This was the week! We finally moved into our home. It’s not quite like a new car smell. But it is nice to work where you live.
Leaky faucets
I had a FHA inspection on Monday come through the home from The inspector of Modesto. He did a very thorough job! At first he was trying to tell me to fight for all the problems he found (mainly water supplies and sinks not screwed on tight). But once he saw me in coveralls following him through the house fixing everything that was “broken” he mellowed out a bit. It was great not to have more leaky faucets. He also easily passed us on FHA
Chlorine Shock the well
The water coming out of the tap was smelling of sulfur all the time. I thought maybe it needed to run more water through it and I called both the well drillers and the pump people. Neither could tell me anything useful to do. However, my neighbor and a friend out in that country said that you need to put a bunch of clorine down the well. There are some very useful guides. This one
was the most useful for me from the University of Georgia. It should be done on all new wells. Because, who knows what has been living in the pipes that were used to install the well, before it was put in the ground.
I ran a little more than a half gallon of bleach into the well and pumped it out into all the faucets, water-heater etc. I wish I had done this before we hooked it up to the house.
Because the bleach needed to stay in the water for 12-24 hrs, we stayed one last night at a friends house. They celebrated with us by giving the girls popsicles.
Testing water and Septic capacity
After those 12-24 hrs it was important to get the bleach out of the pipes. I pumped a lot through a hose near the well, and thought I was done and began flushing as much water as I could through the pipes. I learned that the septic alarm works just fine 😊. However I’m concerned the pump doesn’t come on properly. If I manually turn it on, it works great! So I’ll need to look at that.
It was easy to tell when the water was clean. The bleach turned the water a nice light rust color (I believe because the iron in the water). My sink water water went from yellow to clear.
It still smelled a little like bleach though. We went to get a water tester from home depot and here are the results
Water is:
- Very hard
- Not much Chlorine
- Very alkaline
- Normal-ish PH
- No nitrates/nitrites
- Normal copper
- Little iron
So it’s safe to drink! (I believe). It does have a mouthy feel to it, like you can feel the water in your mouth. So I believe I’ll be getting a whole house water filter. A friend of mine recommends one.
Moving in
The girls made due without a table before we moved our stuff in.
We had some helpers help move everything in from the pack rat. I don’t have a picture of the house, but it looks like we’re hoarders. We aren’t, just nothing is put away or stacked well. We paid our helpers in donuts. Isla helped herself
Others have moved in
Regrettably, being out the in country we have attracted friends that my wife isn’t fond of. Mice and spiders. The spiders are to be expected, the mice are not wanted guests. I’ve caught 1 in the house and 2 outside. I also ensured that the foundation of the home was covered by dirt everywhere. I thought I had got them all, but Hannah tells me a trap is empty of bait now….
I’ll need to try more things to keep them out. And I’d rather not get a cat, that sounds like more work.
Funeral in Arkansas
I had hoped to do more work on the land but I found out that my aunt in Arkansas passed away earlier this week and I found out that her funeral was on Saturday. Here is her obituary. I booked some last minute flights and made it out to Mountain Home Arkansas
The funeral service was wonderful! A great way to celebrate a great woman’s life. I wish I could have gotten to know her better. I’m glad I could come. I got a great picture of my Uncle’s car that he has had since before he was married to my late aunt.
I wonder what I will blog about now that I have a home….? Chickens??
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