Yesterday morning I had someone come by and look at my driveway because I need a new one. My driveway is still the original one that was poured when the house was built in 1955... well, at least the patched, cracked and daily settling and crumbling ruins of the original. This wouldn't be such a bad thing except (there are ALWAYS exceptions, aren't there?) the driveway slopes every so slightly toward the garage and the foundation. The brain trust who built these places cheaped out and didn't put any French drains between the driveway slabs, along side the driveway slabs OR at the base of the driveway that butts up to lip of the garage. Also, the foundations? Underground. Sooooo.... all the water runs toward the garage, has no means of runoff other than the trenches I've dug to funnel it off beside the slabs. and you guessed it, seeps down the foundation at compromised seal. This is creating a whole other set of problems inside the house, but that meditation is for another day.
At any rate, there was a water proof seal at the lip of the garage at one point. I think what they're really called is expansion joints. At any rate, this joint / seal was then covered up by a bad concrete patch job a few years ago. I thought I'd done a decent job of redoing that seal last weekend, but there was this one. little. piece. of loose concrete perpendicular to what I'd repaired. Smack in the middle. Could I leave it alone? Nooooo... Like a scab that you just can't stop picking... My futzing revealed another concrete breach...a quarter-sized hole that is wide open down the the foundation wall. DAMMIT! Since this hole is part of the slab that's going to be replaced in the not-too-distant future, I hope, I'm going to mix up a little hydraulic cement today and use my spiffy new masonry trowels and see if that small, temporary fix will help. If nothing else, I'm going go learn how to mix up and use hydraulic cement. And I get to play with my stone working chisels and make some noise! Woo Hoo!
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