Grass and Gravel Do Not Mix

Last Wednesday, it finally rained - which is great for the rest of the area, bad for my basement. Yup, it flooded again. Only a couple of inches this time, but clearly something was once again not working properly. Called the sewage guys to come out. The declared that I had a collapsed pipe. But they were all booked up and could not fix it until Friday....two stinky days later - (why stinky you ask? Well, when water and sewage back up in your basement, it's stinky - FYI, running the air conditioner only makes the stinky spread through the house more evenly. But I digress...on Friday, the sewage guy crew shows up with a big backhoe and a van and a truck for hauling away stuff and they run a line and discover that there is indeed a collapse, and it is located under my driveway and sidewalk. In order to get to it, they have to cut the sidewalk, the driveway, break off a piece of railroad tie that holds in the flower bed and dig up the corner of the flower bed.

I'm starting to wonder how much worse this can get...but do not have time to contemplate as I have two events to take care of and must trot off to work. I stop by home after the first event for an update. There is not a hole where my sidewalk and flower bed used to be that is big enough to drop a pool table into and deeper than a man is tall. They have exposed the pesky broken pipe and I can see that it is indeed collapsed. It has a hole in it the size of a man's shoe. It is as I am gazing into the hole to China that the "boss" introduces himself and explains that the pipe is cracked beyond the hole that is exposed and they need to run another line to see if there is another break. Of course, with this discovery, the up front quote of $2200 becomes void. I choose denial and go back to work, leaving them to investigate further.

Checking back after my second event, they have indeed discovered that there is a second collapse which is 20 feet further up the pipe toward the street. So for an additional $2200 they will dig up my driveway and fix that break as well. It will be $600 more to connect the two holes and check that crack running between them - essentially replace the entire pipe between the two big breaks. $5000...but that's only if they don't find any more problems at the second break. If it goes out under the street, then its a whole new set of problems. By the way, did anyone know that the section of pipe that runs from the ciy sewer under the street to your property is your responsibility to fix if broken. Even though it is not on your property, you are essentially renting that section of pipe and are in charge of it's maintenance. This is what the guy is explaining to me as a worst case scenario...that digging up the street will cost an additional $8000, since you have to re-pave the streets to city code and all. I actually thought I might get sick all over his nice construction boots.

But what can I do - it's not like I can choose to NOT fix the sewer pipes. So I tell them to get started. They are unable to finish on Friday however, so they clean-up around 2pm and say they will return today (Monday) to finish. It rained again today...they didn't start until after lunch. They left around 6pm...only to return again tomorrow to haul away the rest of the dirt they left in a pile on my driveway. They also left me with an odd diagonal cut down the middle of my driveway - on one side there remains the concrete driveway, on the other, mushy gravel. On the gravel side, I used to have a clearly defined yard edge - not so much anymore. And the railroad ties....yeah well, those must have been too difficult to put back, because they left them at a 45 degree angle to the flower bed, one end still attached. I can see the resale value of my home plummeting before my eyes.

But, the upside is that the stink is gone and I can do laundry again....I have brand new sewage pipes that will last for 1000 years and they did not in fact have to cut into the city street. Does anyone know how to make grass seed grow out of gravel?