Wet Wet Wet…

Samuel Taylor Coleridge said it best in his The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

Water, water, every where,

And all the boards did shrink;

Water, water, every where,

Nor any drop to drink.

For the last 6 Springs the far corner of the woodshop gets a ‘soaking’. Water appears in the corner and spreads out about 10 feet into the rest of the woodshop to a depth of  5mm just enough to cause consternation. After a few days the heat in the shop drys it out and it does not appear until the next Spring.

Sawdust makes a wonderful dam and cheaper than cat litter

It’s been a bit of a mystery because not every year produces water.  But  this year was worse than ever.  Several people have proposed theories… the most plausible being:

• you probably missed a section of the insulation in the roof and the heat is causing condensation to trickle down the walls into the shop.  
• it has to be coming from outside…
• maybe it is seeping through the concrete under some pressure.
• you left a window open or the flashing is faulty

but no, good theories but the walls are dry, so is it coming from outside – unlikely as the old dog door (visible in the back corner) is well above the ground and there has been little rain.  It isn’t coming through the concreate as I have checked that.

It was time to investigate…

First step – to remove 100s of board feet of wood and then remove the wood rack and the wall to investigate.  At this point I just wanted to clear up the mess and check that the wood, which had been kept off the floor, was okay.  While at the same time remove the wet insulation.

Well the answer was obvious once all the wood was removed.  When i first installed the insulation thare was an abandoned gas pipe in the corner of the garage, it was never connected to the house supply.  But over the years the pipe has probably been cracked underground and in the Spring the water gets in, but remains frozen until the Spring thaw, and then some years there is just enough water and pressure to cause the pipe to drip. 

I know Biggles, it’s a mess!!

Okay – time to sort out the leak – take the walls and the wood rack down.

Time to put it all back.