Thaw
St. Louis, along with the rest of the country, has been hit with some major winter weather. We didn’t get the mountains of snow the broadcasters predicted but we did get several inches of ice.
It looks like snow, but it's ice
Luckily, my Outback chews up the bad weather! The streets have been treacherous for weeks. It also has built up on the roof at the B.A.B. and stayed there for the weeks of frigid weather.
Ice rink roof
On the bucket front, we’ve had a few drips here and there, but not for long. This weekend the temps are predicted to go off the charts. That means all of that ice will melt and the bucket brigade will be on double duty.
From Franco:
“I just did some math, and I really hope this is wrong. There are 7.48 gallons in a cubic foot. At 6000 sq ft of footprint every 1″ of water is 3740 gallons….”
We decided to take some time and finally get some tarps set up at the leakiest areas. We didn’t want to spend a lot of $ and the solution had to stand up the water but also the falling plaster chunks. We also need a solution that will let us focus on construction progress instead of spending time emptying all those buckets. It took some noodling, a lot of binder clips and some bigger buckets. The silk screen frames, scraps of wood and conduits have come in handy. The result is functional but it looks very interesting.
Tarps and buckets
The plastic tarps are diaphanous and translucent. They move a bit with the air flow. The drips on the plastic sheeting adds a bass note to the bucket percussion. One of these days we’ll record the sounds. You’d think 13,ooo sf of unoccupied space would be quiet. The B.A.B. is actually a noisy place, even when we aren’t there.
B. A. B. 
I don’t envy you any of what you are dealing with. I think it’s time to pack your bags and go to Maui. It’s sunny, 82, and very therapeutic just to sit out on the lanai and watch the whales play :o)
(If you can’t go, maybe you should send Tom’s mom?)
Susan
It has really been something, hasn’t it?
I finally got out today, after 2 weeks in the house. (now I know what cabin fever is).
The snow is finally melting today. I was desperate to go to Church today, so I gave the sun more time to thaw, so I went to 5:00 Mass. Shows how desperate I was- -it is in Spanish!!!!! Oh, well.
Hopefully you both somewhat survived the bad weather, and that your problems with the B.A.B. get fewer all the time.
We set all kinds of weather records here. I’ll have a nice water bill, as I kept the faucets streaming at night.
xxxoooxxx
To be sure, you need to multiple the 3,780 by 1.09, because there is a nine percent increase (approximate) when water freezes, so 544 ft3 equals 4,069 gallons. Why not put a submersible pump on the roof with a big-ass (long-ass, more appropraitely) flexible line that runs to the alley in the rear? I realize the melting is weather dependent and it will go a bit at a time but it’s worth considering.
There were 4 or 5 dead pumps on the roof- looks like previous owners had the same thought. They must have run the hose down the central roof drains. There were a few squeegees and several empty buckets of roof tar up there, too. This must have been a battle for years.
I checked Franco’s math and he is correct, 6000 ft2 at 1″ thick is about 500 ft3, multiplied by 7.48 gallons/ft3 is 3,740 gallons. Good luck. Have you considered prayer?
I think our Moms have the prayer front covered.
maybe you should set up some type of voice recorder to record all the sounds ? maybe a video recorder too, for the ghosts that live there ?
…looking for the be-ribboned bucket…