Back to the septic story, at this point, we figured the problem was the holding tank was full, and was over flowing and leeching back into the house. So we hired someone to come out and pump both tanks, thinking we could buy ourselves some time. We found out a few interesting things – 1. The cistern was full of cracks, so had been a major source of water in the cellar for a long time, and 2. the outgoing line was too low, and was in fact working more like a drain tile for the lawn, instead of a drain field for the septic.

This picture shows how close the cistern was to the house. The white PVC pipe is the vent for the tank.

Our “bought time” lasted about two weeks, and then both tanks were filled back up.

We were into June now, and things were drying up a bit. Got a bid on replacing the septic, but then we got another idea – since we were going to have the excavating equipment out, why not dig a hole for the addition at the same time?

Ok, now I must digress . . . We started out with the goal of having a basement. We really didn’t need more room, so our first thought was to tear down the west wing, and rebuild it with a basement. Considered an attached garage also, but gave that idea up pretty fast. We already have a large shop not far from the house, and there just wasn’t a good way to put a garage on the house. It either ended up cutting off access to the other buildings, or blocked off a view I didn’t want to give up. I decided having to walk to the garage for my car in the morning just wasn’t that big of a deal.

With all the water problems, we figured we’d go with a split level design, hoping if the basement was only 4 feet deep, we could keep it dry. Our bedroom would be in the basement, with the kitchen/ dining area above. Of course, then we didn’t know what we were going to do with the rest of the house – was ending up too big. . .

The biggest draw back was all the plumbing and the electrical service were in that section. It would mean either temporarily rerouting the water, septic and electric – or living somewhere else while we got the work done. Living somewhere else really wasn’t an option, but the main deciding factor was when we discovered that the section we wanted to tear down was the original homestead. I just didn’t want to lose the history that represented.

So we scrapped that idea and decided to put on an addition on the west side of the house. One of my best decisions was to buy a decent home design software package. We’ve run through so many possibilities of how to lay things out, and this way we could easily change the location of a wall, or move a window, and even do a 3-d walk-through to see if the idea was a really stupid one after all . . .

I think I am up to revision 38, and that is only counting significant changes to the layout.

It was July, and we made a visit to the county courthouse. Found out we didn’t need anything for replacing the septic (I love living in the country) but because our house was less than 125’ from the road, which happened to be a county road, we needed a variance. Ok, so the road is wide enough to pass oncoming traffic without going in the ditch (unless it’s combine, or someone with three tires on each side of his tractor . . .) and they actually plow it in the winter, well if we have more than 4” on snow, but it may take three or four days . . . but it’s not like we live on a major highway or something.

The clerk said the variance would be more of a formality, but they would have to post it for a month, and then have a meeting. Oh, and $100.00. We paid the money, and the county put a sign in our yard announcing the upcoming meeting. We did get to meet more neighbors that way, everyone was curious as to what we were up to.

The meeting was in August. We showed up on time, but the Board was running early, so they actually had approved the deal before we even got there. Out of curtesy, they talked with us a bit about our plans and sent us downstairs were the clerk already had the permit filled out and waiting for us.

Then came the hard part, trying to get a contractor out to do the work. I called the company we had gotten the estimate from and was told they were too busy right now. I said I expected to have to wait a bit, and was hoping to get the work done in late September. “I don’t know” he said “We’re having a meeting tonight and I’ll see if I can work you in, and give you a call later.” Never heard from him.

We looked around for someone else, and found a local contractor who agreed to do the work in the fall. So we worked on our plans, and waited . . . and waitied . . .

So what do you do while you are waiting to have a new septic installed? Why, you start ripping out the inside of your house, of course! But I’ll save that for the next installment.

¶ 7:46 PM