Sinking the Sump Pump

Sometimes I wish I could interview previous homeowners to ask them what they were thinking.

When I purchased this foreclosure, the house came with a musty smell...like water or mold was sitting somewhere.  Well, it only took one peek into the crawlspace to figure out why.  The area was very, very damp.  It didn't have standing water, per se, but you could tell it was wet and muddy.

So I decided to check out the sump pump.  And that left me with unanswered questions.

Ok, so picture this:  The house DID have a working sump pump.  The problem was two-fold.  First, the sump pump pit was nowhere close to deep enough.  Recommendations are 36 inches deep.  This was maybe 6 inches.  Second, the sump pump itself wasn't actually IN the pit!  It had been tied to a floorboard.  What is more, the pump float would extend ABOVE the sump pump pit.  I kid you not, the ENTIRE crawlspace would have to flood (and was obvious that it had) before the sump pump would even kick on.

Sigh.  And this sounded like a good idea how???

The sump pump as I found it.  Barely below the ground held up by a rope tied to a floorboard!

My work was cut out for me.  Not only did I have to dig a new sump pump hole, but I needed to install a new sump pump pit.  My problem was that the ones I purchased wouldn't fit through the tiny crawlspace entry hole!!!  We would have to cut one down the sides, fold it half, and then make it work!  After much going back and forth, I decided to just stay with the current smaller pit.  But I did take several large river rock stones and place them both on the bottom of the pit and around the outside for easier flowing of water.  I stole these from my outside landscaping project!

By far the hardest part of the entire job was the digging.  You have to understand that the ground was saturated with water.  It's pure mud.  And very, very wet mud.  And every inch that I dug would just allow water to pool into the new hole.  I had to dig by hand through water!!!  And the water was relentless!  The more I dug, the more water filled the hole!

Digging out the original pit.  The more I dug, the more water rushed in!

This mud was tough to get out!  It was so heavy and sludgy.

Finally getting the new unit ready to pump.  Working below water in the blind!

I elected to install a backflow protector valve and electronic water sensors.  As you can see, the pump is always in the on position with the float tied up.  But electronic sensors sense when the water is full and needs to pump.

The backflow protector valve.  One water is pumped out, it's not coming back!

This was a much-needed project.  As you can tell, this house has basically been sitting on top of a lake for who knows how long, creating a perfect breeding ground for mold and mildew!

In the pictures, you can see the water line on the styrofoam where the entire crawlspace had been flooded before the pump kicked on.  That's not good.

This was one of the more difficult projects to accomplish quite simply due to the large amounts of water that kept rushing in.  Frankly, I probably didn't dig as deep as I should have.  I was growing weary of the project, and it was becoming almost too difficult to work in the water.  The pump could have benefitted from being another foot or so deeper...but the work I did do made quite a bit of difference.

It wasn't one of the more fun projects...and certainly won't be seen to be appreciated.  But it's one of the most important.  I'm glad that one's behind me...

Re-Landscaping an Abandoned Foreclosure: Part One

My first home purchase was a house that had sat empty for 1.5 to 2 years, depending on who you asked.  Thankfully, that didn't do a whole lot of damage to the actual home.  My biggest expense were four burst pipes once we turned the water back on.

But one of the most time-consuming projects was tackling the yard!  It turns out that about the worst thing you could do for a home in central Illinois is just let it sit!  The conditions are ripe for EVERYTHING to grow about as fast as they can.  With no one to cut back branches or weeds or grass, the yard gets out of control very, very quickly.

So when I acquired the house, I acquired a wee bit of a mess.  The rock landscaping needed re-done, and I had about a dozen volunteer trees to cut down in the backyard.  I first started with the front.  Hey, that's where curb appeal happens!

I decided to start with the mailbox.  Around the mailbox a previous owner had wanted some rock.  Well, that was fine and dandy, but the weed barrier had worn thin, and I had about as many weeds as I did rocks.  So I decided to just rip them all up and go to grass.  I'm a purist when it comes to yards.  I think grass is THE best thing that a yard can have.  The more, the better!

So I decided to pull up all of the rocks and change the look drastically.

The front yard as acquired.  What a mess around the mailbox!

I pulled out all of the rocks, then decided on a change of plans.

I shortened the non-grass area by 90%...



I then added new dirt and planted some flowers!  Come on, grass!

Replacing the Bathroom Floor

Little did I know it, but the best encouragement for my own work...was the work of others.

When I first purchased this foreclosure, one of the toilets didn't sit too straight.  I was made aware of this by the numerous plastic shims found below the toilet itself.  Well, I wanted to put down new linoleum, but this uneven floor was a problem.

The bathroom as acquired.  Notice the shims underneath the toilet.

So I removed the toilet.  Oh boy...

What I found wasn't too encouraging.  The toilet had been leaking for quite some time.  It could have been leaking before the shims were installed, or it could have been leaking now due to a poor seal with the wax ring because of the shims.  Who knew.

After removing the toilet...water had been leaking for some time creating soft wood.




The mold around the toilet flange.

All I knew is that I had had a leaky toilet...and that created wet wood...which in turn created mold.  Agh, there is ALWAYS something to do with a home!!!

Well, I started peeling up these sticky vinyl tiles to figure out just how bad it was.  It wasn't looking too great.  I needed the floorboard replaced.  So I called up a few contractors.  One by one each would walk in, assess the damage, and think out loud!  I tell you, THAT was worth its weight in gold to me.



I removed all of the VERY sticky tiles to see how far the damage had gone.

"Well, huh...yeah, it looks like you are going to have to cut out the floorboard here and install new..."

"What I would do is cut out the floorboard from here to here...and I'm not sure about the vanity here, but that may have to be removed, too...yeah, huh, how bad is it here..."

Time and time again, these men would walk in and think on the fly.  Then inevitably would come the price.  $200.  $300.  Unknown.

But the more I heard them talk, the more I realized that I myself could do that work!!!  Shoot, if they were just going to cut wood, I could do that, right?!

That was my philosophy anyway.

So that's just what I did.  I talked it over with Dad for a bit, and that's what we decided to do.  He understood more about floors than me, but that's what seemed to be the best bet.  Cut out the floor, then install some reinforcement, and replace with a new floor!  Easy, right?

Well, the work wasn't all that hard on paper, but Dad and I struggled with this little project.  For whatever reason, the supports that we installed between the floor joists was a pain for us!  We had one guy in the crawlspace, the other guy in the bathroom, and communication was breaking down.  And frustration was building.

But we worked through the frusration, and we ended up with a "brand new" floor.

Dad and I cut out the floor.  Here you can see down into the crawlspace.

The new floor installed.

We replaced the area that had soft wood.  The rest was still strong.  I sprayed bleach on the rest of the wood.

The project itself wasn't too hard in terms of what it required, but it just ended up being work.

But the GREAT news was that the project cost me less than $20 for new parts.  And the floor was ready for the linoleum guy to come install!

The luan being installed before the linoleum.

He installed luan down, then applied the new linoleum.  I had a brand new floor for around $150!  I'm thrilled!  I added a new white toilet seat, and voila!  The bathroom looks so much better!!!

Before...

After!

I love it!