And the road, again

And the road. Not as bad as last times, but still. I think it's a lot better now there's a lot of stones and broken concrete blocks in there. But, engineer Jansen exercised his ground moving skills once more.

Submersed unsubmersible pump

Oh, yes, almost forgot, the pool machinery pit was full of water too. We need to install a submersible pump there to prevent further submersions.

And no, the actual pool pump is not intended to be submersible, though it was. It turned out to be dry on the inside, with just a drop of water!

Water tunnel overflow

The upper field is full of water, and drains to our land via the water tunnel, because te channel overflowed. And flooded the garage, but only slightly. Flooded the terrace too, but luckily *just* not into the swimming pool.

Engineer Jansen blocked the channel, and dug trenches to drain away the water. And built a wall of stone blocks. Proving his proud Dutch heritage.

Can still see the water flow. This is later in the day, when it quieted down a lot already. Before it simply overflowed.

Three concrete blocks and a plastic bag, to force the water to overflow there, and not nearer the garage. The field is still under water.

Draining trench.

A water retaining wall.

Opened the gate to the other channels to drain away water that comes our way.

Only slightly muddy. The water is already gone here.

Who's got muddy paws then?

Roofy leaks..

Rain, wind, hail. And not the welcome hail. Not a great day.

And yes, still leaks in the roof. Not much, but enough not to want that on your face at night.

Stopverf

The windows. Again. The windows themselves are made of wood, and with an interesting idea in mind. They are sort-of double glazed. Not manufactured double glazing with a special insulating gas and coatings, but simply two single panes of regular glass, spaced at 2,5 cm in a wooden frame:

So what is the problem THIS TIME?! I hear you ask.

Well, the problem is:
a) the glass is mounted with rounded triangular wooden slats, and nothing in between the slats and the glass, or between the slats and the wooden frame, so when there is a lot of rain they leak water to the space in between the glass panes.
b) the glass is set into the frame using blobs of silicone, which has dried and hardened. That makes it impossible to remove the glass without breaking the glass. The wood between the panes is not treated, and when it is damp the windows do fog up a bit. Also, there's a bit of tarnish on the inside of the glass, that is impossible to access for wiping away.

See where is has been wet?

Here's ample use of silicone to mount the glass.


So, what engineer Jansen has been up to the past three days is:
1. remove all wooden slats
2a. repair broken slats with PU glue
2b. sand and oil the slats
3. apply a layer of stopverf ("putty") in between the slats and the glass, and between the slats and the wooden frame
4. mount the lats with 2x16 mm screws, in sunken holes in the wood.

Stopverf/putty is unknown in Spain. They try to sell you silicone instead.
"Does it harden?"
"Oh yes, very hard!"
"Then I don't want this."

Stopverf is actually a very nice product. It's simply made of linseed-oil and chalk, and will last 100 years. It very slowly hardens, but never gets so hard you cannot remove it to replace the glass. And it's all natural, you can knead it with your hands, and won't harm you. It smells nice too, if you like linseed oil. Ordered it online from Germany. The chalk is from Garmisch Partenkirchen! (Finest chalk in the whole world!)

Awaiting rain!

And no, b) has not been addressed.

Toilet fun, not.

At the back of a toilet there is a rubber ring to seal the sewer to prevent unwholesome fumes from entering your nose. And no, rubber does not last. After 20 years, or less if you bought rubbish, the ring cracks. (The cut is mine.) And yes, it leaks. Luckily engineer Jansen spotted it quickly, and no damage was done.

What you do normally is detach your loo by unscrewing the bolts it is bolted to the floor with, shift the toilet forward, put on new ring, put toilet backward, screw tight bolts. Unless you had moronic previous owners who cemented the toilet to the floor, ansteystyle, and there are no bolts.

So, can't move the toilet, can't put on new ring. Resorting to silicone. Stuffed some nylon rope in the gap, and filled it up with nice flexible silicone, so posterity can replace that in 20 years.

Tangerines: bad things come in trees too

In the distant past there were very ancient tangerine (mandarine) trees here, about 25-30 cm diameter. For some reason they were chopped down. What happens then is that new branches will sprout from the old stump, and in years form trees like the ones we have: sort of three trunks from one stem, at an angle of ca 60º. Not nice looking trees, as you can see below.

I've pruned one almost 2 years ago to see if it improves. No.

So, new plan is to remove 2 of the 3 trunks, and see what happens. Tried with 3 trees, and the result doesn't look half bad, I think. Will "treat" the other 6-7 trees too, but will ask someone with a chain saw, as this is very hard work.