrow I'll call my gardener and get the gutters all cleaned out...I used to do this myself but with my back issues plaguing me a little it's not something I've done for the last two years.
I'll also get on to the roofer we know and get that pesky pseudo-down-pipe rectified. I'd like to take to the asshole who installed it with an ice pick but well...I don't know who it was.
Stage three will be the ceiling repair which won't happen until it dries out, and the other things are done.
I'm always commenting about life and how it throws up challenges no matter how careful, prepared, clever, strategised or hopeful we are. Sometimes life just kicks us in the goolies...I think just to keep us on-point.
I'm pretty annoyed about this rain-inside scenario and also curious as to why it hasn't happened before...We've had heavy rain in the past years. I can't answer that question though, just make some changes and prepare for the next time life kicks me in the coconuts.
Tomorrow isn't promised - Design and create your ideal life, don't live it by default
An original post written by a human
Discord: galenkp#9209 🇦🇺
Bloody rain. Bloody gutter. Bloody idiot who didn't cut an outlet into the bloody gutter.
Good ol' dodgy brother's roofing strikes again 🤣 sorry not funny. Always seems to be something to frustrate us in life. I had a good laugh at your expense though and I've been in similar situation at work once.
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It's good you were able to get a good laugh out of it. It's a pretty funny situation for a person to be in after all I suppose.
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Damn, sorry to hear this man. But on a ”positive” note you discoveref it right away and you can rectify it fast without any long term problems such as mold and stuff
Yes, that's exactly right. Had we not been home things might have been much different. We've had worse things happen in life so will get this rectified and move on. Not much else for it I guess huh?
As I read this blog, I was wondering the same thing you brought up in the last paragraph, how has this not happened in the past. Life is funny at times and one never knows what can be lurking right around the corner.
Enjoy your weekend @galenkp.
I don't know, it's a bit of a mystery although we haven't had this amount of rain in a long time so maybe it just overwhelmed the gutter? I'll got up there probably today when it stops raining and have another look myself I think.
Oh no.... good you got rain, not good it is in the house!
Yeah, loved the rain. Would have loved it even more if it didn't come inside to say hello. Not the end of the world though I guess although I might have to get started on that Ark I've been thinking about. 🤣
Who even does that kind of thing seriously XD
I relayed the story to J and after pulling a wtf face he started joking about how "you paid for the gutter, you paid for the downpipe, BUT YOU DIDN'T PAY FOR THE INLET!"
I'm still trying to nut this one out and it's going to bother me til I can wash it off in the shower XD
Guess it's better it happened while you were home to deal with it immediately, can you imagine coming home to that D:
I know right? Mind boggling.
It was good I was home when it happened.
Today I took the down pipe off and cut a section out of the gutter to feed into the down pipe which is not riveted back up to the gutter. Problem solved.
Now gotta wait for the ceiling to dry out, paint seal it and paint it again. Hoping the blings don'y pull through the went ceiling.
It seems the small threat of thunder and lightning in my last post, was a bigger deal in your neck of the woods. Despite all our technology, we can very quickly be reduced to our underwear, combating the elements.
The occasional kick in the coconuts is sometimes just to remind us they are there. If you had done the gutters earlier, you’d never even know about this issue until it became an issue. Glad that it will be all sorted and prevented from happening again.
Oh very interesting. My first thought was how long it had been since you had a decent rain but then you said the the last time it didn't come into the house so that's a mystery. But it's great to know that you guys are getting rain, is some rain coming down, or did it come down, where the fires are?
We have no fires here in South Australia at the moment. I think it rained near to New South Wales and where some of the fires were...Australia is a big country though and because I don't watch the news I don't always know where it's raining.
It's difficult to understand for a non-Aussie but our country is a land of extremes...I'm not sure if you know but there are towns here that are almost completely out of water. We have been in drought conditions for over 8 years and it's getting to be a dire situation for many towns. See link below.
https://9now.nine.com.au/today/australian-town-across-queensland-and-nsw-set-to-have-no-water-between-november-2019-and-march-2020-warick-farmers/f2438e2a-6767-4de9-8e6b-987a4fe46aa4
Dang that sucks! I just assumed most people had water wells. Rats. The government should subsidize them so they can stay until the drought is over or is that impossible?
Eight years of drought...The government don't have that much money. It's a dire situation really. The thing is, that these areas are likely to get flooded out and washed away when rains do come. It's a brutal place at times. The government are trucking water in but that's not really much of a solution. If rain comes it's unlikely to be enough, or in time. It's kind of crazy really, but it's not the first time and won't be the last.
Exactly. With no vegetation growing for years the rains will destroy the soil and take it with the flooding. Too bad there's no water underground.
There is...The artesian basin lies beneath almost one third of the country and is welled also. It's dropping though as the rain isn't seeping down there either. It's a catch 22 situation.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Artesian_Basin
Great Artesian Basin
The Great Artesian Basin (GAB), located in Australia, is the largest and deepest artesian basin in the world, stretching over 1,700,000 square kilometres (660,000 sq mi), with measured water temperatures ranging from 30–100 °C (86–212 °F). The basin provides the only source of fresh water through much of inland Australia.The Basin underlies 22% of the continent, including the states and territories of Queensland (most of), the Northern Territory (the south-east corner of), South Australia (the north-east part of), and New South Wales (northern part of). The basin is 3,000 metres (9,800 ft) deep in places and is estimated to contain 64,900 cubic kilometres (15,600 cu mi) of groundwater. The Great Artesian Basin Coordinating Committee (GABCC) coordinates activity between the various levels of government and community organisations.
Holy smokes, it's the largest and deepest basin in the world! It seems like they have no choice but to do some more wells until the drought ends. If the drought doesn't end, then what? Just more fires all the time. The destruction will be almost incomprehensible.