Waterbound

[Joel A. Jones]

Annie,

I have had a 'french drain' in a house that worked with a sump pump.
It was basically a 12" tube dug into the ground filled with sand & 
gravel at the
bottom.   The sump came on when the pip filled up, but otherwise there
was no activity.
     If there is someplace to drain the water to a lower place the 
trench type
might be of help.  No doubt you may have to wait for the snow to melt
and the ground to unfreeze to do much digging.
	I have also seen holes drilled into the floor.  It releases the water
pressure, and attached to a siphon hose it moves the water elsewhere.


Joel

On Feb 24, 2008, at 1:50 PM, Annie Grieshop wrote:

> Thanks, Terry.  It's not a mess yet, and with such good advice, I 
> might be
> able to avoid the worst of it.  The biggest problem is that I don't 
> know
> what to expect or when.  Too much like a slasher movie for my 
> taste........
>
> So, I can put my darlin' BOU in the air without worrying about the 
> bottom
> sagging.  (My very youngest memory is of standing under the keybed, 
> trying
> to reach the keys on that piano....)  Two of the consoles are PSOs, so 
> they
> don't matter.  And I'll bet I can hoist the other two onto blocks, as 
> well.
> That is a much better idea than the dolly, actually.  And I'd guess the
> grand will be OK as long as its casters are kept out of the moisture.
>
> I've got a wet vac and two good dehumidifiers, as well as a woodstove 
> in the
> shop, so getting it dried out won't be a terrible problem, once the 
> water
> stops coming in.
>
> I don't know the answer to the source question.  We've got so many 
> layers of
> ice and snow that what's melting near the building can't get away.  
> And this
> is beautiful black loam country, so water is always on the move around 
> here.
> My first action this summer will be to ditch around the shop, and 
> maybe even
> lay tile so I can drain the whole area into what's eventually going to 
> be a
> pond.
>
> At the moment, I'm trying to get anything extraneous out of the shop, 
> so as
> to have less to mess with when the water arrives.  (Too bad it's the 
> best
> storage building on the place.... <g>)
>
> The good part about having such an amazing introduction to living here 
> is
> that it probably won't ever be quite this crazy again, as I'll be 
> better
> prepared.  And regardless of all of this, I LOVE being here!  My 
> customers
> are wonderful, and it's a great area in general.
>
> Annie G.
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Farrell [mailto:mfarrel2 at tampabay.rr.com]
>> Sent: Sunday, February 24, 2008 1:24 PM
>> To: Pianotech List
>> Subject: Re: Waterbound
>>
>>
>> Hi Annie - sounds like a mess! Sorry to hear about it. You can put an
>> upright on a dolly for as long as you want. I wouldn't worry
>> about it. Might
>> be best to just put it up on blocks though - you might need the dolly 
>> for
>> something else. Put some heavy plastic between a couple blocks on
>> each side
>> to prevent water from wicking up the wood.
>>
>> I would run, not walk, to Sears or some similar store and buy a good 
>> room
>> dehumidifier. I highly recommend getting one with the "electronic
>> humidistat". I've had two of them now and they seem to regulate
>> humidit much
>> better than the old type.
>>
>> Man, I don't know what the heck to do about your floor though. Is
>> your shop
>> that low compared to the surrounding land? Do you know where the
>> water table
>> is at? What is the water source? Maybe a nice deep ditch filled
>> with gravel
>> around the shop? Do you have enough ceiling height to simply put in an
>> elevated floor? You could either fill it in with concrete or build an
>> elevated wooden floor. Sounds to me like you definitely need to take 
>> some
>> serious action though (but I think you know that!).
>>
>> Terry Farrell
>>
>