I was able to make some progress on the Workshop floor over the past two days. I’ve managed to get half of the floor covered, despite the fact that my co-’worker’, Kerry, is traveling. I should be able to get the floor completely covered in the next two days. Here is where it stands now:
As I mentioned in my Fixing the Stream post, I thought that the Real Estate photo of the Stream showed much greater flow than I was getting. So… after looking at the Stream this morning, I started digging around to see if I could find the pump well. I moved a few heavy boulders and thought I heard the pump.
Unfortunately, I thought that it was under a HUGE flat rock. The rock seemed like a good cover for the pump, albeit a little HEAVY! I couldn’t move the rock by hand, but with a heavy duty crowbar, I was able to lift it up enough to see under it. More rock…
Hmmm, fishing around the big stone, I was able to locate the pump sound to the left and, after more digging, found the pump well. I turned off the pump, pulled it out of the well, and, sticking my finger into the inlet, I was not too surprised to feel that it wasn’t turning easily.
I did some research on this pump and discovered that it is a real power hog – a newer alternative pump would consume 1/3 the power with the same capacity. I ordered a newer replacement, but unwilling to simply accept that the current pump was ‘broken’, I took it apart, and, eventually isolated the problem to a spring loaded bearing. I improvised a ‘fix’ so the motor would spin freely and reinstalled the pump.
Well… if The Stream was a babbling brook before, it is a rushing stream now! The stream bed filled up with flowing water with falls and turbulence all along the length of the stream. I’ve posted a video of the new Stream on YouTube. Check it out!
One of the things we really liked about The House in the Woods is the man-made stream that starts about 70 feet above the back deck. The view was featured in the Real Estate listing for the house (see below) and it was one of the things that caught our eye.
Unfortunately, a section of the stream shifted and, as a result, the water no longer flowed over the top of the rocks and, instead, slipped in behind some rocks and flowed under the lower section.
When we moved in, I had planned to work on this ‘sometime’, but as I sat on the deck today, I was curious about what it would take to fix the stream. As I explored, sitting by the stream, shifting rocks, I quickly got lost in the task and I felt like a 10 year old kid, happily playing in the water. Consequently, a couple of hours later, I had rebuilt the stream and it is now flowing nicely with a lovely ‘babbling’ sound.
Here are the before and after…
Link to YouTube to see and hear the Stream in action.
I think there is still some work to do as the volume of water seems lower than the original Real Estate photo would indicate. Oh well, there will be another ‘fun’ day in the Stream at a later date. 