How Many Home Depot Buckets Does It Take To…?
Well the last time I posted, I said May was going to be a crazy month! Boy was I right…just not in the way I thought. Let’s take a trip down memory lane for a moment. This past winter, I posted a picture of what I called our “field of Home Depot buckets” because we used massive amounts of them to support our winter site cover. I recall asking Kris, “what in the world are we going to do with all those Home Depot buckets???” Well unfortunately, that question is coming back to haunt me! Since May 1st, we have officially been given the award for the rainiest place in Colorado, measuring in at 15+ inches of rain! Our hopes were so high that we’d just cruise along, now that the foundation was poured. Kris went right out and bought our insulation for the radiant heat setup and quickly got it all cut and installed. That night, it began to rain, and I don’t mean a thunderstorm, I mean a multiple day, Noah’s Ark level rain! All of Kris’ hard work was ruined. The insulation was floating, the future garage looked like a swimming pool, the utility box had tipped over from so much erosion around it, and the driveway had large portions that were literally washed away. We started the dreaded clean-up, and with more rain in the forecast, we opted to build a “rain mitigation system” which included building a structure around the site, then covering it with the super heavy duty tarps we used this winter…the tarps we hoped we’d never see again.
Several days of rain later, we assessed the tarp and though it definitely helped, the weight of the water ripped the tarps and dumped a bunch of water inside. So, we cleaned up again! Since none of the insulation was down this time, we opted to just leave the site uncovered except for the areas like the mechanical room that are enclosed in concrete. Since these areas don’t have a roof yet, they fill up like a swimming pool with no way to dry out. So we reworked the tarps to build a temp roof of sorts. As I was rushing around the site, I decided to get a closer look at the foundation by tripping and completely belly flopping in the mud! Ouch! Thankfully my body was ok, just my pride was injured. Kris’ drill survived the fall into the mud as well, but it was a “tiny” bit dirty! Oops!
As we approached a 3-day weekend, the weather predicted no rain and some friends volunteered to help, so we once again thought, “this is the weekend we’re finally going to get the radiant heat in!” Day 1 started off amazingly well. Sunny, dry, we had the site prepped and the insulation installed before lunch! Feeling so good about ourselves, we broke for lunch and upon our return, some very dark clouds started drifting in. Looked at the radar and it still said no rain expected, so we continued working. As we started pulling insulation out, we came across a very unfortunate scene. The mice had discovered the insulation and we were housing not 1, but 3 families! Ugh! They had nestled right into the insulation board and were all nursing their babies! So much for returning unused materials. They were using them as a mouse maternity ward! While cleaning up THAT mess, rain sprinkles started, then got heavier and heavier. A fairly brief but hefty rainfall passed through and though it wasn’t helpful, we felt confident we could dry enough of it off….that was until the hail moved in! Round 2 dumped pea-sized hail and more heavy rain. At this point it was too muddy to continue, so our help headed home, and Kris and I cleaned up the site for the day. Little did we know our day was just beginning! After a gorgeous sunset, I headed home and Kris decided to continue cleaning up water. Then the “after-dark” round of rain started. Extremely severe weather hit bringing monsoon rains, a strobe light of lightning and massive amounts of hail. We measured 2” on the ground when all was said and done. Kris stayed til the wee hours of the night actually shoveling hail! Complete destruction.
The next day I had to practically drag Kris out of bed to go clean up the site. He didn’t want to know what it looked like in daylight and I can’t really blame him. But, we pulled on our rubber boots, grabbed our handy Home Depot buckets and began bailing water…again. Our friends very kindly came back and helped us dry tarps, plastic, insulation, shovel mud and scoop water. As we re-prepped the site, yet another rain shower came through but luckily not enough to stop us. Kris and I stayed late to craft a new rain mitigation system since we clearly couldn’t trust the weatherman! I must say we were quite proud of our new tarp system that attached to the foundation bolts and then had 2x4’s bolted down on top! NOTHING can mess with us now! The next day we got all the rebar and metal grid installed and then we buttoned up the site because more rain was predicted.
Another multi-day storm rolled in and we just prayed our new tarp system was keeping things dry. We bailed over 500 gallons of water after this storm and our tarps did pretty well. A few leaks, but nothing we couldn’t handle. We reinforced with plywood and added a buffer tarp underneath. We were getting rain pretty much daily at this point, so we’d work our day jobs, then put on our mud clothes and go pull the tarps, dry off any wet areas, patch the tarps and bail water til dark. In between storms, we’d continue to work on backfill behind the retaining wall, we started laying out our recessed indoor lighting and beam placement and general finalizing of interior home decor and layout.
At long last, we heard rumor of a break in the rainy weather! Not before another 2-day rain event flooded the site though. We were beginning to feel like we should be building an Ark! But, the rumors were true and we finally had warm sunshine and dry weather this past weekend, so we were able to prep the garage with radiant heat and will be able to pour concrete as soon as we can get inspection done! We opted to pour the slab in 2 rounds because it’s far too difficult to cover the entire space with plywood and tarps. Our hope is that at least half the slab will be poured soon and we can then focus on outsmarting mother nature again until we can pour the second half!
So to answer the question I began with, it takes at LEAST 60 Home Depot buckets to bail out a home construction site! I will never again doubt my husband when he says “oh, I’m sure we’ll find plenty of uses for them!” Hopefully much warmer, drier air will nudge us into a more productive pattern and my next blog can include home interior decorating with Home Depot buckets! Ha! Or maybe not. Don’t forget to check out all the “fun” mud and water bailing pictures on The House tab!
