The problem: Constant flooding of the barn drive, the front barn yard, and the rear barn yard from the culvert in the creek that appears to be clogged or collapsed.
The situation as one can understand it from the surface: There is a cement culvert with two pipes at the barn drive. Two pipes going in….and one pipe going out at the far side of the rear barn yard. So, apparently, at some point these two pipes form a Y to release in one pipe at the other side. One hundred feet of pipe that oddly bypasses the natural creek bed, when one would think it only needed to be piped under the barn drive.
Except……oh, no, grasshopper, all of that is but a mirage!
I had an archaeological dig here yesterday. The spot to dig was selected because it was the spot where water “springs forth” from the ground, bubbling up like a tiny geyser. Perhaps this is the location of a break or collapse in the pipe.
No, grasshopper, you are yet naive to the mysterious machinations of the watery past!
If it wasn’t a bizarre enough idea that the pipe ran 100 feet bypassing the natural creek bed in the rear barn yard, let’s make it even more bizarre.
A thorough excavation revealed that the two pipes in the cement culvert only extend……..about 12 feet.
That’s right. Twelve feet. Or so. And then they end. JUST END.
Two pipes to nowhere. These two pipes neatly stop–in the dirt. No clogged pipes. No collapsed pipes. Oh, no, the pipes just END. Thus resulting in the repeated flooding of the barn drive, front barn yard, and rear barn yard every time it rains. After all, there is nowhere for the water to go after it enters the pipes.
Flooding at the culvert a few days ago:
Oh, and that pipe that releases on the other side of the rear barn yard? We found its source. About halfway down the natural creek bed in the rear barn yard, there is a pipe way down in there that sucks water out of the creek bed to release it on the other side of the rear barn yard.
THAT is where water releasing from that pipe is coming from, which explains why there is never much water coming out of that pipe. There is only water in the creek at all when there is rain and flooding from the culvert that spreads out all over everywhere and partially ends up in the creek bed and runs down into that pipe.
I had tried a lot of previous self-help and minor assisted help in the past few months–digging out the ditch from the release pipe at the other end of the barn yard, going into the pipes at both ends to try to find a clog, having the culvert dug out, and so on. None of that was ever going to work. This would have continued to be a serious problem forever because the pipes don’t go anywhere. And yet, in a way, it was more simple than expected. We excavated in exactly the right place, and there are no pipes to cut off. Just some short additional pipe to run to get it over to the other side of the barn drive and across the fence where it can rejoin the natural creek bed instead of backing up and running all over the barn drive and both barn yards. Part of the creek in the rear barn yard was filled in, so had to be cleared back out to connect.
Unless a more massive amount of work is going to be done to reroute it, the creek will run closer to the fence line than I’d like, but it’s going to be shored in well with rocks to support it when rains come. I won’t know till the next good rain how it works, and if necessary, some further cleaning out can be done to handle the flow. (My cousin, doing the tractor work here, while Dave and Matt were excavating the pipes.)
This is actually a quite small creek, though, and I’ve observed it in some heavy rains in the past few months. It doesn’t get into trouble until it reaches the culvert–because from there, it has nowhere to go.
By the way, for those of you who wondered, I did speak with someone in Natural Resources who assured me it was fine to return water to its natural course, and that allowing the creek to run through pasture here was not an issue. (It actually already runs through pre-existing fenced pasture here both before and after this location.)
Fortunately, in the grand scheme of things, this problem provides a rather low-cost solution. In fact, it was made easier–yet more baffling–by the fact that the supposed 100 feet of pipe never existed at all. The solution is a rather short addition of pipe to run it out to the other side of the barn drive into the natural creek bed.
Why this bizarre setup was ever devised to begin with……………. That, we may never know. Who installs pipes to nowhere??? The only thoughts we can come up with are that this was most likely done at the time period when the farm was used for a riding ring and horse shows. This was the time when all the “pretty white horse fencing” was installed and the rear barn yard was created. Perhaps more “field” was desired in the rear barn yard, so they bypassed the creek, filling in parts of it, though this still leaves the question of why they would essentially dam up the creek at the barn drive in a way that had to cost them some money with the cement culvert and the pipes to nowhere–not to mention, they had to have experienced similar flooding issues after it was done. I did speak to a couple of longtime neighbors about it, and all the light they could shed on the situation was that the “riding ring era” owners did a lot of strange things that were not well thought out but served whatever temporary purpose they had at the time.
Whatever the reason was then, the creek is being returned to nature now.
And the creek said, Glad to see ya, Woman.
BuckeyeGirl says:
How very odd! And how very good that it’s not more difficult than that. :chicken:
On February 7, 2012 at 6:58 am
miki says:
I’m so glad that it has turned out to be a simpler and lower cost challenge than you thought!
On February 7, 2012 at 7:29 am
wvhomecanner says:
Hooray for simple and not too expensive You needed a BREAK!
