Into the Woods

It’s disappointing that, because of the wet weather, I’ve not been able to move my trailer up to Stokes. The ground is too wet to roll the trailer out of my Mama’s backyard, or down my steep road. However, all that grass seed I planted is loving the rain. The white clover that I mixed with grass seed on top of the septic tank area is germinating nicely as well. The clover is still too tiny to photograph with my camera.

The loggers tore up the drainage ditch along the roadside, and I was afraid I’d never get grass to grow there again. But those excelsior blankets work wonders.

A typical North Carolina wellhouse. In this abandoned wellhouse, the well is gone, but it would have been under the porch. Inside are the milk troughs and places for food storage.

In a comment here, a friend asks what’s the difference between a pumphouse and a wellhouse.

The pumphouse is a small building to house (and keep from freezing) the parts of the water system that aren’t in the well. That includes the pressure tank and the pressure control switch. It’s a necessary part of the water system.

A wellhouse was a common outbuilding in the days before electricity. The well itself, with a windlass and bucket for drawing water, generally was near the wellhouse door. Inside were water troughs in which the milk jars were stored and into which cool water was poured a couple of times a day to keep the milk cool.

I have no real need for a wellhouse on my place, but I do need an outbuilding. I decided that an outbuilding in the style of a wellhouse would not only be practical (not least because wellhouses always have a porch) but also would work well with the style of the house. For rural people who had neither electricity nor ice, the wellhouse was the refrigerator as well as the source of water. It was always built in the coolest and most shady spot available. My grandmother’s wellhouse was overhung with a willow tree. I may do the same thing, for the sake of tradition.

1. The truck that brought the septic tank got stuck in the soft soil and had to be towed toward the septic tank hole using the backhoe’s hydraulics. Notice the chain between the backhoe bucket and the rear of the truck.

It’s hard to think of a more unphotogenic process than putting in a septic tank. But in spite of all the hole-digging and trench-making, the process takes less than a day. Some statistics: The tank holds 1,000 gallons. My system, as spec’ed by the Stokes County environmental health department, called for four drain-field trenches totaling 210 feet in length. Each trench is 50 to 60 feet long.

2. A little closer to the hole

3. Down into the hole we go.

4. The septic tank is now in place.

5. Looking over the top of the septic tank to one of the drainfield trenches

6. The septic tank has been buried, the trenches have been filled. I’ve planted a mixture of annual rye, fescue, and white clover, then covered the bare earth with straw. With the spring weather I hope to have grass before long. The cap is the clean-out port for the drain-field filter. This is a fairly new feature in septic tank design. The filter keeps solids from getting out of the septic tank into the drain field and helps keep the drain field healthy and flowing freely.

This heavy piece of crockery holds 1000 gallons.

The septic tank, and 210 feet of drain field, got installed today. Another mess. But I got it cleaned up, and seeded, fairly well by the end of the day. I’m too exhausted to post more photos tonight, but tomorrow I’ll post details and a photo sequence.

This is a big deal. It means that now all the life support systems — water, electric, and septic — are in place, and I can move my travel trailer up to Stokes and start living (and working my tail off) on my land…

Bob, my brother, finished putting the trim around the eaves and soffit of the pumphouse today. In the photos I posted last week, some of that trim was missing. So here’s a new photo with all the trim in place.

Bob with the finished pumphouse.

Notice that what Bob calls “the birds,” the facing on the soffit, has a slight gothic curve, as does the trim over the door. We’ll use these same themes on the wellhouse, which I plan to start early next month. I’ll let the wood cure a bit, then I’ll apply some sort of preserving finish on the white pine siding. I’m not yet sure what that finish should be, but to me the right answer is — whatever they would have used 60 years ago.

The new pumphouse. My brother, Bob, designed and built the pumphouse to harmonize with the house and the other outbuilding, which of course haven’t been built yet.

Tuesday was a red-letter day. The guys from the plumbing company came out and installed the pump in the well. I now have water. There’s a hydrant behind the pumphouse for gardening and such, and there’s a hydrant for the trailer.

The water hydrant behind the pumphouse.

The photos below show the process of building the pumphouse and getting the pump in the well.

This photo is from last week. Bob works on the pumphouse outside his workshop. Bob prebuilt the pumphouse in his shop so that it would be ready to deliver and assemble after the water system was working. Bob’s design for the pumphouse is an amazing combination of attractiveness and utility. He prebuilt it in sections in his shop, so it took only a day today to set it up and nail and screw it all together on site today.

The pump guys lower the pump into the well. This was Tuesday.

One of the pump guys tests the new water system.

Bob assembles the pumphouse. This was today.

The building is well insulated.

Hmmm. Notice any gothic elements anywhere?