Excavation work begins on the graywater drain.

Chez Melendy has two wasterwater treatment facilities. One is a graywater system (rusty old pipe to a drywell somewhere) that serves the kitchen sink, the other is a septic tank (we hope) that serves the bathrooms.

Lots of fretting has taken place in the mind of amateur builder man regarding these systems.

The gray water pipe gets a thorough inspection.

While putting together the new kitchen sink plumbing I realized that I had to replace the old pipe that ran out into the yard. You can see an image of it in the February 7th entry. The prior owners claimed this pipe went out to a drywell beyond the barn, however, the direction of the pipe didn't seem to jive with that. As we started digging, we half expected the pipe just to run under that driveway and empty out onto the hill on the other side. Not a good scenario for modern living.

As it turned out the pipe did take a right angle and headed off in the direction the Melendys claimed. It still needed replacing, though, and as long as we were digging up the yard, we decided to install a new drywell.

The hero of this endeavor is Skip Cady, the man with the Kubota. Skip is an artist, performer, and native New Hampshirean whom I met while working on Mirette. Check out his artwork at skipcady.com

The new drywell in all its glory.

The plastic barrel came from the transfer station. I drilled it full of drainage holes on the bottom and part way up the sides. The 4" pipe you see here exiting the well is the existing gray water drain and will serve as the overflow. A new 3" pipe (not seen here because the photographer had to stop taking pictures and get back to work) now runs from the kitchen into this more than adequate drywell.

The best part is that with Skip's handy backhoe we were able to easily drop the line from the house deeper in the ground so that I don't have to worry about it freezing in the winter. (It doesn't take long for trickling water to come to a stop when it's 40 below.) We were also able to do all of this in a few hours.

Note the empty festival seating. Even the spectators got into the act...

...though we requested that they wear standard issue head gear.

By the way, has anyone seen this kid since we filled in the hole?

© 2006 James Graham

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