Rock and Roll

In an effort to control the amount of water that pools in the front of the house, we felt the need to raise the level of the flower beds. In order to raise the level, we needed to use something to hold in the additional material. We decided to use Indiana field stones. The best part about using Indiana field stones, is that they are readily available, and typically free. Oftentimes, you can find large piles of stones in the corner of crop land. I would encourage you to ask permission before removing the rocks.







I gathered about 75 stones and transported them to the cottage. My "source" is on the route from my house to the cottage, so it was pretty convenient. I dry fit the stones, by placing them on the edge of the sidewalk. It would have been just as easy to place them in their final resting position, but I wanted CMV to make the final call. If she wasn't happy with the look, they would not last very long.


Once the stones got the nod of approval, we moved them to the edge of the bed. The flower beds were ready for some additional dirt and mulch. Some flowers might not hurt either.

Gutters

I finally got around to re-hanging the gutters. The gutters had been removed when we put on the new roof. I wanted to install fascia boards and then rehang the gutters. I also wanted to re-route the water flow.

All of the water from the front of the house was routed to the drainage tile in the back of the house. When that tile clogged, the water backed up until it started to flow to the front tile. The logical step was to drain the front of the house to the front drainage tile, and the back of the house to the back tile. This should help even out the drainage and eliminate the pooling of water towards the back of the house.