On February 7, 2012 at 7:33 am
STracer says:
I am glad the problem turned out to be such an easy and inexpensive fix. Thank goodness for the good weather and the tractor! It seems to have been very useful lately. I can’t wait to tell my husband “the rest of the story”! We have dealt with those wonderful temporary fix issues for a while too.
On February 7, 2012 at 7:34 am
WvSky says:
Great! I was always uneasy with the possibilities given for the extensive pipes and where they went and where they wound-up. I disagreed with a friend of mine as to her thoughts on the matter and said “something is wrong here. This doesn’t make any sense. I mean, NO one curves a small diameter corrugated pipe underground, so where’s the end?” The end was right there, we just couldn’t see it because it was covered up! I find it hard to believe that any sane person would do something like that, especially after taking all the time and effort to install the culvert in the first place. I cant help but wonder if the creek bank didnt slowly cave-in around the pipes over time and then maybe a new owner just finished filling it in, not knowing there were pipes under there. On the other hand, how many people would have lived there for very long and not done exactly what you just did? It’s a very strange world sometimes…
On February 7, 2012 at 8:11 am
Leah's Mom says:
So much of what you’re finding reminds me of my “1940’s built” house (one I’m going to be selling!) The builder (the only previous owner) did most of the building with items he got at the salvage store and the house was “rebuilt” several times to go from a 1 story bungalow-type structure into a “cape Cod” type with dormers, addition of breezeway & garage, etc.
It’s always really strange when you start out to fix something as you NEVER find what you expected. Same scenario…pipes to nowhere, “do-it-yourself” 300 gallon septic tank, etc., etc., etc. Since it is on a slab of sorts with NO crawl-space, I had even thought about jacking it up and building a basement under it because EVERY TIME SOMETHING GOES WRONG WITH THE PLUMBING we had to tear up the floors!!!!! (Ugh…)
Anyway…I’m feeling for you! It will be WONDERFUL when you’ve finally found all the oddities and have them fixed and know exactly what’s there. Be sure to draw diagrams and notes and keep them in a file somewhere…you’ll be glad you did!!!!!!!
On February 7, 2012 at 8:14 am
Miss Judy says:
It must have been a government project of some kind! or something my husband rigged up…or started and never finished. LOL
On February 7, 2012 at 8:31 am
Barbee says:
Whew, glad that’s figured out! What I’m seeing from here is a small bunch of little boys happily playing in mud.
On February 7, 2012 at 8:53 am
KarenAnne says:
What’s the purpose of the far away pipe that takes water from the creek?
On February 7, 2012 at 9:24 am
Suzanne McMinn says:
KarenAnne, best we can guess is they were trying to reserve more field and the creek was in their way.
On February 7, 2012 at 9:29 am
Flowerpower says:
Wouldnt it have been nice if the former owners had given you a little hint about this? Maybe they did the plumbing themselves and thought it would all mysteriously work? Well you should be set for anything by the time this is over. Now arent you glad you have that tractor? :happyflower:
On February 7, 2012 at 10:05 am
WvSky says:
I once lived in an old house that had the most convoluted pipe system I’d ever seen. It took me hours to figure it all out. Once I did, I made a schematic of the system and left it for the new owners. Any reasonable person would do this.
On February 7, 2012 at 10:39 am
wickedgoodshari says:
and the woman said, “That’s the way it should have been all along, of course.”
On February 7, 2012 at 11:09 am
DoTson99 says:
Sure seems like someones brain had not been put into gear that day or something.
On February 7, 2012 at 11:39 am
CATRAY44 says:
I think your nickname could be ‘Nancy Drew, Farm detective’…. Good job!
On February 7, 2012 at 12:14 pm
mds9 says:
Have you ever thought about putting in a small Tilapia pond? They need very little space. You-tube has videos. You have the water.
On February 7, 2012 at 12:19 pm
whaledancer says:
For once, a problem with an easier solution than you feared! And not another huge expense! :woof: Although the mystery may have you scratching your head for years, at least the problem is solved.
I wonder if there’s somewhere more convenient you could block that creek a little, to make a duck and goose pond?
On February 7, 2012 at 12:53 pm
ladybird_1959 says:
It looks as if that tractor is coming to good use for you. It’s a good thing you have men to help out and who know how to use it. Otherwise, you’d be digging this time next year to find the pipe!
Sorry you’ve had so many tribulations thus far. Just think how nice it will be when you get all the kinks worked out and can just enjoy your farm.
On February 7, 2012 at 1:26 pm
Sonia says:
What’s the saying…’don’t mess with Mother Nature’…sounds like the riding ring era people kinda messed with Mother Nature. Glad you are getting if all figured out Suzanne. I love that the creek is being put back to natural order, and let’s hope this fixes your rainy day pond issues. My fingers are crossed for you.
On February 7, 2012 at 5:20 pm
Sheryl says:
Suzanne, so happy this adventure is over with-hopefully, things will settle down for you and Morgan, so you guys can continue with all your wonderful plans! =)
On February 8, 2012 at 12:09 pm
The Pocket Farmer says:
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Sue (The Pocket Farmer)
On February 10, 2012 at 7:54 am