rain, rain everywhere (but outside would be better than inside)

[cellio]

Not long ago, there was a very heavy, sustained rain outside. (Now there's just regular rain.)

There is a lake where the patio is supposed to be. It's draining, very slowly.

There is water oozing into the basement from many directions. There is a sustained gurgle as that water makes its way, slowly, to points of egress, leaving flowing tendrils all about. We've seen water in the basement before; we always assumed it was pipes backing up, not a water invasion. The various folks we've called to bring in snakes and stuff when that happens have never done anything to dissuade us of this idea.

Lovely. Just lovely.

On the positive side, this is probably the sort of thing that's covered by homeowners' insurance. (I am often amazed at what's covered by homeowners' insurance.)

On the negative side, it's going to be a pain to get this diagnosed and fixed, I don't know if they can fix patio drainage (if that's a source of problems) without ripping up huge amounts of our yard, and the guest room is in the basement (see previous entry about imminent guests). Obviously we'll come up with some other solution for the guests, but still...

And Shabbat starts in less than half an hour, so certainly we're not going to call anyone in for a quick fix tonight.

Comments

Re: I was helping with a Pitt BBQ in Oakland tonight

[cellio]

When I left work on the South Side at 5:30, it was raining heavily enough that I hussled but lightly enough that I didn't really mind. That was the worst I saw until 15 seconds before I pulled into my garage in Squirrel Hill, when the heavens opened. (Fortunately, it's only about 10 feet from the garage to the porch.) Then it got worse. At 7:30, when I would have left to walk to services had we not had guests coming, it was raining heavily enough that I might have not gone anyway, or gone to the shul a block away.

This morning the patio was still a (smaller) lake but the basement had mostly dried (some remaining puddles, no ongoing flow), so it looks like the patio and the basement situations have common ancestry but are not causally linked.