Stone Masonry and Irrigation
This week has been a lot of stone masonry and irrigation installation. The new irrigation system will be partially tied into the tank system, and partially run off the city water supply. There's also a specific system for handling our graywater, which I am looking forward to seeing in action.
In stone work, the back yard has most of its stone laid.
They put cardboard over the flagstones to protect them while work continues. Over where the orange cone is, they've been making a stack of stone offcuts from the paths and patios, which will be turned into a water feature with a trickle of water over it, the better for birds and insects to drink.
In the front they've started making a stone bench under the magnolia. We are very social with our neighbors and it's nice to have a place to sit outside and talk instead of just crouching on the curb.
On the irrigation front, they started by trenching around the permeable pavers to run some sprinklers.
I'm still pretty deeply resentful about having to put that parking space in, so I'm making it as unlike a parking space as possible.
I also met with the irrigation person and we went through the layout of the tank system so she could cut off unused parts and tie in to the rest.
The process of building up valve sections like this is very familiar.
Yesterday a plumber came and we shut off water in the house for an hour or so while he plumbed in a line for the sprinklers. There was much excitement among the cats because they've become fascinated with water from sinks.
The graywater system is also starting. This is pretty exciting.
The way it works is that water from the interior graywater plumbing -- put in as part of the big renovation -- goes into this surge tank and gets pumped into the back yard.
In the back yard it goes into this "living fountain" where it is recirculated through soil and plants to clean it, after which it can easily be used in the garden. As they set the system up I'll take more photos to show it, but the concept and some other installations of the same design are shown on the landscapers' web site.
Our system is a lot larger than most because we plumbed all the sinks (except kitchen sinks, which are considered "blackwater") and tubs plus the laundry into the graywater drain, so instead of the occasional laundry load, our living fountain will have to deal with 2-3 daily showers worth of water. Fortunately if we have a big water event we can just switch the system to the regular sewer and not overload the system.
posted by ayse on 10/07/22