Sunday, October 18, 2009

Rooftop swimming pool

I was really worried this week because our gutters kept on dripping water for days after Tuesday’s torrential storm (October 13). We learned yesterday that we had a rooftop swimming pool. Well, wading pool, I guess, since it was “only” 4 inches deep.

A pool was an amenity we really didn’t want. Our friendly neighborhood roofing contractor, Bob Stone, came to our rescue and cleaned out our plugged up drainage system yesterday. The water squirting out after the openings were cleared was quite spectacular.

It was our own darned fault. We should have had the gutters cleared before the storm. Thank goodness we have a very sturdy and strong roof. Bob put a new roof on the house in February, 2008. It did not leak a drop with all that standing water in it for almost a week.

Our house has a flat roof behind a parapet and so if the drains are blocked it can fill up like a plugged bathtub.
Note to self: Keep the drains cleaned out at all times, not just the rainy season.

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5 Comments:

Blogger Gerrie said...

My daughter's building in SF had this problem. The plumber found a tennis ball clogging the drainage pipe. They had water running into their second floor flat. They wondered what tennis ace at Delores Park had hit that ball!!

2:37 PM  
Blogger Warty Mammal said...

I'm going to hope for the best, that there won't be repercussions downstream.

It's a good reminder. I need to go out and check our gutters, even though they have guards on them.

5:01 PM  
Blogger JoAnn ( Scene Through My Eyes) said...

Wow - lucky that it didn't leak - that's one good roof. We did the leave clearing out in the gutters this weekend - it is amazing how much can accumulate.

5:58 PM  
Blogger Meggie said...

Leaf guard seems to be the answer. It is lucky your roof is so watertight.

11:25 PM  
Blogger Tanya said...

What a grand fun house it looks like you live in! Now, you don't look like you have that many trees that would cause all that much clogging. We, on the other hand, living next to a forest have a real bear of a time keeping the rain gutters cleared!

5:33 AM  

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